The opposite of FTW is WTF.

This is the explanation Chuvaness gives regarding the no-score:

"i've judged a few contests. I also give zero when I don't like something. Something I learned from Tina O. That's life dear."

Apparently it IS a bad photograph.

But following that logic, when the shortlist was announced she mentioned "after looking at more than 200 entries, these were the top five scorers in no particular order." You mean to say other entries earned more zeroes than mine?!? So only three entries got all five marks from the five judges??

I know I should just let this go but it's so depressing. I was so looking forward to winning this. Or at the very least having a close competition. But getting no points at all absolutely fucking disturbs me.

Is it possible they think my photograph was PhotoShopped?!? Then why da hell did it made the shortlist in the first place? Just had an awful thought: does it mean the rest of the entries were that bad, and that could only explain why mine made it into the shortlist?

My imagination. So full of wonderment.

I just had a good cry over this. I know, parang ang babaw ko. But like I've said before, it would've been nice to end a crappy year with something to be proud of.

But the way Ms C explains it... aray naman po. Apparently it's not enough to bring somebody down, you have to kick them hard, too. In the guts. Twice.

Still dismayed.

This is bad. I did get some sleep last night but it feels like I haven't. I think to make up for it, my subconscious let me have a boyfriend in my dreams, although of course it happened in an unusual way with odd circumstances. And there's no double entendre there, just strange in an Alice-In-Wonderland kind of way.

Am I just being a sore loser? Should I just let it go? Sorry, but I still can't get my head wrapped around that skewered scoring system. Did that judge really think my photo was that bad??

I looked at the scores again, and my photo was scored the highest by three judges. And I must have really been confused last night, don't know how I arrived at the scores using that gymnastics thing because I still would've ended with two scores and not three. So I did some more computations, even if you threw out the highest or lowest scores so the entries would equally have four scores... guess what?

Wow, I just can't let it go, huh? Do I demand a recount, or better scoring system? (Heto o...)

And that's how the cookie crumbles. Crumbled?

Zero point zero.

So the results were posted and my photograph didn't win :( It's probably not that good because it ranked 4 out of the 5 entries.

Story of my life.

What I really don't understand is the scoring system. Two photos only had 4 scores, the rest had complete scores from 5 judges. And the points were merely added up. So doesn't that automatically make mine and the other photo have a lower score than the rest? I do think it's unfair. It would have been better if the points were averaged. (Because I did some computations and I would have won on averages. If I only got another 3, it would've been close. If it was another 4 -- which was my lowest score, compared to the winner which was 3.85 -- I still would've won. Even if it was scored the way they do in gymnastics/figure-skating where the lowest & highest scores are disregarded then the rest averaged, it would've still come on top. And my photo was the only one with two 5.00s...)

*buntong-hininga*

I wish there was an explanation why one judge had no score for the two photos. If the judge thought the photos were really awful to merit no points, I'd understand. But there's no clarification or anything.

I admit I do feel bad. This would have been a nice consuelo de bobo to an otherwise depressing year. Yes, I did say the recognition was good enough, but I didn't expect the scoring system to be like this.

I'm so tempted to make a comment about it, problem is my inner b!tch is dying to get a word in and I don't know how to word it without sounding like I'm bitter.

Heh heh, bitter. Like the muse.

...

Somebody already made a comment about it, why the zero scores for the two photos and the scores should have been averaged because of that. I just hope there's a really good explanation for it.

What you've missed.

Just so I do not renege on my own promise of updates, I'll post the list of topics here on what my future entries will be about. Note these are just what I consider the major ones:

• Ma. And Da.
  
• My Lumix, the acquistion of. Project 365, and consequently what I call "15 Minutes."
  
• Coron.
  
• Hospitalization.
  
• Work, returning and leaving.
  
• Cats. Meow!
  
• And I see I haven't fully disclosed about those "stalkers" yet, hahaha.
  

And I've just mentally drafted this debate I have in my head about FarmVille vs FarmTown. HAHAHA. It'll be funny. Seriously.

The question now is when will I start, and how long will it take for me to finish??

Oi.

So how long was it since my last entry? Six months? Well.

I feel bad not updating about the major upheavals that had happened, but then there's my alibi: I was depressed -- who wouldn't be? But I'll get around to it (uh huh).

This is just too exciting for me to put off for later. Ms Chuvaness has a promo for the Sony Ericsson Greenheart phone. Wicked cool phone, and haven't I been saying for the longest time I need a good camphone (so I can use TwitPic more often)? And it's a photography contest to boot!

Actually I did get discouraged right away. I assumed I had to go out and take a new photo when I couldn't even think of what subject or how to approach the theme, which is "Green." Then I realized -- duh -- I could just use my earlier photos! Right aways I knew it had to be my favorite Coron photo. As Ms Chuvaness herself would say on her blog: lahvettt!!! You were allowed up to 5 entries, so I also included this close-up photo of leaves -- nothing special, but I also like that photo and it literally fits with the theme.

I've been waiting anxiously for the update since the deadline about two weeks ago. So when I see on RSS it's already up... and that my photograph is shortlisted!!! Yay!!! *tumbling muna*

Ta-da, I'm back. And of course I'm flattered to read some comments that say they like my photo. But the first and last photographs posted I find good, too. Well... actually, the first one could slightly have had a better composition, just a teensy-tiny-teeny little bit. But the last one, I have to echo one of the comments: I'm torn between my own photo and that one! Because it is surreal!

I'm just happy for the recognition. And the judges were from the Camera Club of the Philippines ha!

But winning that phone would be sweeeet.... ;)

Results on Monday. Keep yer fingers crossed.

D'oh!

Still no updates? What else is new?

No excuses.

What else is there to say? I haven't updated my diary because... I'm lazy; I'm unmotivated; I'd rather play games whenever I'm using my PC; I'm lazy; nothing of note has happened in my life... no, that last part prolly isn't true. There are some significant changes in my life recently. I promise (yet again) to get into detail later. For now I'm just making this entry so I'd have one for this month, haha.

Best laid plans.

I was supposed to go to Hidalgo today and check if any shops there have the Panasonic Lumix LZ8 available already. I've been wanting a digital cam for the longest time, and now I finally have the means to own one. Lately, this hankering is escalating; I got to have the cam NOW. Sheesh. When I'm obsessed, I'm obsessed.

Good thing I was able to go home early last night. I still felt pretty bad, and when my supervisors saw me at the office, they told me I could go on CUT already. Yay! At least I was able to rest thinking I'd have an early start going to Quiapo.

But my Tiya called me real early this morning to tell me she'd be coming over and bringing the orders of polvoron. Ayyyy. I couldn't say no to her because she was on her way already. I was thinking maybe I'd go after her visit, but by the time she left it was noon and my laziness was setting in :(

Oh well. Then again, I think it would be better to go next week when it's payday! At least I wouldn't have to worry if I go over budget or something. But Mary Anne says that's unlikely. I nearly went to Anson's and just bought the cam there for around 12K, but she suggested I should check Hidalgo first because they definitely have lower prices. And who will say no to a bargain?

I should keep in mind that Patience is a virtue ;)

Common sense.

See, I was tired yesterday I wasn't able to post here. Excuses, excuses.

Anyway, when there's a television on the bus I'm riding in to work, I'm able to watch the local version of Family Feud. The jackpot is at P1,450,000 already. Wow. (That is if it wasn't won last night already.) Sometimes I don't get where the contestant answers come from. They should remember the most obvious answer to the question would most likely get them points. I remember this particular question: Anong bagay ang karaniwan na itinutupi? (What thing is usually folded?) Damit, or clothing, was given by the first contestant in the Fast Cash round. So the second contestant was stumped. Then she answered: kurtina! (Curtains!) OMG. I don't even know how to fold our curtains because these are voluminous and defy neat folding! My own answer was paper. I think that was the top answer. Duh.

Of course, yesterday was Obama's Inaguration. I was already logged in then, but I could hear some of my callers were watching it on television. One wasn't even paying any attention to me as I was explaining dialling procedures. I'm not even sure she was watching tv because she sounded groggy. Americans will ask for operator assistance but not listen nor even believe a word you say.

Hooky.

I went to the Inaguration yesterday vicarioulsy through CNN. After watching Obama & Michelle dance for the nth time, I was pooped myself. I went to bed around 2 p.m. thinking I'd just take a short nap then get ready for work, but when I woke up it was dark already. AAAHHHHH!!! It was around 8.30 p.m. already. Obviously, no matter how fast I moved I was already late late LATE for work :-( There goes my perfect attendance and my bonus for January! Then again, I already got two QA markdowns so my bonus was already in jeopardy. So, do I still go on half-day and just play hooky for the day? Do I even have to think about it? But I was not feeling quite good, and now I think I may have another fever coming on. Ugh. I was just sick a last week! My body is definitely stressed and telling me to go on holiday. Permanently. Haha.

I think I slept rather well, too, since I was full from lunch, or dinner from my POV. My bro did a bit of grocery shopping and bought chicken longganisa and bangus in oil. He also suggested he'd cook the T-bone steaks we got for New Year dinner supposedly. But we never got around cooking it then because our schedules didn't match. But I also wanted veggies with the steaks, and we don't have any fresh carrots and beans anymore. So he said he'd cook the steaks this weekend, and we'll just have the longganisa & bangus. The bangus was just canned but it was pretty good. And the longganisa was quite tasty, too. And I don't even like longganisa that much. So a fully belly = good night's sleep = late for work. Oh well.

It's supposed to be my day off already but I traded my weekend so still have to go to work tonight. Ugh. I am not going to trade skeds again. It disrupts my schedule obviously! Then I'll only get one day off. But I applied for leave this Saturday, hopefully it would be approved so I'll have an actual weekend.

Shiny shimmering splendor.

This girl was wearing a sparkly silver sleeveless knit top, shiny silver moccasins, shiny silver headband and was carrying a puffy silver jacket, kinda like a winter coat you wear when it's minus zero degrees outside. She was probably going to a late holiday ball on the moon. (Then we get off the jeepney at the same stop. We work for the same company. D'oh! I really "marvel" at the fashion sense of some kids I see around.)

I resolve.

One of my new year's resolutions is to update my diaries regularly. Supposedly. But we're well into 2009 and what? Oh boy. And that resolution goes something like to write an entry everyday, even if it's just some insipid detail.

I have some serious backlog, too :-(

Anyway, here's my tidbit for today:

I was supposed to buy fish for the cats today, but the bus conductor recognized me and woke me up when we were outside my subdivision. So rather than make a fuss, I went down and just walked to the palengke.

There's a story why the bus conductor recognizes me, and it's kinda creepy/flattering/d'oh! all at the same time. Of course there's a reason why I haven't written here for a while. And there's the same old story with work.

Haaaayyy talaga. I should have some more discipline writing here. Here's hoping.