My journal by Daguman, Rosemarie

Vernacular: Vegetable Vendor

dagumanr — 2024-03-01 11:52:04 UTC

Does your mother, or whoever is assigned to your family's food for the rest of the day, feel like the food every day is repetitive? They think chicken, pork, and fish taste like the same, so they no longer want to go to the market and just wait for the vegetable vendor to come. Street vendors really do save the day, which is why they have become my mother's friends. They always go to our house to sell fresh vegetables and, sometimes, seafood. It just makes me happy when my mom often buys from vegetable vendors because I know my mom is so kind that she prefers to buy from locals rather than supermarkets. You can see my mother standing beside the vendor's cart and our baby Bruce Lee sitting on the top of the motorcycle. I took this photo to capture the moment of my mom buying from our favorite and loyal vegetable vendor. It's just sad that "Kuya" is not there in the photo since he was at the other house giving the change to his customers.

Nature: Uma

dagumanr — 2024-03-01 12:31:24 UTC

"How peaceful, isn't it?

Uma is a Bisaya word for bukid, where we usually go when we're on a summer vacation in Western Samar. We have our own farm of coconut trees. Apparently, this month of July is the time for harvesting. As you can see in the photo, there are piles of coconuts lying on the ground as we remove the husk coir, cracking it to get the juice out, and taking out what we call "Boay" in Bisaya, "Tumbong" in Tagalog, and "Coconut Embryo" in English. After that, we burn the shell and sell it to local traders to make charcoal. Our favorite part of this process is collecting all the juices and coconut embryos to eat after our hard work. This has been my favorite hobby since we get to bond with our relatives from Samar and just enjoy the scenery and peacefulness of Mother Nature.

Lifestyle: La Mesa Eco Park

dagumanr — 2024-03-01 12:39:18 UTC

I hate to say this, but I forgot when this photo was taken. This was the last time I went to Eco Park together with my childhood friend and his family. I treasure this photo so much because they became my second family. FYI, we are not related to each other; it's just that we went to the same school ever since we were young. Every time they go outside, like to malls or on vacation, I am always there, whenever my mom approves. But suddenly, his mother, who's very important to me, passed away, and in the next year, his father also died. That is why I treasure this photo because Eco Park is our favorite place together, but since his parents died, we no longer bond with each other. And he stopped going to school to provide for himself. I wish I could help. I miss them so much:((

Ps. He doesn't like to take photos with me hmp! Also, after this photo was taken, after so many hours of fishing I finally caught one but since I am a softhearted child, I brought it back into the water.

Portrait: Reminiscing

dagumanr — 2024-03-01 13:23:55 UTC

I remember when my cousin took this photo of me when we did a pictorial for my 18th birthday. This is not actually planned, or, let's just say, a candid photo; we are just taking a break after taking so many shots. I was just reminiscing at that time, thinking about my childhood memories and what I said ten years ago about how I wish to be 18 and do what adults do, like stay for the rest of the night smt like that. It just happened that my cousin randomly took a picture of me because of how I looked so serious and thought I might not be happy that in two days I would be officially 18. I indeed felt sad and happy at the same time because I might not do what children do and not be able to be genuinely happy. I am happy because I can now decide on my own and do the things that my parents told me not to do when I was a child. Of course, I know my limits and boundaries. Now that I am 20 years old and turning 21 this coming May, looking back at this photo made me realize that I need more time for myself and feel what I felt 3 years ago.

Travel: Zambales

dagumanr — 2024-03-01 13:26:09 UTC

This photo was taken after we finally arrived at the island of Anawangin Cove in Zambales. After a long boat ride for almost an hour, we finally arrived on the island, where we could rest for three days. For me, it was the best vacation I had since it was also my first time staying for three days without a connection to the outside world. Everything was so perfect, the scene, the people, and also the food were great.