10 years ago i got the national geographic genome 2.0 kit to find out more about my family’s ancestry since i knew nothing outside of what my parents could recall: https://000hlala.com/post/45534002630/genographic
unfortunately, since i am female we only got a partial picture because i lacked the Y-chromosome to decipher my dad’s ancestral contributions. we finally convinced my dad to do a DNA test and got the results!
my mom swears up and down her father MUST be spanish because he has sharp, non-native facial features, but my results tore that assumption down. it’s actually my dad who has spanish/portuguese heritage! i’m guessing the northeast asian + northern european ancestry combo must be from a mongolian-russian descendant on my mom’s side.
also, really happy to get confirmation in regards to our austronesian roots (AKA oceanian according to nat geo). austronesian is basically a lumping of the island peoples found in the asian pacific. ilocanos are considered austronesian and are essentially the native aboriginals of the philippine islands.
﹖so are we asian? technically, yes.
﹖are we pacific islanders? technically, also yes!
﹖are we spanish/portuguese? yes, but not inherited from the parent we had originally thought and not as much as we thought we would be in light of historical colonization of the philippine islands.
﹖did the DNA test help bring clarity? yes and no. the tests were able to confirm some of the assumptions i had about my heritage, but also opened up a can of worms as far as the ones i didn’t even know about. fun!
check out this cutie my brother in law found! 🦇
what i got:
akaso brave 7 le (photos from listings and reviews)
why i got them:
i can’t be the only person out there that wants to casually capture my travel adventures, but not want to have to constantly whip out my phone or carry around a selfie stick?! while walking around town with an action cam mounted to myself is not ideal, i really don’t want to risk breaking or losing my phone while traveling because i need it for important things like comms and 2fa.
i’ve been researching action cams like crazy. we are not super hardcore adrenaline junkies. however, we already have dedicated low-profile cams for our helmets when we ride so this cam will be primarily for poking around town and the occasional beach excursion. def not good enough criteria for justifying a fancy gopro or insta360. i ended up picking the akaso brave 7 le. it doesn’t break the bank, has decent reviews and image quality, comes with gobs of accessories and is water-resistant. it comes with a remote that i can hide in my pocket or strap on my wrist when i want to take a photo or video. i really wanted a setup that would allow me to stay in the moment hence why i opted to just have a cam mounted and ready for whatever. we’ll see if this shoot-as-you-go idea pans out.
update:
alright here’s my little action cam kit! i could reduce it further if i opted not to bring the dual charger since i can charge the cam via micro-usb. super small footprint! 👣
