Tag: blogs

blogging blues

Disappointed. But still hopeful I presume.

It is true that I could never quite sit still. For the last four or five days I have joined the ranks of the unemployed. Or maybe I shouldn’t say that because I am affiliated with a freelancing company. Still, since the company job orders arrive only during the weekends, I pretty have nothing to do for the rest of the week days. Judging by the state of my farm in Farmville though one would think I am pretty busy. Well, yes and no.

No. I am not busy with any job or any project mandated by any company. I am not busy with any work as of the moment.

Yes. I am busy none the less. Busy finding ways to occupy my time. Do something productive. Something that could earn me something in the long run.

I am currently on the process of creating blogs (plural) in Blogger. Knowing that this blog site offers more customization of sites as well as opportunities to earn from AdSense ads or Pay Per Post opportunities, I ventured to create several informative sites using Blogger. The sites are set-up. Their domains mapped out. Their looks customized – thanks to hundreds of free templates from Blogger (otherwise it would take me eons doing my own custom CSS). Then again there are features of WordPress I sorely miss. Like the ease of adding pages which I don’t know if it is possible with Blogger and even the ease of using the Dashboard and available features.

Yet push on I must. I must keep on exploring, patiently building these sites. Why? For one, I want to really earn from them but more than that I know I need to get some third person, informative and factual sort of writing done. Writing that is not opinionated but more feature-article like. And what better way to start writing well-researched articles than by starting with the topics I know best of. Besides, on my recent forays into the internet, I learned that most companies asks for sample articles that are not of the the first person voice and are not based on opinions. Since this blog has mostly focused on my opinions on a plethora of matters, and rightly so for it is a personal blog, I need to create outlets where I can practice writing feature articles.

Then again, who is on a rush? I am determined to enjoy as well as learn and earn in this new career phase I have entered.

new look

I wanted to have a new domain, most likely go back to Blogger. I discovered that they offer a wide variety of themes, not to mention the option to earn from your blogs. With my recent foray into the freelancing world, I see now the importance of earning money from your blog. Not that I really hope to earn from my personal blog (that’s why I am creating more informative blogs) but then again I hope to make my personal blog a sort of catapult into my more professional writing credentials.

Alas I found out when I tried for Pay Per Post that WordPress does not support making money out of your blog. So much for that then. So I tried importing my blog back to Blogger, whose template I have now updated, only to find out that the only way for me to redirect my readers from WordPress to Blogger would be to either pay WordPress or put some sort of disclaimer/redirect post in my blog. I found both options a bit cumbersome.

And so I decided to forge a new look using whatever template WordPress has available. Until that time when I am able to really pay them, I guess I must content myself with the freely available options.

The only consolation I have though is that with this new theme, drop down menus are available for the pages. See for yourselves. 😀

tsk tsk on my attempts to customize this page

I may be moving back to my old blog server, if that is what you call that. That is if I indeed learn how to customize or make my own CSS. I just found out  that for me to be actually able to customize the looks and feel of this blog, I need to purchase an UPGRADE! Though I understand the intentions behind it, (wordpress doesn’t want customized CSS getting around the web), still I am utterly disappointed. Just when I was beginning to get the hang of navigating around the dashboard etc. Now I guess I have to go back to Blogger and re-orient myself with its dashboard.

Come to think of it, the reason I shifted was because I found wordpress’s dashboard more attractive than Blogger’s. But then, my friend was right, you can’t do much customization here.

So I may be saying adieu to this server soon, if not later.

Sigh. And I was looking forward to having my own site with my own domain and my own look. Maybe I should first consider how much the CSS upgrade costs.

And yet for all this talk about customization and own domain names, I still languish at the dismal traffic my site is getting. I guess I must be patient then? Or I guess I must tweak my site more – change my tagline since it really is at odds with each other (as someone pointed out) or change how my blog title appears (notice I removed the sticky caps though I admit it looked better before).

Sigh. I have a lot more to learn. I’ve been blogging on an off for several years now. And it’s only recently that I discovered that my blog will actually be my salvation from the dire boredom my work pushes me into.

Blogging about Me

I realized that my entries as of late are mostly philosophical in nature. They start off as observations or recounts of my daily adventures then branch out into musings and opinions on the country’s present situation.

Well, for a change I’ve decided to write something about myself.

For starters, I wonder what people really think or perceive about me. Not that I really care or that their sentiments would greatly affect me, but then, I still wonder. A conversation with a friend from work made me wonder as such. Here was how the conversation went:

Me: Inaantok ako, sobra.

Friend: Baka buntis ka.

Me: Ano yun parthenogenesis*? *scientific term for immaculate conception

Friend: Oo.

Me: Ayoko nun. Walang thrill.

Silence.

Friend: Wow. First time.

Maybe because we’ve only discussed philosophical things before that conversation took place, and as such the reason for my friend’s surprise. But then I know that a lot of people would be really surprised by my comment. Walang thrill pala ha?

I know a lot of people view me as reserved, conservative or maybe even prude. I know they think of me as a goody-two-shoes type of person – especially the people at work. I do not smoke, though I drink. I do not commit abuses at work and I do not malign my customers. I seldom do. I also tend to appear sweet and innocent, I guess.

And it made me think of how many people out there, who I consider my friends, really know me for who I am. Not just the me they think of, or the me, that is apparently the Mary Sunshine to the community, but also the me who is reckless and wild. Not that I am THAT reckless and wild, but then I hope you get my point.

I’ve read in another person’s blog how he viewed himself as being socially challenged due to his perception that he is lacking in friends. He surmised how anyone ever texts him anymore. I am then led to wonder if I myself am lacking in real friendships. Not that I am socially challenged – I’m afraid I’m too outgoing to be such. I can strike up a conversation with anyone I chose to – bring up a topic out of thin air. Yet I admit I also don’t have regular textmates – people who send me text messages on a daily basis, that is, conversational text messages and not forwarded quotes and jokes. But then again, I was never a text person.

Yet, I am a firm believer that the friends I’ve accumulated over the years – friends from elementary, high school, college and all the other branches of society connected with these stages of my education – are there to remain my friends for life despite the lack of communication for years now. It is true that we might not be as close as we once were, but I believe that upon meeting again, years of silence would be breached by a simple smile, a simple hello and hours of non-stop talk about each other’s current lives. I further believe that when I am in dire need, then I can always approach any of them and they would always be willing to help to the best that they can. I mean, I would be willing to help them and I believe the same is true the other way around.

Maybe I am idealistic. I haven’t really tried any of the scenarios above. As my life keeps moving on to its different stages, and as I keep on changing scenarios and environments with each stage of life, I’ve been on the non-stop process of creating friends in each new environment and leaving them behind when I move on to the next environment. Some of them, I still maintain occasional communication, some of them I haven’t spoken to for years. But then I always seem to strike up a conversation once I meet a friend from my past and if he or she gets to remain in my current sphere, then good and fine for we are able to resume our friendship. If not, then we get to be just like two good old friends, meeting up then parting ways again.

So perhaps I am indeed a social creature – a social being who can always create friends wherever she is and who have no qualms moving on to a different sphere to forge more friendships. Yet I know that I am also a solitary and fiercely independent person deep down and as such, that might be the reason why I have no difficulties leaving friendships behind.

Yet for all the friends that I have, and for the large number of people connected to me in all the various networking sites I’m a member of, I remain sad that only a few ever finds themselves amongst the pages of my blog. Maybe I should do unto others what I want others to do unto me – and that is visit their blog sites, and comment on them. Maybe. No promises here.

the blogger in me

part of the reason why i haven’t been posting anything on this blog, apart from what the toll at work did to my body, is because i’ve discovered several blogs that i liked to read.

most of them were of course what blogs should be – a shot at making serious national issues a comical or satirical relief. being a current affairs junkie (as of last year), and having gone without any update on current affairs for 5 months now, i’ve turned to this blog for my source of what is happening on the local scene now.

of course they do not provide a complete picture of events but they are as close and as relaxing as i could get. reading online newspapers, are for me, albeit ecologically friendly, tiresome and eye-stressing. it seems news are better watched on tv or more preferably, read on newspapers.

and so discovering these blogs were for me like discovering gold mines. not only did i find comic relief and diversion from my mundane existence, i’ve also found inspiration on what blogs should look like. on what blogs that other people read, should be like.

and so, here i am. tired and beaten from a night’s work, yet still conceptualizing in the recesses of my brain, a unique topic to blog about. a unique name to create. and a unique thing to talk about. quite a feat in this world of carbon copies i must say. yet i do know i need another outlet of myself. i cannot confine myself to the four corners of my work and my sleep – which is what had pretty much defined my lifestyle.

i thought working would be my liberation, it turned out being a yuppie was my prison.

i hope to break free of the prison i inadvertently gotten myself into.

and blogging – in the way that the blogs i am reading – might just be the cure for that.