Entries Tagged 'Personal' ↓

I have this ultimate and rather obscene fantasy. In this fantasy, there's this one person who digs like mad through my blog archives in the dead of the night-- every night, finding pleasure in reading all the words I've written before and always in eager anticipation of what I will write about next. Always wondering about what I have to say and clinging to my words and opinions as if her very life depended on it -- as if there is no better opinion on earth but mine.

Photo by Laughing Squid

To this person, whatever I write about is worth gold. It doesn't matter if I fail horribly with my grammar or if what I write about doesn't even make sense. Because to this nocturnal being, my blog and words are as alive as I am -- and that is all that matters. It may not be the most rewarding of human relationships but it's the next best thing, she thinks.

If I told her 'so and so' is the best, she would believe. If I told her 'this and that' is a lie, she'd take my word for it. Yes, she's completely capable of thinking for herself but she chooses to believe me just because she wants to.

I could sell her anything I want to, even the very soul she already has -- and she will buy in a heartbeat. With such conviction. Without the slightest reservation. Without questions.

She is that ultimate blog reader. One who sees your blog as no separate entity from you, the blogger. One whose respect for you is intertwined with eternal fascination.

But the bad news is she doesn't exist.

When I started out with blogging, I started fairly the same way and for fairly the same reasons as others before me did and had. All I wanted was to chronicle my life experiences one day at a time so that one day, I or someone I cared about can recreate that one specific day like a photograph -- like a picture, yes, but this time, with words.

I know 'a picture paints a thousand words'. My blog hopes to do the reverse -- to recreate the picture in your mind through a 'thousand words'. Little did I know that it would require much more effort than I prepared for or that I would end up writing about politics (as if my life as it is isn't boring enough).

Eventually, as with many things in my life, the blog took a life of its own and chose to go out into the words, unescorted, deep into the night. You can say that it had its expected encounters with wolves, monsters and aliens. While every step was fraught with danger, it's not without its occasional meetings with friendly animals and there were countless times when it was awakened by serenades from nightingales.

It's easy for a blog to get lost in the woods. But the problem doesn't end there.

Most times, the blog takes a reader with it and both of them get lost. That's where 'responsible blogging' comes in, as if on cue, reminding the blogger to look before he leaps because most times, he doesn't leap alone.

You the blogger reading this, have you ever realized how influential a blogger you've become? Yeah sure, you may not be such a hot shot yet but has it ever occurred to you that it's possible someone from somewhere follows you blindly into the woods every night?

Have you ever thought that each time you come home after an evening of dalliance with your charming post, someone is stuck somewhere deep into the woods? Lost. Or worse, never to be seen again?

It's really great that you give readers these wonderful distractions otherwise known as insightful articles. Go right ahead and woo them effortlessly like you always do. Take them every night into the woods with you. But when you've made your point and before the night is through, please be kind enough to take them back with you. It's the least you could do in exchange for what they've given you -- their trust.

Because, remember that ultimate blog reader I told you about?

What if she does exist?

What if she's GMA? :)

Be careful how you wield that sword. We don't want anybody to get hurt. Responsible blogging is not just a choice. It should be the only choice.

*** Blog responsibly. Nothing could be easier. ***

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I was set to 'kill time' in school today. Made sure my journal was packed neatly in my bag. But lo and behold, as I was set to write, my lovely pen was nowhere in sight, thus the silly prose poetry. Tsk.

Woe to the Writer
by: RJ

Woe to the writer who is caught without a pen,
When the train of thought starts flowing
He's but a helpless, crying baby in a hungry lion's den.

How else will he appease upset dragons breathing fire?
How can his words satisfy this insatiable desire?

How else will he rationalize, hypothesize or theorize
Streams of musings that go swiftly in between blinks of his eyes?

In earnest ramblings of metaphors? Pitiful twists, ironies in disarray?
In incomprehensible assertions -- all that cause the reader sure dismay.

The writer caught without a pen,
like a naked soldier amidst a fierce battle
Is left to either run, hide or foolishly surrender.

What to do then, pray tell, when all you have is the 'here and now'
And when neither yesterday nor tomorrow will ever soothe you somehow?

When there is no time to waste searching for an elusive pen
Lest the ideas before you fly in haste like silly men.

How does a writer write when mere fingers can barely make a line?
When what's in your head is sure to leave you in no time.

Woe indeed to the writer caught without his trusty pal,
When words come raining on a summer day's lull.

If he misses this chance, this one perfect trine,
Tomorrow might pass him without passion or rhyme.

How will he pocket letters, mix and match, confound and clarify?
When nothing seems a blessing but these words from on high?

Such waste of time, such waste of thought,
Such moving tragedy for a struggling, stupid moth.

A loss indeed, a loss in need.
For what glory does a knight have
apart from his noble steed?

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“An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist always run to blow it out?" — Rene Descartes

Photo by nilexuk

I can almost swear "someone" is cursing the upcoming presidential elections in May 2010. It's as if "someone" is killing all chances of emergent hope -- "someone" is out to sabotage this one shot we have at clean, honest elections.

Although the existence of that "someone" is hard to prove and coming up with strong evidence is hardly possible at the moment, what seems to be 'a clear and present danger' is the unabated doubt creating an atmosphere of general distrust.

There is widespread doubt in the effectivity of the system. Doubt in the reliability of technology. Doubt in the trustworthiness of the candidates. Doubt in the 'maturity' of the electorate. Doubt in everything elections-related. Essentially, doubt in the possibility of Philippine political redemption.

It is so easy to spread doubt and plant fear in the hearts and minds of our fellowmen. I can't think of anything easier to do in a time like this. When faced with the task of choosing what to promote, the average salesman would always opt for those that are easy to sell.

Which idea is easier to sell: That fully-automated elections would be 100% successful or that it would fail?

You get the point.

***

Have a little faith

I am a proponent of vigilance and a promoter of justified and regulated doubt. But in no way will I consent to being a conduit of fear-mongering. I have better things to do with my time (and I have a lot of time, mind you).

My dear friends, casual and accidental readers, one and all, I urge you to have a little faith in this much-awaited political exercise. Let not the sensationalized news and overblown negative write-ups deter you from participating in this democratic process that is part and parcel of who we are and who we intend to be.

Of course there will be glitches, there are flaws, there are questions that need to be answered -- but all will be resolved in due time. That is what these tests are for -- to see what works and what doesn't -- to separate the reliable from the not.

Trust the system -- a good measure if not entirely. Trust that technology can and will work. But most of all, trust yourself. Trust that YOU dictate your vote. Trust that it is you who will dictate your destiny and consequently, this country's. Trust that unless we take a chance, there is no way of ever finding out what will and will not work for us.

Think about it. If we can't trust ourselves? Who else will?

Besides, if all else fails, there's always manual elections. So douse that fear. Besides, I'm sure you have better things to do than worry, so get over it.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Photo by BrittneyBush

No Escape

by: RJ

There are thoughts that keep me awake at night

And keep me absent-minded in the day --

Gliding on a golden field, endless heaps of hay

Thoughts about what is and what was,

But never of what could be.

They haunt me of a past long gone and never will be,

They nag me of a present so persistent, a routine that I always see.

They remind me of a palpable sign,

Of shackles that bind me here,

In a place where wishes are bane and hopes are nil.

I climb so high, I fly, I sigh

I stumble yet again in this effervescent sky

I lift my arms and reach as high as I can

But I hear weeping and wailing from where I began

This dream I write, forget this I might

These thoughts I hold, it numbs my soul,

It's so cold, I feel old

In May whisperings, "strengthen thy heart", I was told

So I flutter, I mutter..

But when I utter, I stutter

Hard as I grasp every word, every syllable and letter

I am left without tomorrow, the future no brighter

Be banished you drifter! Rot away you squanderer!

Know that time is no kinder to neither miser nor spender

So I slouch, pretend to nap

Barely a moment's passed

I snicker, I snap!

Not a pen was moved, not a firefly in sight

As I hold on tearfully and oh so fearfully tight

To these thoughts that keep me awake...

And kept me awake tonight.

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As we shelve memories of 2009 and resolve to start anew in 2010,  forget not "the good times and the bad you've seen and all the others in between..."

Happy New Year everyone! Let us remember each other and look forward to tomorrow with faith in love and in God.

Times of Your Life

by: Paul Anka

Good morning, yesterday
You wake up and time has slipped away
And suddenly it's hard to find
The memories you left behind
Remember, do you remember?

The laughter and the tears
The shadows of misty yesteryears
The good times and the bad you've seen
And all the others in between
Remember, do you remember
The times of your life (do you remember)

Reach back for the joy and the sorrow
Put them away in your mind
The mem'ries are time that you borrow
To spend when you get to tomorrow

Here comes the saddest part
The seasons are passing one by one
So gather moments while you may
Collect the dreams you dream today
Remember, will you remember
The times of your life

Gather moments while you may
Collect the dreams you dream today
Remember, will you remember
The times of your life
Of your life
Of your life

Do you remember, baby
Do you remember the times of your life

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Alfonso T. Blanquera (August 2, 1936 - December 22, 2003)

In Memoriam

About the same time, six years ago today, I have watched my father let go of his last breath after five days in the intensive care unit -- 4 days of which he spent lying there comatose.

It was his third stroke. The first was very mild, hardly a stroke as I call it. But like all people who have hypertension and diabetes, each stroke episode gets worse each time.

The second stroke left him bedridden, speech slurry, both feet numb for days. Of course by that time he knew he had to be more careful. But caution was not in my father's vocabulary. He was too stubborn and too smart for his own good. Continue reading →

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