Posts Tagged ‘Blogging’

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Daily Prompt: Why do I blog

April 17, 2013

Honestly, I was just prodded into blogging by friends who believed that my film advocacy activity should be recorded and blog about, and to easily track down the movement of my film docu going around the country for awareness campaign of Autism Society Philippines. It took me a year or two before I was finally convinced that I should start blogging. Actually, what held me back was simply lack of confidence in writing using a language I am not used to speak.

Overcoming the writing fear, I started blogging to have a journal or a record of my film activities. It soon became a habit difficult to break, and the content evolved to include my woes, fears, hopes, my joy… My blog soon included historical notes during a travel, and photos that I took in my journey. Realizing that writing often help improve my skill, more so gain confidence from it, I continued to blog …. With the writing and photo challenges WordPress pose to the circle, I have more reason to pursue the blogging activity… Making cyber friends in the process, enjoying reading and wallowing into their experiences, and seeing their perspectives through the photos they share are bonuses I never actually thought I’d earn as well in the beginning.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/04/16/daily-prompt-the-question/

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Daily Prompt: All About Me

February 13, 2013

I never liked to blog probably because I never used to have the confidence to write. I was actually prodded to it by those who believed that I should start one in the first place.  And it was primarily because of my docu on autism that for six years had to be shown in different cities and provinces in our country for awareness campaign purposes. I was convinced that having a blogsite would lessen my load for I could just provide the link to people interested in it whenever they need the materials about the film. Moreover, it would be easier to check the screening schedules as well. But what convinced me the most was that I would be forced to write and could practice the use of the English language.

And so it was that “advocacine” was born. It is a contraction of the words “advocacy” + “cine” [Sp.meaning film] coined by Erlinda “Dang” Koe, President of Autism Society Philippines (ASP), an NGO where I belong. Since I am actually pursuing the film advocacy path centering on “special people,” I adopted the name for this blogsite which initially contained the trails my film on autism took; later, all my docus, as well as my struggles to make one; even the publication of my brother’s historical writings whose responsibility I have taken. By now, I have published four volumes of his works.

Nevertheless, this blogsite has evolved to contain on the side all my other related activities and interests, including all the word press challenges that I managed to take up. This is basically my journal, my logbook; my outlet where I spew out frustrations sometimes anger, as well as sighs of relief. This is where I am able to write my dreams, hopes and fears!!! My likes and dislikes. My testament of faith to Our Lady of Manaoag. And quite recently where I found the joy of interacting with fellow wordpress bloggers, something that I have shunned to do many months back.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/02/12/daily-prompt-all-about-me/

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Morton’s Fork / I’d Rather Write

December 7, 2012

Writing is taking an active stance; reading other blogs is more passive, most  especially, if it doesn’t elicit any reaction from the reader whatsoever. The former is participative; the latter more like window shopping. You stop — either to take a peek, glance at the display content, or wallow in there for sometime if it got you interested on what’s in there. You are either wowed by what’s on display, exclaim words of excitement that may move you to get inside to buy something. Or, you’d simply walk away just as instantly as when you stopped by it. Similarly, in visiting a blog site, you either click on the like button, comment on its content as a reaction or click away from the site just as fast without reading the content. The stimuli is external.

Writing requires much more stimulant or motivations, other of course than the WordPress prompts and challenges that we have now. Unlike others who find it quite easy to write a piece, it is for me always difficult and quite a daunting task. Before I started blogging, I needed internal motivation, an urge, a driving force to push me to write. And it took quite a time despite my friend’s proddings for me to have a blogsite because of the nature of my advocacy work. The major reason? Well, first, I had to battle over my lack of confidence to write using the English language which is not my mother tongue. Although it is one of the official medium of instruction in our schools, I never fully got over such lack of confidence in me. Only after gathering enough courage and recognizing the help and advantages blogging provide, primarily in organizing my many thoughts that I only used to jot down on notebooks, have I started writing. As defense mechanisms and self-motivations, I used to say: “Forget grammar and correct tenses. Just write.” “Let this be my English writing composition practice. I am not a native English speaker anyway. Besides, who’d bother to read my interests. So be it!” What was intended to be a simple journal and report of my activities soon evolved. It became an outlet: sharing my moods, woes, joys, of being be; I linked with blogs related with my posts, or anything that I find interesting. Soon, I realized that simple English is enough to get my message through. With the WP stats, I witnessed the slow but steady growth of people visiting my blogsite. Reaching over a 100,000 mark was unimaginable; it surprised me to know that what I thought to be trivial could be of interest to others too.

Reading other blogs eventually became a natural consequence after overcoming the major battle of finally being able to confidently write in a language I used to “fear.” Especially so, when DP Challenges came up. As such, I read other blogs more often than ever now. And thank those who care to drop by mine.

Though writing remains a struggle, the time I spent is always worth it. The final click to publish the post to release my thoughts from one to the other is like a free spirit flying into the unknown…never knowing where it would land, whose spirit it would gently tap.

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2012/12/05/daily-prompt-17/

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Joy in Photography

October 17, 2012

During these recent days, I have been blogging and posting about cats and dogs, birds, flowers, fruits as well as about children, and taking up the WordPress challenge[s] to make my time at least useful, enjoyable, seemingly forgetting in the process my advocacine activities and all. That is what happens when I have no proper video cam to use so I can run after my prospective interviewees for my CP docu. I have numerous in my list by now… nevertheless, whatever I do in between are part of recharging and readying myself for the film advocacy works that I have lined up to do.

That’s my tree house on the top left photo. Various Nature shots from Olang Arts Park in Siquijor Island in the Visayas, Philippines [Photo repro from Beauty in the Xtraordinary Ordinary]

Anyway I loved looking over at my old photo files, and being reminded of moments gone by with a smile. Sharing them with others complete the feeling of joy that I experienced when I took the photos of whatever fancied my senses.

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The Power of Blogging

August 6, 2012

My first time to see my site’s country stats summary for six months from February ’12!!!

It surprised me, but I am honestly very happy to see a lot of little flags supposedly representing my blog site’s visitors. I really couldn’t believe it. I started blogging with hesitancy. I was just prodded to it. In fact, it took me many months before I finally sat down to heed my friend’s call.

Anyway,  I now look back with a smile. Blogging has become for me — a habit. In so many ways, it has helped me. Primarily, it helped me organize my thoughts and activities better since I used to only scribble them down on pieces of paper, yellow pads, or notebooks. With the systematic and organized way of entering “thoughts” in a journal or logbook manner, I can now easily track down, or rewind my memory for counter checking and collaborating with my blog entries. Memory fails as time goes by. Writing notes and blogging about anything — a thought, a feeling, an activity, eventually become entries to a diary of sort.

In the beginning, I just thought that from my little corner, nobody would bother to read what I am writing — I just write my own thoughts, ideas, and personal activities andyway, so who’d care to read about them. Since I do not know who the readers are neither am I known to them, and what I am writing besides is only of primary interest to me, I concluded that no one would read my blog. That thought set me free, so carefree that I started to write what I believe in. I started posting about what I am doing, what I want to do — even my hopes, fears, and dreams. I did not even bother even if my written English would be good or bad; that my tenses and grammar would be correct or not. I am guided by the thought that English is not my mother tongue anyway. However, I thought that blogging would help me in writing English better. I’ll be able to practice it. That is why I even accepted the WordPress challenge to write — and keep on writing.

In the course of time, I felt “addicted” to write even a line or two. Blogging became my tool to  easily course my thoughts. When the paid media were impossible to reach, and the information fed seemed imbalanced about an issue which became controversial it reached the court, in the case of a commercial feature film that I edited last year, whose media blast against us were just too many, I blogged about my reaction to the issue. Through blogging, our/my side at least was heard, known, and perhaps considered or pondered upon by those who really think. Without the blog, it would have been too one-sided, with a few sympathizers only counting on some third-hand information or accounts. I gave first-hand information by letting out my thoughts, my feelings, and most importantly, the truth. Many reacted, with some picking up my thoughts. The stats then daily zoomed up as puzzles in the heads of those interested in the issue were answered somewhat. Above all else, I felt relieved in venting out — was it anger? anxiety? Maybe both. After all, we put in our very best and spent unpaid overtime and creative effort for something we believed would surely be a milestone.

That’s when I quite realized the power of blogging and bloggers!!!

The country stats now only confirm the breadth or scope of the blog’s reach. In principle, I know of its universality. But still, it overwhelms me to know that my blogsite in this little corner of the world, now runs contrary to what I used to think — that this would just be MY journal, or a simple diary. It isn’t possible I realized especially after seeing all those little flags flying in the stats summary. With this comes a sense of responsibility to fulfill — to be true and sincere in one’s writings. That’s how I feel. I don’t know what or how you feel about it. I am just sure that I’ll be fooling myself if there is no truth and sincerity in what I write.

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The Facebook Addiction

March 13, 2012

Many friends were prodding me to open an fb account… For long, I wasn’t tempted to have one until some weeks ago when finally, advocacine visyon fb account was born. Unlike some of my friends who got addicted to it, I do not think I’ll fall into that pit. Blogging on wordpress is enough… Jokes on fb addiction abound; below is an example sent to me by my Indian friend Bandhu.

The Facebook Addiction:
Teacher: What will you do after growing up?
Student: Facebooking
Teacher: NO! I mean what will you BECOME?
Student: Admin of Facebook pages
Teacher: OMG! I MEAN what will you ACHIEVE after you grow up?
Student: Facebook Admin Rights
Teacher: IDIOT! I MEAN what will you do for your PARENTS?
Student: I create a page for them on FacebooK. ‘I MOM & DAD’
Teacher: Stupid! What do your parents want from YOU?
Student: My Facebook password!
Teacher: Oh God! What IS THE PURPOSE OF YOUR LIFE?
Student: Facebook but never face your books…
This is called FB Addiction…

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Met the WordPress Challenge!

December 17, 2011

Yesterday, got a note [from wordpress admin I suppose], informing me that I met my goal… to write 435 blogs.  At the start of year 2011 in January, a challenge was posed to either write everyday, or once a week; I didn’t take the challenge to write daily. I know myself. It would be impossible for me to achieve that because of my activities. But I am quite happy and in fact surprised that I actually managed to reach the target of writing and posting some 400+ notes on this site. It has become a habit indeed; a manic habit in fact, to write anything, even just a note. One compelling reason, is for me to be able to practice writing since I am not good at it. Second is because, blogging has helped organized my notes, especially my showing skeds. Now, I can easily check on what my activities were during the previous months, for ex.

I was actually only prodded by Dang Koe, chair emeritus of Autism Society Philippines  to start blogging because of Alyana, my feature-docu on autism. This has then evolved to become a journal, a diary of my activities—whether on making my docu, editing a mainstream film, or publishing my brod’s writings;  a time blog…an outlet of expression… a notebook, an album of sort…

Well! I just hope that I’ll be able to maintain and keep on blogging in 2012 –and daily!!! Sans fb, I think I would. My time won’t be divided.

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A New Year of Blogging

January 1, 2010

A year of blogging has passed! I am so thankful for having kept a personal journal such as this one which consolidated my scattered and random thoughts. I was so happy [and quite surprised too] to have written over a hundred blogs, 103 to be exact, having been bitten by the blogging fever that it was!!! Thanks to wordpress…to friends who prodded me to blog…to those who found time to visit and shared with my joys, my thoughts and musings, my sorrows, my expectations, my hopes, my anxieties, my dreams…

2010! A new year of blogging. With high hopes that the fever continues. With lots of projects lined up in my mind, more people to meet and write about, more experiences to share with, photographs to snap and share as well, I hope to be able to write as much, hopefully more. A New Year’s resolution that I want to add is the resolve to start doodling, sketching, maybe paint again—preoccupations I was into even before I wallowed into photography, and long time before I delved into filmmaking.

Portrait ng Nanay/oil on canvas

The confidence is gone. My drawings are amateurish now. The skill is not there anymore. I used to excel in life sketching and portrait painting. Shame on a “Fine Arts” graduate like me! But one fact is there. I am happier to make my advocacines. Before,  I managed to share the appreciation of my artworks to only a few, now, sharing my films to hundreds of people, sometimes thousands has been more fulfilling. Painting and filmmaking are similar in a way no matter—in both ways, in whatever I come up with, they would always be extensions of myself, expressions of oneself.

This 2010, I pray that our country and people who suffer from both natural and man-made disasters be spared; that monsters and corrupt politicians be gone, and election results believable. May God live in the hearts of those who would run the course of our country’s fate. May our children’s children live in Peace. May harmony truly live and reign throughout the world! May our environment be as green as is should be! And may love envelops each one to shield us from greed, anger and foolishness!

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Alphainvention or alphainvasion?

January 13, 2009

I started blogging two months ago in November 2008 but it was only last week that a good number of referrals from Alphainvention manifested. It caught my attention because of the high hits displayed by the stat graph. Though it didn’t surpass the hits as the time when I had posted “Journey to Tagum,” I wondered where they were coming from and whether it had something to do with what I wrote recently that bloggers claiming to have high hits do not impress me. By appearing from nowhere, it seemed to tell me that getting high hits is possible through this channel. I checked its site, and I saw a series of blogs popping-in and out, one after the other. I could not make out what was happening anyway so I read what alphainvention is all about. There were varied responses mostly coming from people like me who wondered what the hell was happening.

But whether the readers referred to were real or not, alpha’s “invasion” didn’t matter. As I’ve earlier posted, blogging activity, more than the blog stats matter. Besides, it only lasted a day…more like a fluke or a mistake that it caught my site. But in fairness, thinking how Apha did the aggregation of blogs amazed me. He should be commended for his efforts in programming. To me, it appears that he is in the process of experimentation. Anyway, I hope he succeeds in what he is trying to do.

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On Blog Stats

January 3, 2009

If I were to believe my site’s blog stats, it recorded a thousand hits on New Year’s Day ’09. I started blogging exactly two months ago in November 3 and so far, I have made a total of 19 postings, 15 approved pages, 145 tags and got some 15 comments. December 10 reflects the highest hits recorded after posting my blog “Journey to Tagum” on the previous day.

Somewhere in the dashboard it says— “Just a note: we don’t count your own visits to your blog.” But I don’t believe that. I have observed that hits don’t count only when the blogger is logged in. But when one is logged out and you click on any of the pages, it does add to the stat. I have tried it. So bloggers reveling and claiming to have thousands of hits every so often in wordpress doesn’t really impress me. But, I believe the traffic report on my Tagum City blog. He!He! Aware of the blog stats “behavior,” I intentionally did not visit my site after informing the Tagum folks that I have uploaded my “report” on the Alyana show and my journey to Davao. Well, partly because I wanted to know more about the blog stats behavior!!! The shoot up report was surprisingly high indeed reflecting the interest that Alyana generated I assumed!

Anyhow blog stats report is the least of my priority. It is just part of getting to know wordpress. I need to learn more about what it is offering. But right now, I am happy with it. It is really blogger-friendly. For a first-time blogger like me, it gives me just the right amount of technicalities that I need to carry on with the blogging activity. But I need to tinker more on what the dashboard provides.

The hang of blogging is hitting me quite. I find it enjoyable and useful at the same time because it has made my thoughts more organized, my notes more clean, clearly written and logical. (I have 5 small notebooks beside my bed so that when an idea pops in, I can just it jot down on any of them). Now, even my dreams can be blue printed in a journal-like manner. Blogging makes me feel like a reporter at times, at other times like a monologue writer with the stream-of-consciousness type of thoughts flowing. I write freely, think aloud, let my opinion out. I am not wary and worried if I write simply, or probably wrongly when it comes to grammar, tenses, etc. I am MY reader, first and foremost anyway, so what??? But I do invite friends to drop by here to update them on my journey. If others happen to visit by coincidence, they are most welcome to “travel” with me!!! Welcome to my world!

Blogging is really blurting  or burping out of thoughts, sharing of ideas, dreams and visions like what I mentioned in my very first post.  What is common to all bloggers I guess is the sharing of one’s feelings and existence. It is talking to one’s self, a friend, a colleague, even spirits. It is definitely an outlet as much as it is an “inlet.” Only after going deeply into our subconscious that we come up with better consciousness. It is churning and digging up of memories. It is having a practice on the use of some rusty word vocabularies. It is overcoming the fear of being criticized as a “writer.” It is welcoming all that. It is revealing something of one’s self—or exposing other’s malpractices perhaps, a spitting out of venoms or maybe hurts…But for me personally, blogging is but a solid documentation, as in my films—of my wanderings and wondering thoughts, of my journeying spirit and that of my films above anything else.