Tag Archives: blogging

Letting it out

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Sunset over Laguna de Bay. Photo by CallMeCreation.com

The urge to get out was so strong that I endured one hour of driving just to see this sunset (and a little bit of bicycling) in Eastridge yesterday. During last year’s Lunar new year holiday, we went to have lunch at Balaw-balaw in Angono, went to see the Petroglyphs, Morong Church, and then the Tanay Lighthouse until the sun had set.

I promised myself that I will show the girls this place and will watch the sunset with them here. Which we did yesterday.

The last time I was here trying to appreciate the sunset, he didn’t pay attention to it, to me, or to our surroundings. It was as if he didn’t want to be there with me and just wanted to ride his bike and be done with it. He didn’t talk to me. He only did talk to me when he wanted to buy the orchid being sold along the main road in Eastridge.

I want to bury those memories. I am supplanting it with better ones that didn’t stab me like a thousand knives.

I’m letting this all out so I don’t suffer in silence. I wanted to tell the world about this but of course I can’t. Where is the dignity in that? Unlike some of my friends in social media, I don’t air my dirty linen in public. But I’m looking for ways how to air this out because keeping it all in is killing me.

That sunset was so beautiful and yet fleeting. It only lasted about 10 to 15 mins then we were enveloped by darkness. It was like that episode in my life.

The best revenge is to live my life to the fullest. To be better than I was when I was with him. To be a kickass journalist. To be a better photographer. To be a better homemaker and parent. To be a better human being.

The clock doesn’t move backwards, so I shouldn’t.

Never struggle to chase love, affection, or attention. If it isn’t given freely by another person, it isn’t worth having.

Unknown

DOWNRIGHT VICIOUS

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Spinbusters used to be amusing. Vicious but entertaining. Entries give you something akin to schadenfreude, especially to media insiders. It had the ability to cut down holier-than-thou news teams or people to size.

However, they have begun to go downhill when (it seems like) blog management changed (thus the change of blog url). They have become too mean. Really mean. No longer funny.

And this validates my observations

How to be a real journalist, according to experts at Spinbusters

The Spinbusters, a website run by professional journalists who have received awards in spelling and grammar, recently posted a blog entry entitled Human of the Year: The Newbie Journo. [See: Spinbusters]

The blog entry criticized younger media practitioners by saying that they were not the experts they proclaimed themselves to be, a status conferred only on “working journalists,” referring obviously to their delusional selves and their other multiple personalities.

Without intending to, the blog entry came up with several rules regarding the practice of journalism in the Philippines, which, unfortunately, didn’t cover the use of rock, a useful tool in journalism.

Here are five tips on becoming the next big thing in Philippine journalism, according to the Spinbusters.

See the rest of Boojie Basilio’s blog entry here

The dangers of being exposed

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It took me 8 years before I had the guts to emerge from my pseudonym. It’s quite ironic since I’ve been writing for half of my life and I have my name in black and white for many years.

And yet I’m scared of blogging under my real name. What gives?

Is it because in blogging I become the message since I am the messenger and the gatekeeper rolled into one? I guess it’s because I don’t have anything that I could transform into some kind of barrier or screen between me and my readers, critics, detractors, what-have-you. Maybe because the accountability rests on my shoulders alone and no one else’s—no editors, no producer, no president or chief executive.

The trouble also with having my name bandied on a blog is that it automatically makes me censor myself. Last night my sister, who just recently arrived in Australia, told me over Yahoo Messenger to delete some comment I made on Facebook about the nuclear missile testing by North Korea. She said, “you cannot post those kinds of comments because you’re a journalist. You may compromise your credibility.”

At first my initial reaction was “screw you! screw them! This is my private Facebook account!”

But then nothing is really private in Facebook, isn’t it? Look at the “bikini photo” incident with a Catholic school in Cebu and two students.

Are journalists really banned to take sides, to express opinions? Even on Facebook? Can we not say, “stupid North Koreans for making radioactive sushis of us all?” Even in half-jest?

Where do I draw the line? Or am I forever limited to the confines of my paper-and-pen journal at home? Yes, I know, there are numerous journalists out there who have blogs and still manage to go out in the field unscathed. I just wonder how much self-censorship they do? How can they rein in their opinions? How do they deal with accusations of bias and yadda, yadda yadda?

The pseudonym I have allowed me to criticize systems, criticize the government, make fun of personalities, review gadgets, review restaurants, endorse products and food. Can’t I do that using my real name?

If I can’t do that then I guess this blog will only have 10 entries for all eternity.

COMING OUT

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i had been blogging on and off for almost 8 years now but under a pseudonym. those blogs had a total of 10 readers. it didn’t matter. i was not after the hits. all i wanted was an outlet where i can voice my opinions and express myself clearly. i started a blog as a coping mechanism since being in government—with all the ugliness of bureaucracy and politics—can drive anyone with my temperament insane.

and blogging kept me from being bored.

but when i started to work for a newspaper, my blogging became sporadic. when i became an assistant business editor, i didn’t have enough energy left to even blog about things, opinions, etc.

when i joined Interaksyon, i barely updated my blog since—i don’t know. i felt like i don’t have anything to say at all. besides i had Facebook where i can pour my angst and irritate my friends who get to read my reklamo sa buhay.

I also had my twins. They keep me from having a straight 8-hour sleep since April 11, 2011. Until now.

So why suddenly come out and blog under my real name with my complete identity in full view of the world?

Let’s just say this is an experiment.