Why Blog...? (...when it's as obsolete as mIRC?)

Sigh. Why risk being called a tech dinosaur? After all, there have been numerous well-based predictions that Facebook and Twitter, what with their ease of usage and accessibility, will slowly put blogging into extinction.

It is not actually a question of whether I like to write. There is, indeed, no question that I like to write, as I find this method of communication more effective for me than talking. I did not learn to talk till I was 4 to 5 years of age, but at that very same time I was constructing sentences and doing a lot of drawings. I grew up always bringing with me my "magic slate" (y'know, those things you write on and eventually erase when you lift the translucent gray film off the black base), eventually replaced by a small notebook and a pen where I can write random thoughts and ideas. It is one of my many personal attempts to put some semblance of order into my cluttered mind.

(Ideas as cluttered as wisps of cloud. Hong Kong skies, 2007)

One of my first reasons why I started blogging is to address a need, so to speak.

When I started my first proper blog called Trash Radio Manila, my initial goal was to write about the music that I like and how the local underground scene is like from my viewpoint. These are the very things that I want to read about online and yet I do not get to read much. Apparently, there are some people who would want to read about the same things that I am interested in.

Then I realized then that blogging allows for a sharing of opinion even from strangers - people whom I would not dream of adding in my Facebook account.

You see, sometimes, there are just some things that I just want to write about and see what people think. When you want to determine a particular opinion, oftentimes you get the more objective ones from strangers. I can explain a certain issue at length, without being interrupted, and then see what they have to say. It is like allowing a good friend to talk about a problem that's bugging her and what he plans to do about it without interrupting him, then when he is done talking you can give your thoughts.

I certainly believe that good communication even with people whom I never know at a personal level is possible, and this does not require Facebook.

I have always regarded Facebook as a phenomenon yet not without its limitations. Facebook has made communication too personal. Honestly, it irks me a bit to read those status that change every hour - and people wonder why stalkers abound. Sometimes - my apologies for having to state this - some friends will breach the boundaries of "personal space", at times invading your Facebook wall with their issues that you have absolutely nothing to do about. Facebook is like being in a noisy bar: people move about you, brushing your arms and shoulders as they move about, breathing behind your necks ... does this sound like I am experiencing some form of online claustrophobia here?

This is also the same reason why I do not hang around much in Twitter, either - I only use it for networking purposes, just like my Facebook account.

Blogging, well ... call me old-fashioned. Blogging is like being in a coffee shop with a friend. Communication is unhurried, you can both stay up all night, and go home to your respective places without one needing to know what the other person wears (or does not wear, perhaps) when sleeping.

*****

This is my submission to the May 2011 edition of The Blog Rounds. Yay, Bonedoc, we're back! :)

To Heaven, And Back, To Hell, And Back...

With more than 50% of my lifetime spent (granting that I will die before the age of 60, the average life expectancy of the women of our family), I can say that I have by far traveled well enough. Physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually.

I have been to heaven ...


... to hell ...


... to heaven ...


... to hell ...


... to heaven ...


... to hell ...


... to heaven ...


... to hell ...


... to heaven ...


... to hell ...


... guess where I am right now ... ?


No clever words this time, just images, and more images...

[Photo of flatline from this site, original photo of telephone booth from this site]

Friend or Foe

There is someone in my life right now that has become, to me, both indispensable and dispensable, depending on the circumstance.

Since communication happens to be a very crucial element of my existence, it would be logical for me to rely on this - creature - during dialogues with people whose language differ from mine.

He seems to be so useful, like a patronising fan of an aging rock star. I certainly rely on him for the most part. He is like someone who would win the Mr. Congeniality Title in some beauty tilt because he tries and has apprently succeeded in winning almost everyone's trust.

He is, of course, a provider of some superficial sense of security. Because, like a lot of people I know - those who put their best foot forward and calls everyone "Sir" and "Madame" until your ear aches, and hits you with a bread knife at the back - this creature has a propensity to do the same thing.

You think you are secured with him? Wait til you find out some nasty things that he is capable of doing.

There are times, when you confide something to him, he changes the context of what you want to actually tell the other person. It can sound a bit ridiculous (The sentence "Do you want to drink a little?" turns into "Do you want to drink a can?"), or sometimes disturbing ("Just like you" turns into "I eat you").

It can get even worse, because this creature can be really vengeful. It can actually reverse meanings ("I don't know" becomes "I know"). What the frigging heck.

Like a lamb, it will just look at you meekly, while the rest of you have started an argument, because of his follies.

I know better now think. I learned to be less reliant on him. He is no different from the many people I have come to meet.

Knowledge is one thing. Sensitivity is another. Too much reliance on someone or something can be fatal.

So, listen up, TRANSLATOR. I still need you, but I am already pissed with you.