Free Tickets for the David Pomeranz Concert and Some Updates...

Do you remember the contest I've joined a few weeks back for the David Pomeranz concert? Well, unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it. But I feel so glad and ecstatic when the Bariles man himself declared that all non-winning entries are entitled of two (2) tickets for the concert!

Isn't that great?

Though I wasn't personally present when the tickets were awarded today at Grab-a-Crab Coffee Club 101 and Restaurant, I felt giddy with the thought of finally being able to watch David Pomeranz LIVE in concert for FREE ;-)

I wasn't the lone person excited for this big event come Valentines Day. My mother has been ceaselessly asking me of a ticket for that special Kalilangan Presentation, the city's Foundation Anniversary. Well, your wish is granted mother dearie! We have two seats available at the courtside ;-) My co-worker Star of The Maiden's Testimony and her daughter Lollii of My Kawaii Life also got their own tickets. Oh, man! I am just too excited for this special night. I just hope my wound would be OK by then and I wouldn't be limping so as not to spoil the night.

After exactly five days of getting wounded in my brother's bicycle, the scab is getting dry each day. At least there is some improvements. But I still can't walk straight and I am reporting for work everyday wearing skirts because it's just too ouchy to wear jeans and slacks. Today, I actually went to the dermatologist but she wasn't around. Her clinic assistant informed me that she has the same wound in her leg a few weeks ago also from riding the bike and she dived into the drainage. Her situation was even worse! So I wasn't the only one, huh!

I am so much grateful to the commenters of my previous written article, Lainy's Wounded and Bruised Up. I value all your very helpful suggestions and THANKS SO MUCH for your concern and for wishing we well.

They are the following:

1. Joys in Life
2. Rare Ordinary Thoughts
3. Random Ramblings
4. Ellie Yan Dot Com
5. Babette's Definitely Maybe!
6. Words of Love
7. The Painted Veil
8. Juliana's World
9. Honey's Inlove
10. Twerlermz Blog
11. A Woman Under God's Grace
12. A Malaysian Abroad
13. What Have You
14. In the Eyes of the Beholder
15. Colorful World of Shiela
16. Show Me Your Interest
17. Novice Master
18. Journal of an Airforce Mom
19. Blazing Minds- This, That and a Little Bit of the Other
20. My So Called Life
21. Windmill on the Hill
22. ChinkyMel's Corner
23. Night Clicks

    
    

THANK YOU,

JOY! 

First commenter for this post...

Lainy's Wounded and Bruised Up

I feel sore. The abrasions I got from the little accident I got involved myself with last night made my feeling terrible. I can hardly move. But I still was able to report for work for half a day but actually did nothing there for the fear that someone might touch my knee and they could hear my screaming "Ouccccccccch"! I got myself isolated. And in the afternoon, I decided to just stay  home because the pain was intolerable.

Well, everything went so sudden last night. I was actually in bed ready to hit the sack when I heard my mother exclaiming: "Oh, the bike is here, we can do a little exercise..." Mind you, it was already thirty minutes before midnight. Prior to seeing the bike, she was already looking for it after we've arrived from the Thursday worship service. So, Lainy went out of bed, telling mother that it's already late but she said "get the bike outside where there is more space." So there I went out and rode the bike. The last time I rode a bike for heaven's sake was 17 years ago! Everything happened in a blink of an eye. I saw a big stone getting in the way so I had the bike redirected but I suddenly lost my balance. I fell to the ground hard with my knee and my arms bruised up and wounded.

When my co-workers found out how the accident happened, they were all smiling, some were even laughing. Poor me! There wasn't any ounce of sympathy just because I got wounded up from riding a bike :-( I know the wound would heal over time but I am so sure there has got to be some scars.

That's the thing I was so worried about since last night. I was actually on the look out for the best treatment for scars. But my Prince lifted my spirit up once again by telling me:

"I want the content of your heart, not the texture of your skin..."

For awhile there, I got stupefied but indeed my Prince was right. I then remembered one of my favorite quotes:

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye...

Lainy would like to thank: 

A R L E N E

for being the first commenter ;-)

When All Your Posts Are Nothing But Paid Posts

I am one of the many bloggers who is enjoying one of the countless perks of blogging- getting paid to blog. When I first came to blog, it's primarily because I want to express and not to impress. Then came the companies who were able to lure me with a few bucks by writing for them. Indeed, it became a huge motivation for me to stay infront of my PC longer hours than necessary. And why not? I get to earn dollars by just writing a few words.

I am FOR paid blogging but while I get to enjoy the monetary aspect of it, we must admit that it also has its downsides.

BLOG CONTENT IS SACRIFICED

Though I have always believed and emphasized that quality is subjective, content is still KING. When one gets to write a post with a couple of paid links for advertisers and there's a need to beat the deadline, the tendency is for one to be in a hurry and just write in random, include the needed links, hit the publish button and get paid. That's all there is to it. I admit I am guilty as charged. Sometimes I even forget that there is a certain ratio needed for paid reviews versus personal posts- 1:2 is ideal. It's hard to do it especially when one has multiple blogs (like me). I admit I can only manage to have one (1) interim post after each paid reviews.

What's striking here, and frustrating I must say, is that we can see a LOT of blogs where every post is a paid post. Some even don't write an interim post when there is no new assignment at hand. In my opinion, it will hurt our blog if we do that more often. Just take for instance this blog. It was ranked 3 by Google a couple of weeks back. When I grabbed assignments from one identified affliate for a week, my Page Rank dropped to 2. Why am I not surprised at all? I know Google is a little unpredictable but the heck with Page Ranks!

Now going back to paid posts, I do not know the technical consequences of it, but personally, seeing blogs bombarded by paid links is rather dismal. I always take more than three (3) hours a day dropping cards on blogs, reading and commenting. I admit there are a few blogs where I do the "drop and run" phenomenon. I am sorry but your posts must be bombarded with paid links. If it's any consolation at all, majority of the blogs I get to spend more of my time are those that are very interesting to me and they are all worth spending my time.

I don't want to cease being a passionate blogger. I truly enjoy the REAL perks of blogging and that is free speech. I can get to write whatever comes to mind in random, paid post or not. I don't want to disappoint my visitors when they take time to visit my blogs and all I can offer are paid links. I don't want to steal your time and waste it by letting you know that my advertisers have become my master. Though I don't write for an audience, I feel I should be responsible for whatever things I write because I am involved in some communities where I am inviting my fellow bloggers to visit my blogs (EntreCard, MyBlogLog, BlogCatalog, etc.).

UNDERMINING READER'S INTELLIGENCE

While it's true that most of us are paid to blog, a lot of bloggers have quite forgotten that personal posts should be written by REAL people. Some bloggers tend to plagiarize just for the sole purpose of breaking the monotony by writing paid reviews. Bloggers must exude prudence and decency to give credit to where it is due when quoting or copying someone's work. We can not always undermine our reader's intelligence more so fool them in believing that we are such a great writer. We are not fooling them but we are only fooling ourselves!

As what, Tony Feriozzi, Payu2Blog support staff warned and I quote:

"What I have run into a few times now is a blog full of 60 word posts with links, all paid and nothing else. That blog, if thats all it is, will eventually not get assignments. So do your best to do some real posts on your blogs if you aren't already, it will be better for you and us. "

Let us all remember that with blogging comes responsibility. And blogging is not about how articulate and eloquent we are as a writer. It's about the effort we put in by writing down our OWN thoughts, generating pleasure just by doing it and how we convey every message we wanted relayed to our readers (if there's any, hehe!).

HAPPY BLOGGING TO US ALL!

Working Under Pressure

I can't imagine how I was able to get everything done last night before retiring to bed at midnight. I don't usually go to bed at midnight anymore because as early as 8 p.m., I have such drooping eyes that I can hold them off no longer. I did a total of ten (10) opportunities from three (3) different affiliates yesterday and quite a number of filler posts. While doing the bulk of writing tasks, I was also at the same time dropping cards to more than a thousand blogs. I woke up as early as 3:30 a.m. yesterday. I was already very tired from a day's work but I don't know where I got the will to finish all the assignments given to me with a sense of urgency. All the opportunities were to expire yesterday and I can't just let it slip away from my fingers again just because I wasn't able to manage my time.

Gratefully, I have managed to work under pressure. But I hate it when quality is sacrificed to make way for paid reviews. I feel like I was just writing anything that comes to mind just for the sake of posting them because there is an urgent need to post in between reviews. But I am no Superwoman. As much as I wanted to accomplish so many things in 24 hours, that is not just possible. I haven't stop wishing there's 48 hours in one day so that I could accomplish more.

Can You Complain About Your Job?

Too many people have been complaining how a bad day it has been for them at work. I just finished chatting with my co-worker now and she was raving and ranting about one of our co-workers who has been acting like a leech. He has been trying hard to taint my friend's image infront of the big boss. Before I got the chance to hear her complaints, I was commenting on my cousin's post, Ally of In the Eyes of the Beholder, who also had a very bad day at work. I can actually imagine my cousin's face fuming with rage with that image she posted in her blog, hahaha! Good thing she has her blog to express her angst on!

Keep your cool, pretty girls! Always remember that life is what we make it. It can either be beautiful or ugly depending on how you handle things. No matter how bad this day has turned out for you, laugh it off and remember that you are still very lucky that you've got a decent job wherein you get a decent pay. Too many unlucky Filipinos out there are left with no jobs and left with no choice at all because of the lack of opportunities. Mind you, most of the unemployed Filipinos are four year course graduates! So you are indeed not only very lucky but so blessed to have jobs of your own.

While I was browsing my mailbox, I find it fitting to share the images below. Photos can speak a thousand words. I hope you will find these photos uplifting. At least you don't have a job that needs to smell other people's armpits, clean people and animals' poohs, and the like.

I Am A Blogger!

For those of you who have been frequenting my blogs, you must be aware by now that I am so much passionate about blogging. It has become an addiction and eventhough I am quite busy with work which is on a 8-5 basis and preoccupied with a lot of other stuffs, I always find time to blog, or if not to blog, doing my usual daily routine such as replying on comments, reading and commenting on blogger's posts that are of interest to me, and dropping cards to more than a thousand blogs everyday... without fail.

My blogs are my babies. It never really came to mind that I would take blogging seriously to the point of contemplating on giving up my own job. I became really, really serious with blogging when I got my own domains April of this year. When I mean serious, it means I keep it updated at least once a week.

Though most of the things you read here is all about me, myself and I, I still would want to make the most out of your time by coming up with articles that are thought of. Everytime I make a post, I don't write them just for the sake of posting. And it's never for the sole reason that I need to write because I have an audience. It's all for the love of writing and expressing myself well through this medium.

If not too busy at work, I even draft those that comes to mind in random. But because of time constraints, I admit that quality articles is sometimes unattainable. People have always been talking about quality and content being king. But to me, it is subjective. If you think this blog is low in quality and I am just wasting your time, you can opt to never come back. But still, there is always room for improvement. I always want to improve as a person, as a blogger. I never cease in learning because it's the thing that I crave. I have learnt quite a lot from other people's points of view and the learning doesn't stop there.

The gift of friendship that I've shared with many of you here in the cyberworld has kept me motivated to try harder and improve. And because I've learned so much by being a blogger, I am sporting this shirt to shout to the world that I'm proud to be a blogger. This shirt was created and designed by the artistic hands of a very good blogger friend, Rosilie of Rosilie: My Blog, whom I had the privilege of meeting in the flesh during the 2nd Mindanao Bloggers Summit.

What about you? Are you proud to be a blogger?

The Biggest Surprise of My Life

I always go home for lunch to accomplish some of my blogging tasks. But lately, I haven't done anything concrete especially in accomplishing tasks before deadline. Today, there were two reviews that got cancelled. The abnormal sleeping habits I have for weeks now has greatly affected my stamina. I just go home to take a little nap and go back to work again. The never-ending blogging chores and the need to report for work day in and day out has sapped me all of my energy.

Today, upon arriving home, my brother informed me that there was something for me beside the computer table. When I had it checked, it was a gift box that is still unopened. I knew right then and there it was from my Prince ;-) He was very sneaky to have it forwarded in our home without spilling the beans for a week. It was a huge surprise because I thought he would let Meggy handcarry the gifts when she go home for vacation back here in the country.

I was moved to tears! I called up my Prince immediately and he told me he kept mum about it because he wanted the element of surprise to be there. In the afternoon, when I got home from work, I was able to speak with Mummy and thanked her for the beautiful gift she sent me. Last year, My Prince gave me a beautiful necklace with "I Love You" engraved in it. More than the material gifts, I have always been thankful for the Gift of His Love.

The advance birthday gift made me feel very special and loved by no less than the special persons in my life- Mummy Carol and My Prince.

I'll show you the gift box but I won't disclose what's inside it just yet, hehe ;-)

The Sender

The Recipient

SEE ALSO RELATED ARTICLES:

• The Gift of Your Love
• At 28

What's Keeping Me Busy

As of late, I haven't been pretty much active with writing new stuffs across my blogs. It seems like procrastination and laziness took over for a couple of days now. I've always felt groggy and always wanting to go to sleep. My pillows always calls me at 9PM and it's so hard to resist. At 12midnight, I am wide awake and I can hear my blogs calling me, hahaha! I go back to lseep at 3AM. This rather abnormal sleeping habits has been making me drowsy at work.

My thoughts has been running berserk. There are a million and a hundred thousand things that's been working up in my head. These things are longing for attention but I can't seem to focus. Is this the feeling when one gets older? Hahaha! The birthday contest is keeping me excited and the EntreCard system's assurance of support is overwhelming.

I want to unravel everything in this post but time is lacking. It's 6:30 in the morning and I need to prepare for work. In due time, I will have to make a crucial decision. I don't have much time but I need to decide. It will affect my entire life but I know everything will fall into place.

Throbbing Headache and Stiffneck

To say that I am in pain is an understatement. I could hardly move my head. I practically move like a robot. The throbbing headache adds to my misery. The painful neck was triggered when I did some stretching early morning today. It was so sudden I was crying in pain. I still reported for work but the pain gave me hell.

I wonder if my posture while I am infront of my computer attributed to this misery of mine. Sometimes, I tend to forget that I have been seating here for a number of hours already. My shoulders are quite numb but I always forego the need to relax a bit. The call of nature has become a huge struggle as well. I always make the most out of my time while infront of the PC but I wouldn't want to sacrifice my health. It is still my top priority. I don't want to get sick ever again!

Miraculously, after attending church tonight, I felt renewed. My neck is quite OK but a little pain is still there. I think I'll get a good massage come weekend ;-)

I've Gained Weight!

During our 4-day escapade, I have always felt hungry and I kept asking for food. I have always satisfied myself from eating lots of rice, hehe. My daily usual routine was a lot different from the four days we have spent out of town.

When I had my weight checked after that, I got a little surprised because I gained 3 kilos! Oh no! I think this is leading nowhere! Until now I am still eating a lot and my tummy is bulging everyday! I think I need appetite suppressants to contain myself from eating huge.

The Island Get-Away (Part 2)

This is the continuation of my post from my other blog entitled: The Island Get-Away (Part 1).

The entire trip going to the Island Garden of Samal, Kaputian Resort was a total pain in the a$$. But we were all laughing like little kids and we had the best adventure of our lives! We took a short stop when we saw Pearl Farm’s view from the top of the mountain. I recalled this is where my friend Twerlyn and hubby Andy spent their honeymoon, hehe!

The Habal-Habal Experience

Top View of Pearl Farm

We cried out a huge sigh of relief when finally we reached Kaputian after an hour of agonizing trek because of the rough roads we hurdled. My Prince called me up late in the afternoon and asked how was everything. My exhaustion from the trip vanished in an instant, hahaha!

While trying to fix our belongings, I have been telling the group we will massage each other’s back before going to bed, hehehe! But the next day, they were all laughing at me and my cousin because the two of us went to bed at 9PM! That was very unsual!

Upon arrival, I can't help but get a pose, hehe!

With my two younger brothers

3rd Day

I woke up before the sun rose. When my brother next to me felt someone was up and about, he immediately went to the seashore and brought his camera with him and took some magnificent shots of the island. When everyone was awake, we immediately changed to our own swimwears and we were very excited and immediately headed for the beach. The salty water felt so cool! Of course, we can't help but take umpteen of photos and we posed like true but frustrated models, hahaha! We satisfied ourselves playing with the cool and calm water of the beach.

With my brother

With my cousin Allena and Ate Nimfa

With Allena and my brother Jay Son

My companions also tried their best teaching me even just to float but all their efforts were futile. Sorry to disappoint you, guys! After I had neardrowning in 1995 and almost died, I still really haven't learned how to swim!

After spending our day at the beach, we were set to leaving the island at 4PM. This time, we took the right route going back to the city. We took the barge instead of the "habal-habal" . The trip lasted for an hour. We all felt the exhaustion from the day's "photoshoot" (hehe!) but the day didn't end just like that. We all still need to prepare ourselves for church. It was a Thursday and we took the last hour for our worship service at 7:45PM.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Deviating from My Usual Sunday Routine

I always start out my Sunday very early waking up as early as 3:30 am to prepare myself for church. At 4:45 am, I am inside the church premises, specifically at the Finance Office and is doing my weekly obligations. Worship service starts at 6am. I go home at 9:30 am after taking brunch (breakfast and lunch) with churchmates.

At Church with churchmates

I feel very drowsy everytime I get home but I always take the time to sit infront of my PC to finish my dropping chores before cut-off time (12NN). But today is very different from the previous Sundays. When I got home at 10am, I've immediately changed my church uniform and prepared my ingredients for the Thanksgiving recipes I and my cousin Allena have bought the day before. It's my cousin's birthday (Allena's youngest bro) and we celebrated here at home. It was just a small celebration but it's very rare that we spend this day altogether.

Sunday is family day for most of us. And the thought of having not spent quality time with my family for ages has made me feel so guilty each time. I vowed to spend this day with my family and I haven't thought of anything about blogging and dropping cards; only a little, hehe! It felt good having to spend this day with my family and relatives!

It was a long and tiring day!

I was practically standing on my legs for half a day and I burnt some parts of my hands, ouchh! I finished cooking at 5pm and I was rushing infront of my PC because my Prince has been waiting for me already. We haven't got all the time because my cousin and my brother spoke with him, too. My brother was very happy because my Prince promised him he will send his recording software on October 29 for Kuerdas to use (hmm, what's with October 29, huh?!) or sometime in December when our little sister Meggy come home for a month long vacation.

We were able to send my Prince some songs we've recorded earlier today while we were singing on videoke, hehe! My cousin Allena has a very nice voice and he thought it was me, hahaha!

I wish!!!

But he thinks I have a good singing voice, too. Nice consolation, Lainy, hahaha! ;-)