Spectacular!
It was nearly 2 years ago when I first met Jewel, a friend of mine.
Jewel writes well. I think people who write well are interesting. So
whenever our communication lines are open, I would engage her in a conversation
that usually results to endless exchange of ideas.
Then one day, she asked, “Why are you not blogging?”
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I used to hold a negative notion about blogs in general. On various
occasions I’ve been referred to some blogs, but I couldn’t ever get into them.
I didn’t like their writing style; and the “txt spk” and “cHaT sPeAk” gave me
headaches. Moreover, I didn’t care about the prevailing overly self-indulgent
prose within a given blog.
Part of that can be attributed to my personality too. I don’t feel very
comfortable about dissecting my personal accounts for the world to see. The
idea of writing a public diary didn’t struck me as appealing in any way.
So what happened? Why are you reading this now - in my blog, no less?
After Jewel raised the question, it got me into thinking. I’ve always
wanted to write, so I thought managing a blog wouldn’t be such a bad idea for
flexing my writing skills. Thus, I started my first blog with my hi5 account.
Alas, it was horrible. All my entries there were exactly like the blogs
I overtly despise.
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Even in the advent of friendster blogs, I couldn’t be very enthused.
Sure, I did create a blog earlier last year, but most of the entries contain
far too many angst and emotion that were delightful to type, but banefully
embarrassing to read. The contretemps keep piling up that I couldn’t delete the
entire account soon enough.
I decided to quit blogging altogether. It’s clear to me that I wasn’t
really very interested in imitating the style of the overly self-indulgent
“live journal” format of writing. Besides, I thought any event of my life worth
telling will be told to my good friends anyway.
Then one day, as if by chance, I found this blog from one of my
classmates. After reading it, I was amazed, and had a shift of ideals.
How?
That blog wasn’t quite different in theme when compared to other blog.
This blogger would write in 2-3 short paragraphs the events that transpired,
and his observations. Doesn’t sound very exciting when read here, but visit
that link and you’ll see what I mean. In a nutshell, where this blogger differed
is that he knows how to tell people what happened, without being overly
self-indulgent and sappy, or by slinging platitudes as if having the mysteries
of life already figured out (when nobody ever does). He knows how to keep
readers from being bored. I, for one, never tires of his blog.
That blog gave me a new belief that, scarce as they may be, blogs that
are well written will give a result that’s truly magical. Blogs like that are
capable of opening a new world of insights to the viewer. And because they
mostly rely on author using his/her own personality in speaking with rapport
and intimacy, suddenly, the readers empathize and feel as one with him/her. I
wanted to write like that, and thus, came my blog that has since been around
for quite a while, because now I have a motivation and a good reference.
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Good blogs are scarce, and frankly, even a good one may not suit
everyone’s taste. Thankfully, I got a spectacularly good taste. Here are the
blogs that are among my favorites:
Mikebot – Mikebot blogs VERY often. In fact, I sometimes wonder how he
could manage to spontaneously come up with so many ideas. Not only that, but he
manages two blogs simultaneously – one about his personal exploits; the other
about gaming PC. What does a personal trainer and I have in common? Well, maybe
only in our interests in videogames, and even in that we don’t share the same
taste. So how come I keep reading Mikebot’s blog? Answer: Because it’s damn fun
to read!
Sam Oh – If I may be so bold, I am very quick to despise TV
personalities, especially the obnoxious ones (Hello, Kris Aquino?) Sam Oh,
however, is simply amazing.
Before earning a spot on ETC, she used to belong to the same school as I. We don’t really hang out
with each other, so I’m not sure what her character is and all. After reading
her blogs, however, I am now overflowing with regret: she’s a lot of fun! It’s
already reasonably difficult for a TV personality to manage a blog, so in that
Sam deserves kudos. I love the way she perceives the world.
I love how she vents anger on the silly things that happen. If there’s a
realization, it’s that it would’ve been spectacular to hang out with her. But
as it stands, reading her blog is the next best thing.
Gene Park – Gene’s blog border on inspirational, and that’s fine,
because it’s eloquent no matter what the tone. I’m yearning for another update
on his blog. Why is it taking such a long time? He’s a journalist for crying
out loud!
Ok, so maybe that makes sense. There’s just so much writing you can do
in a day before you feel exhausted. But damn, I still want to read Gene’s blog!
His blogs are sometimes poetic, sometimes funny, and always entertaining.
Patrick Ty – English is our country’s secondary language, and a
mandatory learning too. So how come it’s so rare to find someone in this
country that writes English so well? Oh Pat, just when will you next update your blog?
I so miss it! His is the blog I was referring to; the one that inspired me to
make one. Honestly, isn’t that more than enough praises? I’m afraid that he might have already developed a giant ego due to reading my fluff.
Ika – Ika and I actually have some rather peculiar, dubious history. No,
it has got nothing to do with romance. I’d rather keep that to myself and
besides, I’ve already put it behind me. The point is that, I like Ika’s
writing. She doesn’t keep her blog updated too often, but her most recent entry
was able to immediately earn her a spot among my favorites. And I like her
“riot grrl” tones.
I don’t even want to give praises anymore: just read her most recent
entry. It has left me speechless.
