A Lot Has Passed, A Lot Has Happened

Whew. It's been awhile since I've posted something here. Last entry was....March? Wooo, 6 months. That's quite some time.

Quite some time for me to think over of what I want to do and what I want in the days to come.

In any case, my dream of pursuing a career in freelancing has come to a full stop. In the months of March leading to May I spent most of my sanity and welfare in front of the computer, slaving myself for that elusive dream that I can work at home and be very productive.

Turns out you need a lot of willpower to do such a feat. And I don't have a lot of willpower.

Lahat ng tao may hangganan.


Well, as the hand of fate nudged me around I finally was able to land a job in IRRI around mid-June. And from then on, my days are once more packed with work work work.

No complaining there.

But I still take in some freelancing work, though I have to schedule them on the weekends now. Extra cash nowadays goes a long way. Not to mention learning some new things along the way.

"Everything that happens once can never happen again. But everything that happens twice will surely happen a third time."

In order to make this blog of mine more entertaining, I've decided to put some categories in it, namely:

[Review: Anime] - this will deal with anime shows that I'm currently hooked onto.
[Kitchen Alchemy] - this one will talk about not just about cooking food, but also a bit of chemistry behind food and cooking and some other kitchen chemistry that's helpful at home.
[Technocrat] - under this will be tech-related stuff, from the latest gadgets to some opinions about the web and stuff.
[Food Trip] - this one's a bit self-explanatory; I'll talk about food and the places I've been to just to try out the other cuisine.
[Musings] - my personal opinions, rants, raves.

That's about it for now.

Everyone believes that the main aim in life is to follow a plan. They never ask if that plan is theirs or if it was created by another person.

These past few days, I've been trying/looking at some ways of making money online. Yeah, monetizing my weblog would be the most obvious choice, but as I've found out how to monetize isn't a real walk in the park. For one I somehow have to advertise my blog somewhere so establish 'net traffic here, and I have to update with things I want to discuss/rant/talk about. The last part I can do.

A friend of mine has made her own weblog and is currently making money out of it, and she gave tips on how to monetize blogs. I've tried doing what my friend did: getting a free webhost and domain name, and trying to customize my domain. Turns out the second part is a weeee bit more difficult, at least for me who hasn't really got any experience with tweaking web pages and stuff.

For some reason the ftp server (I'm using Filezilla and just following instructions to the letter) of the webhost I registered in keeps kicking me out when I've only got around 25% to go. I'm trying to use WordPress (I've heard a lot of positive things about it, so might as well try it), but since I'm being kicked by the ftp server by the rear for reasons that I can't comprehend, I'm starting to realize that maybe getting a webpage and tweaking it may be well over my head.

Or maybe I'm just being too complicated to myself.

Don't get me wrong; that option is still open to me, but I think this Blogger would suffice for now. I can still post interesting stuff with not much frills, but hey, there's something about its simplicity. Sometimes I even forget that that was my reason I made this blog.

Less is more.

People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.

Back in the day I was just on the verge of taking the UPCAT, I found myself thinking of what I want to be someday. Of course, most of us had choices ranging from the mundane (like driving a heavy piece of equipment like a bulldozer. Yes, that was one of them.) to the extraordinary (like being a ninja. Well, this one's too far even for me). Of course, there were the high-enough-to-achieve like being a doctor, astronaut, scientist, engineer, teacher, businessperson, and others.

In high school we had this sort of "evaluation" test, to see which skill in our brain works best. My classmates never really took serious note about it; hell, they even cheated on it. But I just answered the questions as much as I can. And when the exam was evaluated by the teachers we were interviewed one by one for the results.

What I got? They said my brain works best on "abstract" ideas and some "logic" problems. Which meant that taking up Engineering or math-intensive courses in college would best suit me.

Now, Engineering (whether be it Civil, Chemical, Electrical or Agricultural, but not Industrial) was one of the courses I really wanted then, but the thing is is that in UP it's a quota course (meaning limited number of slots), it takes five years, and very much math-intensive. Me? I'm not really good at math; I had to crawl my way up just to pass every math subject in high school. So I was at a crossroads of sort.

Then my father suggested I take up Agricultural Chemistry; it's a five-year course, not-so-much math-intensive and if I did well on my first year I could shift to Engineering without much of a hitch. The idea was sound, and I was sold by it.

So Agricultural Chemistry it is.

Then high school graduation came, and come June I was already enthusiastic of meeting my blocmates and all. After the first semester my father and older siblings asked me if I'm still planning to shift courses; truth be told, I was enjoying Chemistry and I've forgotten the whole shift-to-Engineering plan for my life. I said I'm sticking to the course I've entered.

And I'm not regretting one bit.

Oh sure, it took me around seven years to finish it, but still, it was fun and all. I may not have a Chemist license yet (I've been avoiding it for around 3 years now), but hopefully I get one this year. And though I may have a job that's not really Chemistry-related, the skills I've learned during college helps me in doing my tasks.

And no, blogging wasn't a rad during my early college days.

Now I find myself at a crossroads again. Not of what course to take, but what I can do to be more productive. Sure, making review materials rakes in the money, but there's that opportunity in front of me that I still can see clearly. My brother (who is based in Singapore) said to me I'm the type that's productive when I work at home. My sister then told me I should monetize a blog and such to generate income as well. And they got to read the fanfiction I wrote six years ago, and they said it was a good material.

It makes me wonder if they're just being nice or they could see what I can't.

But given that I am working at home, monetizing a blog wouldn't hurt. I just have to be writing on it most of the time to get hits on the 'net. And as for writing a fanfiction of sort, I still have to re-work on it. My sister said I should just continue on what I started because I have followers already, but I guess she didn't think that those followers would grow up and I've neglected that storyline altogether, not to mention I'm not really playing the game that my fanfiction is based upon.

Decisions, decisions. I'd better make one before I lose the opportunity.

It's Not You, It's Me.

It's been quite awhile since my first post, and I promised myself that I'd update this blog of mine regularly. But then 'regularly' is an arbitrary word; some people update their weblogs daily, weekly, monthly, twice a month, every other month, and so on.

So yeah.

Anyhow, it's been quite a busy life for me, even though I work at home. Ever since the project I was employed on ended around last year, I've been doing some freelance work to earn enough for my basic necessities. But recently a friend from high school got me into working for a group (which, he was a 30% shareholder) that makes and gives college entrance exam reviews.

My job? Make Powerpoint modules on selected subjects.

My parents then were both professors from the University of the Philippines, so I know quite a bit on what and how a lecture discussion is made of. Truth be told, I am enthusiastic of this job; not only that I get to work at home, but being able to make a lecture discussion is like a small step on being able to teach. I've always wanted to teach; I guess you could say it may run in the family.

So far the pay is good, and the output I'm making satisfies the editors. It'll only be a matter of time before I can see the real output of what I've made so far.

I guess that's it for now, as I've got to finish another module that's due on Friday. If I can finish it earlier, the better. I really want to fill this blog up with ideas inside my head.

Everything Starts From Zero.

To quote my close friend, "Every blog starts with a first post".  And here it is.

This isn't my first blog altogether, this has been like my fourth (or fifth? I feel like there's another blog of mine that I keep forgetting) attempt of having a complete and frequently updated blog. My first was from Multiply, which was then snazzy and rad during the time I was blogging there (from 2004 to 2008). Then I've moved to LJ, though the interface kind of overwhelmed me, and during that timeline (2008-2009), i was going through a whirlwind of emotions.

And it was also during that time I started fiddling with Blogger, and I started experimenting with it in late '09 until around March 2010.

I have to say Blogger is simple, but its simplicity is what I like about it. My first attempt on Blogger would've been nice, if it wasn't for several factors:

           1) I wasn't satisfied with the template I was using so I kept changing every now and then;
           2) I wasn't frequently updating it;
           3) I still had angst/emotional issues to deal with;
           4) My reason for blogging was too ambitious (more on this).

In my first blog in Multiply, I almost wrote down everything (and I mean EVERYTHING). From my thesis, to my tooth extraction, to trips and eb's (eyeball meet-ups), my wants and needs, etc. When I shifted to Blogger, I tried the same tactic, along with the notion that I could do ala-Gizmodo-Kotaku-Lifehacker twist. Which utterly failed, due to my part of not updating and other personal matters.

This time around, I'll try a different approach to blogging; from now on I will, as much as possible, refrain myself from posting angsty-emo related stuff, narrow down the things that I want to post/discuss, and more importantly, update this blog as frequently as I can.

Hey, the first month of the new year is almost over. Although blogging wasn't part of my new year's resolution, I'd like to do this for a real, REAL change.