Oooppss, we’re taking a break…I’ll be back…

Back to iBlog. The topic right now is problogging or blogging as a profession. I haven’t really thought of blogging as a career option but hearing about some bloggers who are earning more than I do makes me think twice about becoming a full time blogger. In the meantime I’m looking for some ways to earn online. My latest project is Hallyudorama.com which features episode guides of Korean and Japanese dramas. It’s a joint project with my friend Hannah and we’re hoping it would pick up steam soon.

Next topic is about photoblogging. I would love to photoblog but being cramped in an office five days a week makes that a bit more difficult. Meanwhile, here’s a picture of Ederic, Josh and myself just hanging out here at the iBlog. Hope everyone has a fab weekend!

Prior to that I was a big fan of the 2004 Korean drama Full House with Song Hye Kyo and pop star Rain. I liked the predictability of the characters in Korean dramas. Sometimes you need things like that in your life. After Full House, I didn’t really get to see a lot of other k-dramas just because there was too much to see and too little time to while away. I went through the Grey’s Anatomy, Prison Break, Heroes and Lost phases in my TV life and after a while I just grew tired of the long seasons where characters constantly break up, get back together or die in the end. What I loved about k-dramas is that they finish the story in just one season. No cliffhangers. No season 2 letdowns.

Then came Coffee Prince, which I absolutely enjoyed. The story was cute and the actors were surprisingly good so I got hooked. I even have the full soundtrack on my iTunes. My friend Hannah, who’s like the Asian drama guru in our office introduced me to other dramas like Goong or Princess Hours, which I also enjoyed and the Japanese adaptation of the manga Hana Yori Dango. I think I finished seasons 1 and 2 of HYD in less than two weeks on top of everything else I had to do for my graduate classes.

Now, Hannah and I are obsessed with the Japanese adaptation of the manga Hanazakari no Kimitachi e or Hana Kimi, which is about a girl who pretends to be a boy. She enters an all boys school to meet her idol, an athlete named Sano Izumi. GMA-7 is airing the Japanese version while rival ABS-CBN is airing its Taiwan version. I absolutely loved the Japanese version though I haven’t really seen the Taiwan version so I reserve comment for now, on which is better. However, I might be biased because I’m a big Oguri Shun fan. Shun played the role of Hanazawa Rui (Hua Ze Lei in Meteor Garden) in Hana Yori Dango. He’s not really a gorgeous actor but there’s just something about him.

Albeit only forwarded to his mailing list, I was thrilled to receive an e-mail from one of my favorite writers, Paolo Coelho.

Below is the Christmas tale he wrote for his columns. Feliz Navidad!

Our Lady’s Juggler
by Paolo Coelho

A medieval legend tells us that in the country we know today as Austria the Burkhard family – a man, a woman and a child – used to amuse people at Christmas parties by reciting poetry, singing ancient troubadour ballads, and juggling. Of course, there was never any money left over to buy presents, but the man always told his son:

“Do you know why Santa Claus’s bag never gets empty, although there are so many children in the world? Because it may be full of toys, but sometimes there are more important things to be delivered, what we call “invisible gifts”. In a broken home, he tries to bring harmony and peace on the holiest night in Christianity. Where love is lacking, he deposits a seed of faith in children’s hearts. Where the future seems black and uncertain, he brings hope. In our case, the day after Father Christmas comes to visit us, we are happy to be still alive and doing our work, which is to make people happy. Never forget that.”

Time passed, the boy grew up, and one day the family passed in front of the impressive Melk Abbey, which had just been built.

“Father, do you remember many years ago you told me the story of Santa Claus and his invisible gifts? I think that I received one of those gifts once: the vocation to become a priest. Would you mind if now I took my first step towards what I have always dreamed of?”

Although they really needed their son’s company, the family understood and respected the boy’s wish. They knocked at the door of the monastery and were given a loving, generous welcome by the monks, who accepted the young Buckhard as a novice.

Christmas Eve came around. And precisely on that day, a special miracle happened in Melk: Our Lady, carrying the baby Jesus in her arms, decided to descend to Earth to visit the monastery.

All the priests lined up and each of them stood proudly before the Virgin trying to pay homage to the Madonna and her Son. One of them displayed the beautiful paintings that decorated the place, another showed a copy of a Bible that had taken a hundred years to be written and illustrated, while a third recited the names of all the saints.

At the very end of the line, young Buckhard anxiously waited his turn. His parents were simple people, and all that they had taught him was to toss balls up in the air and do some juggling.

When it came his turn, the other priests wanted to put an end to all the homage that had been paid, since the ex-juggler had nothing important to add and might even mar the image of the abbey.

Nevertheless, deep in his heart he also felt a great need to give something of himself to Jesus and the Virgin. Feeling very ashamed before the reproachful gaze of his brothers, he took some oranges from his pocket and began to toss them in the air and catch them in his hands, creating a beautiful circle in the air just as he used to do when he and his family traveled to all the fairs in the region.

At that instant, the baby Jesus, lying in Our Lady’s lap, began to clap his hands with joy. And it was to young Buckhard that the Virgin held out her arms to let him hold the smiling child for a few moments.

The legend ends by saying that on account of this miracle, every two hundred years a new Buckhard knocks on the door of Melk Abbey, is welcomed in, and for the whole time he remains there he warms the hearts of all who meet him. #

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In the light of the proliferation of a number of online social networking tools, the researcher would like to look at how these sites improve the relationships between co-workers. These sites were originally intended to allow users to reconnect with friends or relatives who are abroad or have been out of touch. These sites have also allowed users to broaden their social networks by connecting with casual acquaintances and even strangers. But how about the relationship of those in the workplace, those who see each other everyday and maintain professional relationships with each other? Do social networking sites really improve the relationship on a personal level?

Because of several activities one can participate in while logged in to a networking site, the function of these sites have also evolved. No longer is it just a tool for asserting one’s popularity (the more friends, the more popular you are) or for communicating with long lost friends, these sites have become communities wherein one has to do his or her share of work. Facebook, for example, has an application called Fluff Friends where you can adopt a virtual pet. To earn ‘munny’ (virtual money) to buy food, you have to pet your friends’ pets. In another application called My Christmas Tree, you can send and wrap gifts for your friends’ Christmas trees, sort of an online version of exchanging gifts.

The researcher’s hypothesis is that there is a significant improvement in the relationship between co-workers who are ‘Friendsters’ or ‘Ka-Facebook.’ In my own workplace, I have noticed how this worked. Co-workers who don’t usually talk about things apart from work have shared experiences while feeding a pet or virtual shopping.

Employers may squirm at the fact that their employees use their free time by logging on to these sites but this may actually prove to be even more beneficial to them since anyone would agree that a pleasant working environment gives one more initiative to go to work everyday.

However, I do make time for Facebook. You can visit my profile here http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=539159220 and pet my soya friend Taho.

Right now I’m trying to convince myself that I’m doing something fruitful here because I’m planning to do a paper on online social networking for my Anthropology class.

On a lighter note, have you seen Star Cinema’s film One More Chance? I’m still trying to get rid of that song in my head but the movie was surprisingly entertaining.

What the article and the book are saying is that food isn’t just about taste or the right blends but that it’s connected to our most treasured memories of events when we felt happiest or most loved.

That made me think. Hard. At first I thought of California Maki, Big Mac and then blueberry cheesecake for dessert. But then I thought of my mom’s sweet spicy meaty spaghetti so that’s probably one. We’ve had numerous gatherings with that recipe in tow. I’d also want champorado with tuyo. But not the instant champorado you can buy at the grocery. I like the champorado where they use real tablea (unsweetened chocolate). I’ve never had one for a long time now but I remember how I loved it especially when it’s cold and raining outside. Sweet plus salty. It’s kinda disgusting but it’s perfect. And lastly for dessert, I’d have a sweet ripe mango. I’d peel the whole thing with my bare hands and eat it, the way mangoes should be eaten.

So how about you? Have you thought about your last supper?

Anyhoo, the characters in Gossip Girl kinda reminds me of my high school, all the painful, awkward stuff in it.  Not that I lived in the same high-class environment.  But you get my drift.

Someday I’m gonna write something about my own high school life and it’s going to be painful, heartbreaking, funny, awkward and hopeful. 

As Frank McCourt described in his brilliant book Angela’s Ashes:

“When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I managed to survive at all.  It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while.”

Minsan, sinusubukan ng panulat kong
magtae ng mga salita.
Pilit hinahasa ang bolpen,
sinasaid ang tinta.

Karaniwan, gusto kong ubusin
ang mga pahina ng aking notbuk.
Kayurin nang husto ang manipis
ngunit pinong papel.

Ngunit madalas sa hindi,
hinihila ako ng pangangailangan
ng trabaho, pag-aaral,
ng aking pamilya.

Madalas sa hindi,
iniisip ko muna ang mga
asayment, kalechehan sa trabaho,
ang ibabayad sa kasera ko.

Madalas sa hindi,
nauuna ang iba kaysa
mga tema, scenario, dayalogo
at anumang kapritsuhan ko.

Kaya pagbuklat pa lang ng notbuk,
pagpatak ng unang tinta,
pagtikatik ng mga ideya,
sumusurender na ang mga salita.#

Here are some quick facts about Migmig:

• He was born on January 19, 2003 in Angeles City.
• He loves to eat vegetables.
• He has long, curly hair so people often mistake him for a girl.
• He loves to watch Heroes.  His current favorite is Hiro Nakamura. 
• He claims to have a girlfriend in pre-school named Genevieve.
• He’s a lolo and lola’s boy and a tita’s boy too.

Know more about him here.