It happened innocently enough. During dinner at the office one day, my colleague excitedly told those of us working the night shift with her that she had stumbled upon this blog written by a Malaysian young adult who detailed his almost daily drug use and experimentation.
Of course, our interests were peaked, mine especially (but not because I secretly long to be a drug addict, duh. I'm too vain to sport the drugged out, crazed, lost look). I was fascinated because while most drug abusers will go to great lengths to hide their problems from society, here was this rich, young man going against the code of druggies and detailing his downward spiral for all to read and pass judgement on. Maybe he was longing to be found out?
Anyway, because of the young man's blog, we had a great discussion going on round the table that night, which ended with the young interns trying to one-up each other on who has read the most bizarre blog.
Of course, the next time I was online and surfing, blogging and bloggers were on my mind. I googled blogs, Pinoy blogs, Filipino blogs, just to know what is already out there. And know what? There is a LOT out there. Blogs written by countrymen from all over the world, sharing their stories, thoughts, observations, travels, jokes, recipes and more. Some are good, some way better than others. Some are funny, irreverent while some are deep and insightful.
In the few months since I started blog reading, I've come to be a regular 'lurker' in about 6-8 blogs -- I say lurker because I always read their entries, but I don't make my presence known by writing comments and such. Until I started my own experiment of a blog two months ago, of course.
If you notice, on the right hand column of this blog is a spot for links to blogs that I often read. For two months until last night, I left it unedited, showing Bloggers' default link to Google News. Then last night, I thought, why don't I finally email the bloggers whose entries I read almost daily to tell them how much I enjoy reading their blogs? While at it, maybe I could get their ok too for me to link to them from my site, right?
So that I did and woohoo, the links now featured on the 'Blogs I Read' spot are the first of the good people I wrote to last night who responded immediately with their okidoki. (Much appreciated, guys!) If you want to read something more worthy after my drivel, check out those links (and their links in turn) and get to read the many stories of the unfolding lives of the people who are online.
Ah, blogging. It's been fun so far learning the ropes. I think I've awakened one or two dormant areas in both my right and left halves of the brain while trying to grapple with HTML, Photoshop and pointing my camera in the right direction. But alltogether, its been good.
Anyway, because of the young man's blog, we had a great discussion going on round the table that night, which ended with the young interns trying to one-up each other on who has read the most bizarre blog.
Of course, the next time I was online and surfing, blogging and bloggers were on my mind. I googled blogs, Pinoy blogs, Filipino blogs, just to know what is already out there. And know what? There is a LOT out there. Blogs written by countrymen from all over the world, sharing their stories, thoughts, observations, travels, jokes, recipes and more. Some are good, some way better than others. Some are funny, irreverent while some are deep and insightful.
In the few months since I started blog reading, I've come to be a regular 'lurker' in about 6-8 blogs -- I say lurker because I always read their entries, but I don't make my presence known by writing comments and such. Until I started my own experiment of a blog two months ago, of course.
If you notice, on the right hand column of this blog is a spot for links to blogs that I often read. For two months until last night, I left it unedited, showing Bloggers' default link to Google News. Then last night, I thought, why don't I finally email the bloggers whose entries I read almost daily to tell them how much I enjoy reading their blogs? While at it, maybe I could get their ok too for me to link to them from my site, right?
So that I did and woohoo, the links now featured on the 'Blogs I Read' spot are the first of the good people I wrote to last night who responded immediately with their okidoki. (Much appreciated, guys!) If you want to read something more worthy after my drivel, check out those links (and their links in turn) and get to read the many stories of the unfolding lives of the people who are online.
Ah, blogging. It's been fun so far learning the ropes. I think I've awakened one or two dormant areas in both my right and left halves of the brain while trying to grapple with HTML, Photoshop and pointing my camera in the right direction. But alltogether, its been good.
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