A Day In A Life Of A Blogger

I begin to miss my blogging friends who are in hiatus while some have decided to stop blogging for personal reasons and I still hope to see them back someday in the blogsphere - for most of them have inspired to stay and keep on blogging and some I was able to work with in our Kablogs projects.

They reminded me on how I started with my blog while I was following them as I tinker with my layouts and after a year and a month I feel I am still at "playing stage" with my blog.

Now I am sharing with you a funny blog post created by the famous blogger himself Paul Bradshaw of Online Journalism Blog on the 5 Stages of a Blogger's Life.

 

It started with a joke...

Commentors, friends and followers...
let me count my ways... (stats)

 

One for all and all for one . . .

Blogger of the Century . . .

I HOPE WE DON'T REACH THIS STAGE SOON :(


Can you identify yourself from the above illustration?

Ang Diwa Ng EDSA

EDSA Day na naman, tulad ng inaasahan, holiday na naman sa Pilipinas. Isang araw na pag-alala sa tagumpay ng EDSA, tagumpay laban sa rehimeng Marcos.

At sa tuwing ginugunita ang EDSA, buong pagyayabang na aking ibinabahagi sa aking mga anak at sana sa aking mga apo na ako kapag silay nakakaunawa na ako'y naging bahagi ng makasaysayang People's Power Revolution na nagsimula nuong Pebrero 22 hanggang 25 taong 1986. Ito rin ay aking itinala sa aking Balik Tanaw sa EDSA Revolution - 02/25/86.

Pero paano nga kaya kung hindi nagtagumpay ang EDSA Revolution at paano kung namayani ang kapangyarihan ni 'Taning' at sinunod ng mga sundalo ang kautusan ni Gen. Ver na supilin ang People's Power Revolution sa EDSA sa pamamagitan ng paggamit ng dahas - baka  sinagasaan na kami ng mga Tanke ng Army o di kaya maaring namatay at wala ng mapagkilanlan sa amin sa bombang maaaring ihulog ng sa EDSA mga Tora-Tora ng PAF kung hindi namayani ang kapayapaan at pag-ibig sa puso ng bawa't Pilipino.

Malamang sa kulungan na hahantong si Ginang Aquino at baka si Cardinal Sin ay magtutungo sa Vatican at duon magtatago. siguradong si Ka Fidel, Enrile at Honasan ay sa firing squad  mamamatay. At maaaring ang mga sumunod na mga Presidente matapos si Ferdinand ay kaanak nya rin, si Imelda Marcos, o kaya'y si Bongbong Marcos.

Walang ring  Kapamilya Channel tayong panunuorin kasi  ang  pamilyang Marcos ang may-ari ng ABS-CBN ng panahon na iyon at siguradong hindi sisikat si Kris Aquino bilang artista  dahil hindi sya makakalusot kay Gng. Imelda Marcos na Patriyarka ng Kultura at Sining nung panahon na iyon. Di rin sisikat ang kulay dilaw, baka huhulihin ka kapag nakasuot ka ng kulay dilaw at tatawagin kang komunista kahit dilaw lang ang ipin mo.

Pero di nangyari iyon, nanalo nga si Tita Cory, isang kasaysayang  nagbigay ng  bagong pag-asa  sa bawa't Pilipino nung 1986. Pero ano na ba ngaun ang diwa ng EDSA makalipas ang 24 na taon? At ano na ba ngaun ang histura ng makasaysayang pook ng EDSA?

At bilang pangwakas nais kong  ibahagi ang video clip na ito, sana mapangiti ka kahit saglit lang - subalit huwag mo kalimutang sagutin ang katanungan - Ano nga ba ang Diwa ng EDSA?

Ang video ay likha ni Lourd De Veyra na mas kilala sa kanyang Word of the Lourd video series na matatagpuan sa You Tube.

Live and Let Love

Realize things before its too late.

Have lots of friends before you are alone.

Accept things rather than deny them.

Love people before you loose them.

Life comes just once.

Love it while you live it.

Image snipped from flickr.com
uploaded by Henný G

Follow Kablogs On Facebook

Kablogs has crossed new dimensions as part of improving its site, and not it has joined Facebook, is the wildly popular social network that is connecting friends and family the world over. If you are in Facebook,  join in and ‘become a fan’ -

Follow Us On Facebook

  Click on the image and become our fan

As part of our expanding social network, we’ve formed a fan page on Facebook. Because we wanted to ensure that all our members, supporters, followers and readers could keep a close eye on our increased stream in our world class blogging talents because at Kablogs, we believe that each Global Filipino bloggers has a distinct and unique talent where their dreams and desire are pursued with passion - 
to stand proud and stand out.

So please, become a fan and help us reach out to all our kababayan, the OFWs and Pinoy Expats, our families and friends  who are busy surfing the Facebook world.

Here is the link to our brand new fan page on Facebook:

KABLOGS on FACEBOOK

We aspire to help every Kablogs' Members and Supporters shine.

YOUR BLOG, YOUR SITE, YOUR SHINE!

 

Mark of Faith

"You asked, Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge? Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. "You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me. My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes." (Job 42:3-6)

Today, February 17, we arrived at Ash Wednesday, the entry point for a 40-day season of prayer, sacrifice and almsgiving in our Lenten journey towards Easter.

Ash Wednesday gets its name from the practice of placing ashes on the foreheads of the faithful as a sign of repentance. The ashes used are gathered after the Palm Crosses from the previous year's Palm Sunday are burned. (Source; Wikepidia)

Ash Wednesday is a wake-up all, as it hits us squarely between the eyes, forcing us to face mortality and sinfulness.

Remember that we are dust - loved, beloved, shaped, molded, caressed, nurtured by the Loving Father who made the moon and stars and all the creatures of this world. Remember we are dust, precious, God's precious dust.

This also reminds us of our mortality, and it confronts us with a simple question: We have only one life. How do we want to spend it?

As we begin our Lenten pilgrimage, let us not limit our spiritual renewal with Christ with prayers and abstinence. In our Lenten "journey with the Lord", let's practice works of piety and seeking out opportunities for real charity. Let us reach and offer our resources to the poor, the sick and the  underprivilaged,  a challenge to the Presidentiables and 2010 candidates for their immoral spending of billions of pesos for a worthless election media campaigns in their effort to fool and buy the people's vote without clear political platforms and solutions  to the growing hunger and poverty in our society.

In our preparation to fast, pray and share the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, let us  give alms generously, by which we overcome selfishness and resist the temptation of  graft and corruption and use the gifts God has given us to love Him and love others.

Remember, we are nothing but dust, and to dust shall we return: Unique and precious, we are created for eternity. 

O Jesus, you place on my forehead
the sign of your saving Cross:
“Turn from sin and be faithful to the gospel.”

How can I turn from sin
unless I turn to you?

You speak, you raise your hand,
you touch my mind and call my name,
“Turn to the Lord your God again.”

Let us see your glory in the ashes.
Take us by the hand
that we may trust the darkness.

Bring us the blessing of your forgiveness
and the gift of your light.
Grant this through Christ our Lord.

AN INVITATION TO KABLOGS' NEW HOME

WELCOME TO KABLOGS NEW HOME!

www.ofwkablogs.com

 

From our humble beginnings in 2008 with a desire to unite the Global Filipino bloggers by building an aggregate and directory site at thoughtsmoto.blogspot.com, the phenomenal growth of our members and supporters have given us new feathers in our wings to fly and reach for greater heights and crossed borders.

(Kenji added a puppy in this post, hoping you will take KABLOGS like a puppy, cuddling and tickling, and yes, feeding, as part of your daily OFW or blogging experience. )

Today, as we observe the Valentine's Day, reciprocating to our readers and our love for our fellow OFW members and supporters, we are proud to welcome you all to our new home:ofwkablogs.com

Our new domain serves a broader purpose as we shift from our traditional aggregate blog site to an active blog organization highlighting each blogs as distinct in bringing their human side to life and through its diverse talents as Global Filipinos forging a powerful partnership in pioneering advocacy geared towards national unity, peace and development and volunteerism as embark on plan to embark on our journey to worthwhile and meaningful community projects this 2010. 

We still have a lot more to do. We intend to make our website to be more informative which will showcase the first class blogging talents of our Kablogs OFW and Support members and we have now integrated a discussion forum which is now on its 'beta' stage and in few days we hope to bring you a fresh new look and feel as we enlisted the help of our distinguished PEBA 2009 winners.

 

We'd like to thank The Pink Tarha, the beautiful ladies - Sundrenched, Eyecandy. Maryhadalittlehump and Sugarfree for the very generous donation of ofwkablogs.com domain to our growing global blogging talents.

As you update your KABLOGS links, we would like to thank you - members and readers for your support and unbridled enthusiasm to our community for the last 2 years. We hope to receive your love and support for our new domain and we welcome your questions and suggestions on what you'd like to see, let us know by leaving your comments below or you may contact us at kablogs123@gmail.com

THANK YOU SO MUCH AND HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO ALL!

KABLOGS TEAM

I Wish This Valentine ...

A 3D Image of Blood Cell

I wish I could see through your eyes

so I would know what you like to see.

I wish I knew your wishes,

so I could give you everything you want.

I wish I dreamed the same dreams you do,

and together we could make them come true.

I wish I knew what makes you happy,

so I could make you the happiest person in the whole world.

And lastly, I wish I were a cell in your blood,

so I would be sure I was somewhere in your heart.

A Valentine greetings to the three wonderful women in my life -

my sister, Teresita, 

whom I owe my life, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

my wife, Elinor, 

my strength who lift me up when I am down; and

my daughter, Geehan Maika, 

who has given high definition colors to our lives.

And to all the wonderful people who is in-love and is falling in-love, 

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL, LET LOVE BEGINS. 

HAPPY VALENTINE TO ALL OF YOU!

Image snipped from flickr.com
Uploaded by Andrew Mason

A Drop of Water Makes a Mighty Ocean

After reading the blog posts of my blogging friends Nebz entitled "Bayaning napipilitan ka nga ba?" and Yellow Bells (her reply to Nebz post) entitled "Napilitang Bayani Ba Ako?", I cannot avoid to think about OFWs as heroes and its heroism beyond politics.

12 Million Filipinos have crossed borders, they dared to follow their dreams armed with skills and talents, they make a difference among other nationals and were hailed as world class talents in their respective fields, they shaped the world. The global Filipinos have made a marked and maintained the world class standards in various occupational fields, in medical care, customer services, engineering, computer and technology. Imagine a world without OFWs, try to read Kenjie's blog entitled "The Day The World Without OFW".

Alone, your monthly remittance to your family will not have an impact to our country, but the 12 Million OFWs remittances to their families back home sustains the national economy of our nation, from Jan - Oct 2009, a total $14.321 billion was coursed through our country's banking system, no other groups can meet this challenge - kung walang OFW remittances you can imagine what will happen to our economy with the increasing prices of oil in world market.

Every OFW families fills each tables in Jollibee and McDo and other famous food chains; you'll see them in SM, Trinoma, Gateway and Robinson, with their shopping bags they help these malls to survive. Middle class structure of our society is generally composed of families of OFWs. These group are the main consumers and major contributors to VAT collections, they are our families back home.

Outside our homes, have you ever thought that Western Unions exists because of the OFWs, hey don't ignore the long queues every first week of the month on all money exchange centers abroad, Pinoy ang mga nakapila.

We have armed ourselves not only of talents and skills but we have brought faith into the foreign lands. We became missionaries - and take it as a miracle as the Islamic countries in Middle East have allowed us to practice our faith in their lands, new Churches were build, and on weekends, you will see thousands Pinoy Christians filled the church pews.

Who can really measure greatness? Who can define a real hero? Like love, heroism is better felt than defined, better recognized than analyzed. Since 1970's dama ko ang kadakilaan ng bawa't OFW sa kanilang pakikipaglaban sa kahirapang kinamulatan sa sariling bayan.

The low turnout of Overseas Voters registration should not diminish the sacrifices and great contributions of our Global Filipinos. Distrust and hopelessness to the Government and embassies, limited numbers of polling places, poor OAV campaigns and flaws in the OAV law itself are the main reasons behind the disappointing figures during the OAV registration across the globe.

Even if you cannot vote on May 2010, I know YOU have the will power to SAY YES TO CHANGE, let us help others to say YES to what is GOOD and NO to EVIL. We can’t do this without You, we can’t do this without EACH OTHER. Let us unite and guide our families back home to help them select the ideal leaders of our land, let us unite and become a force of history.

Let us be the flash point where the light begins to travel at great speed, igniting compassion, that others might see the power of change and we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

Like a drop of water let me merge and mingle in the currents of our particular time and situation and not hold back, but join what nurtures the earth and soaks the seeds of justice and peace.

"Little drops of water, little grains of sand, make the mighty ocean and the pleasant land.  Little minutes, small though they may be, make the mighty ages of eternity."

Let Me Be The Spark

I would like to share with you this special prayer, taken from  Statement of the La Sallian Brothers entitled 'Let Us Start The Change We Want To See". 

Lord, let me be the change I want to see,
 

To do with strength and wisdom.
 

All that needs to be done,
 

And become the hope that I can be.
 

Set me free from my fears and hesitations.
 

Grant me courage and humility.
 

Fill me with spirit to face the challenge
 

And start the change I want to see.
 

Today, I start the change I want to see.
 

Even if I’m not the light, 

I can be the spark.
 

In faith, service and communion
 

Let us start the change we want to see,
 

The change that begins in me.

Till I Met You

God wants us to meet a few wrong people

before meeting the right one.

So when we finally meet the right people, 

we should know how to be grateful to them.

Utopian Dream

Dreams need not be utopias, but can come close to them, depending on who dreams, his courage, determination and faith.

The Book of Exodus narrates the escape of the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, and their wanderings in the wilderness for forty years. God frees the 600,000 Israelites from bondage in Egypt to the promised Land through with the leadership of Moses in 1445 B.C.

I have dreamed that the providential hand of God will send His modern day Messiah from the rank of OFWs to lead His Filipino diasporas out of bondage in foreign lands, the OFWs who have have crossed borders in a bitter consequence of hopelessness to our Government.

For the last 40 years, the Global Filipinos have embraced migration to foreign land as a bitter pill solution to the growing poverty in our country. Yet no politician or policy maker listens to the aspirations of a man who wants to survive decently by working hard even almost parallel to slavery.

When was the last time that the voice of the Migrant Workers has been heard in the hallways of Congress, in Senate and in the great walls of Malacanang?

As the Global Filipinos flourished to 12 Million OFWs, it is dispiriting to note that only 589.830 overseas Voters  have registered for the coming 2010 election. With this discouraging figures, my utopian dream  of a savior rising among the votes of Global Filipinos seems to become a fantasy.

I agree with Nebz of Isla de Nebz comment in my recent post Come Fellow OFWs, Vote With Us! (which is a PEBA/Kablogs collective post) -

...We can't collectively be a voting force in 2010 (dahil sa kakaunti lang ang absentee voters na bomoboto) but we can be an effective influence to our family para bumoto ng tama.

This will not deter us from dreaming - WE WILL NOT STOP ON DREAMING  and WE WILL NEVER STOP AT DREAMING.

Let us be proud to be an OFWs, but more than that let's be honored to be a registered Overseas Absentee Voters with the power to invoke change even outside our  country, that we are exercising this right as our forebearers have fought and died for.

This May 2010 election, WE, the few registered OFWs may be regarded as minority voters but it can still make a major impact on 2010's electoral landscape. We will discern, support, campaign and solicit votes from the families of the 12 Million Filipinos back home, and with God's guidance, we will bring into the halls of Senate and Congress and in the facades of Malacanang the ideal leaders of our land.

The choices we face on May are momentous, and the results will be felt not only for the next 6 years, but perhaps for decades to come by Filipinos across the world. In this season of desperation, let's pray in a united and fervent way, that the individuals of God’s choosing would be elected to every office.

“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”  (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Image snipped from flickr.com

Uploaded by crazyfrogleg [catching flies]

Come Fellow OFWs, Vote With Us!

For decades, we've been lauded as "Bagong Bayani" as a recognition by the same government who has caused our mass exodus into foreign lands.

Let's breathe the title of modern day heroes and accept its appended challenges and responsibilities. Despite our distance and diversity, we take pride in being a part of the Filipino abroad’s global recognition as shapers of the world.

Now, the time has come to unleash the heroes within us as the majestic sun rises in the East and its rays of hope shines upon our nation this coming May 2010 election.

This is a call for our collective voice in the 2010 election.  We encourage all Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) and their families to actively participate and be part of our country’s historic electoral process.

For several years, we’ve made our presence felt in building our nation. In every single dollar remittance that is being delivered in our family’s doorsteps, we OFWs have helped in sustaining the Philippines’ economic growth.

Our experiences in and out the country have led us to become seasoned professionals who are now politically mature to discern what’s best for our home country. Now is the moment to make a difference. We are part of the 12 million Filipinos dispersed across the world and we can definitely make a difference.

We will solidify our stand to choose the right leaders for our country. We will influence our family and loved ones back home, the recipient of our hardships and struggles abroad, to act too. We will guide them in making their choices this coming May 2010 because we believe that their actions will not only shape our country’s future but the future of the generations to come.

Our nation has suffered from the action (and inaction) of irresponsible and corrupt government officials but we must remain steadfast in our hope and desire of having a better country. Our nation is already battered and divided.  This coming election, its fate resides in US.

If there is a time to live as modern day heroes, to make a difference as global Filipinos, to embark on something worth doing, IT IS NOW!

Let us empower ourselves as OFWs. With one voice and one heart, let's vote and get counted! Only  responsible voters can bring responsible leaders in office on May 2010. Let the new leaders of our land rise from the votes of OFWs.

Headed by its founding Chairman, Jebee Kenji  Solis, an OFW based in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia. This is a joint call from the Pinoy Expats/OFW Blog Awards, Inc. and the KABLOGS (Kabayan Blogs)with over 300 Linklist of OFW/Kabayan Blogs from the Philippines to the oil rich countries the Middle East to the bastion of civilization of Europe, across the land of democracy in U.S. of America and its neighboring country Canada;  to the developing countries of Asia and Pacific, and to the far flung countries of Africa.

Note: This article appears in Kablogs linked sites and is also published in Philippine Online Chronicles (POC).