A is for AGE:
== 23 as of today (only 58 days to go before my next birthday!)
B is for BOYFRIEND’s name:
== ….no boyfriend
C is for CAREER:
== kina career ang pagiging web writer
D is for DAD’s name:
== Mateo (b. Sept. 21, 1936 d.June 16, 2002)
E is for ESSENTIAL item to bring on an airplane:
== Bonamine
F is for FAVORITE song at the moment:
== "You’re Still You" by Josh Groban
G is for GIRLFRIEND’S name:
== not applicable
H is for HOMETOWN:
== manila-born and raised
I is for INSTRUMENTS you play:
== lyre, piano
J is for JAM or JELLY you like:
== mango jam
K is for KIDS:
== kids? no plans yet
L is for LIVING arrangements:
== don’t know yet
M is for MOM’s name:
== Josefina
N is for NAME of your best friend(s):
== Lyra (since high school)
O is for OVERNIGHT hospital stay:
== De Ocampo Hospital along Nagtahan last January 2004
P is for PHOBIA[s]:
== rats
Q is for QUOTE you like:
== "Excellence is a habit, not an act."
R is for REALITY you have accepted:
== no matter how hard i try, i cannot ride a bicycle
S is for SINGER(s) you like most:
== Josh Groban
T is for TIME you wake up:
==usually 7 AM on weekdays and 9 AM on weekends
U is for your UNIQUE trait:
== you can always count on me to provide for your photographic needs on all occassions (whether on land, under water, etc)
V is for VEGETABLE you love:
== potato, carrot, broccoli, and cauliflower
W is for WORST habit:
== i play with my hair
X is for X-RAYS you’ve had:
== i try to have one every year during my annual check-up
Y is for YUMMY food you make:
== cheesecake and microwave brownies with nutella
Z is for ZODIAC sign:
== gemini
Gimikera Is In
Your resident gimikera is here to share her expeditions in this journey called life.
Right-click on my guestmap and open in a new window so you can post a message and an icon on your current location. You can also view the locations of my guest map visitors as well.
1) Thou Shalt Speak in Thine Own Voice.
(Everyone has a
natural voice when they write. Some people are cranky, some are funny,
some are strictly business. All voices can be ok, just make sure the
voice you use is your own. If you try to sound like someone or
something you’re not, your readers will spot the fake right away.)
2) Thou Shalt Edit For Spelling, Grammar, and Clarity.
(Why annoy your readers with misspelled words, bad grammar, misplaced modifiers, and … [unfinished sentences.])
3) Thou Shalt Respect Your Reader.
(Always
act like the reader is smarter and more noble than you are. If you
treat your audience with disdain, they will wander off, bite the hand
that feeds them, or worse.)
4) Thou Shalt Not Steal.
(Pretty
cool, eh? I get to use one of the ten original commandments. Oops. Wait
a minute, am I stealing someone else’s material? Well, even if I am,
you shouldn’t. Fair use lets you copy small sections of other sites for
purpose of quoting, so give attribution.)
5) Thou Shalt Be Faithful.
(OK,
you should be faithful. Your readers are counting on getting their
daily dose of cool from you. If you don’t deliver they will be
disappointed. Disappoint them too often and they will stop coming.)
6) Thou Shalt Make The Choices Clear.
(The
internet is hard enough to use without oddly marked and confusing links
surrounding your posts. Make sure your design and copy make it easy for
your readers to do the right thing. Decide that your blog will be a
delightful adventure for your readers, not an infuriating puzzle.)
7) Thou Shalt Be Truthful.
(This
should be easy. Don’t write or repeat things you know or suspect to be
false. Eager bloggers can quickly become a pitchfork wielding mob in
search of a victim. Look for trustworthy authoritative sources. Take
deep breaths. Think before you post.)
Thou Shalt Be Consistent.
(Not
the same as faithful. Make sure your audience can follow your thoughts.
If you spend most of your time blogging sports, and then one day decide
to switch to the topic of classical music, you may confuse and
disappoint your readers.)
9) Thou Shalt Not Jargon.
(No
Techno-speak, Marketing-speak, or Finance-speak. While every profession
has shorthand language for communicating domain specific knowledge,
these terms are not easily understood by those outside the field. If
your audience includes non-professional readers, then write in a
language that they can easily understand.)
10) Thou Shalt Have Fun.
(You’re
probably not getting paid for this, so take your compensation in
delight. If it’s not fun, try something else. If you are getting paid,
you’ll probably find the job easier and more rewarding if you are
having fun while you do it.)
Why are there only Ten Commandments of blogging? Hey, who am I to argue with Moses? Ten should be plenty.
posted by Phil Yanov
Websites and weblogs that I maintain:
Grupo_com is my first website (a collaboration with my partner Rhea for our Journalism 109 class in UP CMC). We used hardcoding in HTML to create this site and I got some positive feedback from people regarding the usefulness of my articles especially the one about the Philippines’ staggering debt problem.
My first attempt at a blog: the original Gimikera Is In.
I was also assigned to be a thread starter in the Travel section of Solidaridad, the UP Alliance of Student Publications and Writers’ Organizations.
Of course my main focus is now on this blog hosted by Friendster/Typepad.
Websites of interest:
My first organization in UP CMC, the UP Communication Research Society has several online homes. The first one was the we used during our time and the second one is being maintained by the current members of CRS. They even have their own forums now.
My other organization was the Union of Journalists of the Philippines (UJP) and you could see us in the alumni section of the old site while the resident members also have their own online presence. They even have their own blog now.
Web Resources:
Submit the URL of your site/blog to Link Popularity Checker and get a free online report of its popularity ranking in Google, Yahoo! Search, MSN, and Teoma (Ask Jeeves).
SiteUptime is a free website monitoring service that watches your website 24/7/365 and notifies you if your becomes unavailable.
The Blog Herald promises more blog news more often.
The Mirror Project collects pictures of people and cameras being captured in any kind of reflective surface. Submit your self-portraits as well.
The Hand Collector showcases creatively decorated hands from all over the world.
WebRanking.us offers free link popularity measurements.
WastedBlog.com has plenty of fun links for you to see.
The Ageless Project is sending the message that the personal, creative side of the web is diverse and ageless. You can submit your site/blog here.
Get a fully functional analog or digital clock for your website or your desktop from Clocklink.com.
MyBlogLog is all about tracking which of your blog’s outgoing links are making readers click; in the simplest, most non-intrusive way possible.
To submit your site to several search engines for free, try the Search Engine Starter.
Try submitting your blog / website to Site Tutor - the new power directory.
For a complete transcript of all Smallville episodes, click here.
The first fan listing I’ve joined is this one for Friendster since I really love the features offered by this social networking site.
Forums Worth Posting To:
As a blogger/webmaster, one of the most effective means of promoting your site is to join a variety of forums and post in the threads with a link to your site as your signature. People can then click on your link and generate more traffic for your site.
I have chosen the following forums and online communities based on my interests, hobbies and personality.
USTExchange was the first online community that I joined. I’ve been a member for around two years now and I use my headline animator as my signatrue for this forums. They even have a members’ blogs section now and I was one of the first people to avail of it.
Femalenetwork.com is a pretty educational and active forum for fun, fearless females.
Starpie is a forum that deals with any topic under the sun. As a Web Writer, I was tasked to post to this forum on topics involving video games and movies.
Blog Party Forum is a place where bloggers talk about their passion for blogging.
Feedburner provides an interactive forum where users can post questions and get solutions from the administration. I askd help from them regarding the use of my headline animator as my Yahoo! signature to which they responded to but their steps were quite unclear. I finally got the solution from Yahoo! Help but it was still incomplete so I modified the procedures they sent me.
Click here to view the procedures to follow when using your headline animator as your Yahoo! email signature.
Airfagev is the online home of "proud Pinoy Smartphone users" like me. Check their forum topics here.
Online sources of news feeds:
Syndic8.com is the place to go to find RSS and Atom news feeds on a wide variety of topics.
FeedBurner is an RSS/Atom post-processing service that allows publishers to enhance their feeds in a variety of interesting and powerful ways. This is where I got my dynamic headline animator.
If you want to read RSS feeds online, point your browsers to the RSS feed reader of Yourfeeds.com.
Blog Traffic Exchanges:
One of the ways bloggers can promote their blog is to join blog exchagne programs.
One of the first traffic exchanges I joined was Blog Explosion. I find it very user-friendly because of its simple interface and you can have fun while playing in the Battle of the Blogs or listig your blog in the Blog Rocket.
Blog Clicker is a free blog traffic exchange community. For every two member blogs you view, you get one visitor to your blog (2:1 ratio).
Move up the ranks with Blog Soldiers and see your stats increase.
Traffic Soldiers also gives you the chance to move up the ranks just by surfing.
You are given 100 credits automatically once you join BlogXchange.us.
Blogexchange.net is a free weblog and fanlisting ‘banner button’ link exchange.
Blog search engines:
Pinoyblog.com is a free service for Filipino blogs and bloggers. It is open to all Filipino individuals who are either: (a) a Filipino citizen or (b) of Filipino ancestry irrespective of citizenship.
LS Blogs, a directory and search engine for bloggers, provides a brief description of your blog as well as a screenshot to entice surfers to click on your blog. Here’s my profile.
Popdex is a website popularity index that provides the PopScore of your site.
Syndicate your blog with the SynBlog.com Blog directory.
www.2RSS.com is a free RSS directory where you can submit your RSS feeds.
Deskfeeds.com is a simple Blog and RSS feeds search engine.
Plazoo is a Dutch project that was conceived as a place to search (RSS feeds that is).
Search4Blogs is a blog search engine that is divided into several categories.
Rice Bowl Journals is a very good blogging community for Asians. 
I registered in Diarist.net, a worldwide directory of online diarists, journalers and bloggers.
Another site worth linking to is Blogarama.com, which contains several informative articles on the blogging phenomena.
Blogs by Women lists weblogs written by the fair sex.
Blogdex.net is a research project of the MIT Media Laboratory tracking the diffusion of information through the weblog community.
The Blog Universe is another blog directory and blog tool resource.
Globe of blogs aims to be one of the most comprehensive weblog listings online.
Blog Search Engine is a Web search resource for finding weblogs.
Blogwise.com is a site about about developing a portal to blogs around the world, efficiently, quickly and nicely.
Yet another blog search engine and directory is Getblogs.com.
Blog Rankings will give you a rough idea on how your blog performs relative to others.
Top Blogs will track your incoming hits and allow you to be ranked on their list.
Feed Shark will track your feed and provides a one click submission service to 21 different feed services.
Wil’s Domain is a pioneer in recognizing the best Weblogs, Web sites and portals online.
Bloghub.com is an online directory and community where members from around the world gather here and exchange ideas.
BlogSweet is a directory that separates blogs by category.
Your Weblog Here is a Directory of blogs from all around the world.
SpiderHub.com - List Your Site
ReadABlog - submit your blog / RSS feed
Most Popular Websites - Web Directory
Blog Catalog is a listing of Blogs from all around the World and lists them according to categories.
BLOG-WATCH.COM - Weblogs Directory
Try adding your site to the Blog-Weblog-Directory, a Directory And Resource For Bloggers Who Want Visitors.
The NITLE weblog census is an attempt to find as many active weblogs as possible, across all languages
To showcase your blog genealogy, sign up for BlogTree.com and record which blogs inspired you to create your own blog.
There’s always something new at URLSpotter.com.
The BlogOsphere ZoO is your neighborhood coffeehouse, here in the vast land of blog.
Dirone.com is a free web directory organized by words and related words.
MetaWebSearch is your engine for top search results and free site submission.
Top100Bloggers.com is another blogging index that allows you to rate your favorite blogs on the Internet.
Link Mania is a free link exchange worth submitting to.
AddMe allows you to submit your site to numerous search engines in eight easy steps.
Lookseek will index your site for free.
If you want to know who’s blogging near you, you can try submitting your blog to Feedmap and get your own BlogMap.
You should also try linking to Link2Blogs.com for free traffic for your site.
I’d be named
J.O.C.E.L.Y.N.: Journeying Obedient Construct Engineered for Logical Yelling and Nullification
Cey - is a blockmate of mine from UP CMC who is known for her kindheartedness and creativity.
Mai-Paul - Two High School classmates of mine are getting married this year and they are documenting their wedding preparations though this blog.
Earl - This batchmate of mine from UST High School is currently studying to become a doctor.
Mark Isaiah - A batchmate of mine in UP CMC who turned out to be my colleague in my first job was also linked to a former secretary in Global Sources.
Jerico - His quick wit and sharp tongue has caused him to be a somewhat controversial person in my former office. Just make sure not to go overboard ok?
Denice - This lady is as nice as her name sounds.
Rey - I will always remember his advice to me that in the workplace, one should not be idealistic but be realistic instead.
Chuck - After being his office mate in two different companies, I am still surprised to find the many facades of this mysterious guy.
Jinjiruks - This guy used to be my seatmate in the office but his department moved to the other room. I still go to him for technical assistance while he asks me for more info about blogs.
Roger - This three-time winner of our "Employee of the Month" award has a political theme in his blog.
Caesar - This Filipino currently living in The Land Down Under is a batchmate of mine (Batch Sibol) in our organization in UP.
Check out his other websites at:
Jeco - A batchmate of mine (Batch Sibol) who is also a gimikero at heart.
Kat Zuno - After viewing her blog, only then did I find out that this batchmate of mine from UP CMC is also part of GS now.
Reden - This big-hearted guy is a blast to talk with and sure knows how to lighten up your day.
Kitchie - Quiet waters run deep…this former officemate of mine epitomizes this saying very well.
Gerwin - I used to work with this guy for the online version of our magazine in GS.
Gladys - A Journ major who is presently taking up Law.
Xtessa - I was blog hopping and I cam across this woman’s blog who turned out to be the wife of my former officemate in GS. What a small blogosphere we have!
Rain - This orgmate of mine in the UP Communication Research Society is a certified techie and photography guru.
Rhea Paredes - This blockmate of mine (Block K-3) from UP CMC immigrated to the US shortly after graduation and has now published her own book entitled
TRUE LOVE WAITS: The Price & Prize of Purity
After a long wait, Smallville finally premiered its first episode ("Crusade") of its fourth installment last night on Studio 23.
It has been three months after Clark had stepped in the cave wall presumably to join his birth father Jor-El, leaving Jonathan Kent in a comatose state.
To sum up the episode, Clark returns to Smallville as Kal-El and he is found (butt naked!) on a field by Lois Lane, Chloe’s cousin who happens to pass by in her car. He has no memory of what happened, only remembering that he must fulfill his
destiny as Kal-El. He flies to obtain a powerful kryptonian crystal that Lex has
unearthed in Egypt. Meanwhile, Lana is in Paris
and has a new boyfriend, Jason Teague, who gave her an art project that magically puts a mysterious tattoo on her lower back.
Back in Smallville, Martha receives black kryptonite from Bridgette Crosby, Dr. Swann’s "assistant." In the caves, Clark confronts his Kyptonian identity and he overpowers it using the black kryptonite. As soon as Clark wins the battle, Jonathan who was previously lying in a coma, suddenly comes back to life in the hospital.
Clark asks Lois Lane (played by Erica Durance) to stay in their farm while they investigate Chloe’s death. However, when he uses his X-ray vision to scan her grave, he finds that it is empty — Chloe is ALIVE!
For a complete transcript of all Smallville episodes:
click here
Or you can go to www.tvtome.com for episode guides.
I finally had the time this Sunday to visit the wake of Karen’s dad and it turns out that they lived for some time in San Juan before transferring to their current residence in Fairview. Her father had suffered from a mild stroke previously but this time, it was a fatal stroke that left his nerve endings in such a bad state that the doctors told them bluntly that he would not make it.
Mr. Romeo Daulat worked as a councilor in San Juan and was able to help a lot of people during his term. I also found out that he and Miss Daulat (his sister) were from Mindoro originally.
Karen confided that she couldn’t stop crying until she read a poem in one of the mass cards that suggested that God Himself had called her father so he gladly left everything and everyone behind in order to follow his Creator. She was very happy to see our film photos from Matabungkay and even took a pic of the print using her camera phone.
The events of the past few days has made me realize that life, with its many twists and turns, is more thrilling and surprising than any roller coaster ride found anywhere else.
P.S. Went to Paco earlier and bought a new pair of shoes, violet slippers and a brand new blouse. Had a fun day of shopping and I remembered how Jasper responded when I told him about the death of Karen’s father: we should take the time to enjoy what life has to offer — including the food we eat — and the company we keep.
After sleeping for less than three hours, I woke up pretty excited for our trip to Enchanted Kingdom. When I arrived at the parking lot where the shuttle for EK was waiting, I saw that the bus was almost full already so I bought our roundtrip tickets immediately. By the time Jasper came a little after 10 AM, the bus was full and several people had to wait for the next bus that would leave at 12 noon.
The trip took about an hour and when we arrived at EK, we immediately rode on Anchor’s Away. The ride left our knees weak and I couldn’t move my hands properly for several minutes because of my death grip on the handle bars. We moved on to Bump n Splash where the motor of his boat died right in the middle of the ride and an attendant had to fix it. I liked the feeling of the powerful motor responding to my directions and I briefly entertained the thought of learning how to drive.
We ate lunch and only then did we learn that April 23 was also the Family Day of Unilever, which explains the high number of people at EK that day. Jaz then suggested that we ride the Bumper Cars and I had a blast taking pics of us while he drove.
Then it was time to ride my favorite: Rio Grande Rapids. Right before we were launched into the raging river, a digital camera snapped our picture and we each took a copy of it after our ride. My clothes were soaked after the ride and fortunately, I brought clothes but Jaz had to buy a Rio Grande shirt from the store. I also bought wizard sharpeners from the souvenir shop.
By afternoon, we felt ready to face the Space Shuttle and there was a slight delay when it was our turn so we got the chance to take a picture before the great plunge. We noticed a lot of elderly people going on the ride including a grandfather who had a cane and a grandmother who rode with our batch. The rush of adrenaline was so amazing and I loved every second of it.
We then fell in line for Jungle Log Jam and luckily, we didn’t get soaked again. By that time, the sun was setting and we only had a few hours left before the fireworks began.
My only frustration is that we were unable to watch in 4D because they required reservations beforehand and they didn’t inform us about it when we inquired earlier.
After dinner at Jollibee, we went for a ride in the Grand Carousel and we were lucky because we were among the last persons they let in before they closed the ride to give way to the fireworks.
The lights, laser and pyrotechnics show was held in the Space Port at around 9 PM, and we were mesmerized by the effects that were prepared especially to celebrate the 10 magical years of Enchanted Kingdom. While watching the sky light up with fireworks, people in wonderful costumes as well as the wizard mascot performed onstage.
Truly, EK is the premier theme park in the country today.
Click here for my photo gallery of this magical trip.
Despite feeling a bit under the weather, I pushed myself to finish the articles assigned to me since we needed to send them by the end of the shift. After working late into the night and early the next morning (!), the three of us who were left finally submitted everything and Maryan suggested that we eat first at McDo before heading home. I was reluctant at first since I wanted to catch some zzzzz’s before my trip the next day but I couldn’t pass up the chance to bond with my officemates so I went along with them. Despite our sleepiness, we laughed and joked about the day’s events and I was glad that I joined them that cold Saturday morning in McDo St. Francis Square. Lala and I went home together and had our own misadventures as a result of our paranoia from travelling in the dark streets of Ramon Magsaysay.
