Why Blog?

February 22, 2008

Before I started blogging here (although on an irregular basis), I considered doing blogs as just a waste of time. I know that we can make blogs on anything and everything under the sun but just thinking of the many topics that I have to write of makes me want to shy away from doing so. 

 

I mean, if I have to think and write during my idle time, how can I rest myself from the physical exhaustion brought by the rigors of work? I am already tired at work and during my free time, do I still have to exert some mental effort just to come up with a blog?

 

During my free time, these are what I usually do:

 

a.   watch movies with my wife who is a horror/suspense genre fanatic

(almost all of the DVDs we buy are pirated collection DVDs which usually have 10 or more films in one – para tipid!) 

 

b. play NBA Live 08 at my laptop with the Phoenix Suns as my team

(I started with the Miami Heat in regular season mode and about 40 games into the season, switched to the Suns when Shaq was traded. I tweaked with the other teams as well to conform to all the midseason trades that have happened. In effect, my virtual NBA season coincides with the real-time NBA season.

 

For good measure, I also bought from eBay a USB Dual Shock Game Controller since using the keyboard causes cramps to my fingers. I’m really  addicted to the game since its inception during my high school days for the SNES platform (by Nintendo). My constant playing has incurred me the wrath of my wife a few times, hehe…)

c. attend to my NBA trading cards hobby

 

d. read, read and read…

(I have a vast collection of magazines: FHM, Maxim — complete from issue #1 to present, T3, MAD, assorted basketball mags, etc. and books: ranging from books made into movies or vice-versa to books on mysteries of the unexplained to books on video games)

 

e. watch TV

(my favorite are basketball games, boxing and mixed-martial arts bouts, HBO movies, quiz shows and Discovery Channel’s Myth Busters)

 

f. browse online forums

(I am a member of several ones)

 

g. play multiplayer games

(like Counter Strike, Warcraft, Starcraft and Diablo although I seldom do now. I have outgrown it I think).

 

h. listen to music  

 

And next to be included in the list would be:

 

i. write blogs  

 

So now, what really made me take up blogging?

 

Around third week of January, I had a first time eyeball with someone I met at davaosale.com. We have an online forum on NBA trading cards hobby there and a fellow enthusiast is interested in buying some of my cards. It just so happened that I am in Davao at that time so I texted him to met me at the hotel I am staying in. When he arrived, he told me he is a college student and told me that he will be paying though PayPal. I asked if he must be using his parent’s credit card and told me that he doesn’t have to. I then inquired how he finances his PayPal funds and told me that his funds are his salary deposited by online companies who hire him to make blogs on their products. He then showed me his PayPal account and I saw than in less than 1 month, around $200 have been deposited to his account.

 

Wow! That’s around P8,400 (if $1 = P42) income just by writing at least 150 words about a certain product. He then shared how he does that.

 

Armed with that little introductory knowledge, I am now ready to earn my $$$

 

Honestly, my first blog (at this site) was done with the intent of being the first step to earning the almighty dollar. But after my second blog, I realized that blogging is an opportunity for me to share to others who I am. To have an outlet so that others may see the other side of me (the dark side! Bwahahaha…)

 

This is also a chance for me to share to my future children how we lived during our time. They will be able to read the hows and whys of their existence. I think that’s possible since even if we grow old, the internet will still be present. It might even outlive us and our offspring. The internet is so powerful (this is coming from someone who makes his living in that area) that even if we will have an apocalyptic tragedy today — barring the destruction of Earth itself, there will still be traces of data holed up unharmed in servers around the world). Hence, the internet is an excellent tool for storing your data like pictures (try photobucket or flickr), videos (try youtube), music (try imeem) or other files (try megaupload).

 

Or in my case, my blogs.

 

I will be doing blogs on our wedding; the preparations, post-wedding travels, etc. so drop by often here.