One thing that I would always remember about iBlog8 Philippine Blogging Summit is a blog should have a personality coming from its owner. It should not just contain information but feelings otherwise what difference does it gonna make from a plain website? So please allow me to share with you updates a about this blog and a moderated bit of me.
A few days ago I got a direct message from @weirdkatt on Twitter about a topic he wanted my views about. First thing that came to my mind is, why me? He is the blogger of Filipino Scribbles and Alas Filipinas, topics about heritage and culture. I quickly scoured his blogs and found out that his posts are about local documentaries equipped with well –researched topics about history and stuff mostly written in Spanish language. While I also blog about history, mine is the lighter version one that only touches the practicality and its essence of what we Filipinos are today. He said when he typed the keywords “heritage + tourism + filipino” my blog is on Google’s first page.
To think my two year diploma and four year bachelor’s degree from college I finished are not in any way related to my blog’s topic which is heritage, culture and tourism. Nor my work for nearly seven years does not have something to do with this. I did not thought of this topic when I started this blog. It is just that all the chances and all the people I meet are under this industry. Frankly whenever I join roundtable discussions, visiting historical places and museums I always have this moment wanna-get –outta-here-quick especially when it is a gathering of mostly old people and the topic is getting boring. “Come on Rona you’re not gonna meet the man of your dreams at these events! Go to parties, beaches and go on dates instead.” Then this line from a very concerned friend would cross my mind.
What strikes me the most is 25% - 50% of the people at these events are foreigners. We are discussing about Philippine history and not somebody else’s history dude! Our fellow kababayans would rather go somewhere, make a living to buy food for their family than come to these events and listen stories about dead people. I can totally understand them the way my parents are as well.
“Will I be blogging until I am old?” this question always comes to my mind. My current answer is “I am and will be so long as I still have all the independence to do it.” A few weeks ago I did a personal assistant (PA) job to an old couple. All my life I was doing my work in front of the computer and wanted a shift. I enjoyed buying their groceries, fixing their disorganized book shelves and teaching them how to use Facebook. It was just a very short time that they need an extra hand. I almost do not want to accept their payment because the delicious food I ate at their home and the joy of being introduced to their visitors like I am part of their family is priceless. They said they will get back to me if they needed one but I said that is enough I might be doing something different that time.
I feel honored that Jose Rizal’s official Wikipedia biography has also included this blog (please see reference #60) as one of the references. I am also thankful of a steady amount of traffic this blog is generating. I know and I am not expecting a huge influx of traffic since as what I mentioned this topic is not for everyone, usually for the old and old-fashioned as they say. I am also excited to join the Museum Volunteers of the Philippines in the coming months for a deeper immersion on museum stuff and I just booked a flight to Vigan again to join an International Conference on Cultural Tourism. I have not had much of Vigan when I went there so hopefully this time I can make the most out of it. This time I am going solo and excited to meet new friends in that event. I will make another blog post about this soon.
Still forever struggling about the technicalities of running this blog from SEO stuff to layout designs, my comments sections and the Linkwithin widgit. I hope to meet people not just online but face to face whom I can share a tea with and also interested about heritage, culture and tourism. We are not going to talk about historical facts and places but possible collaboration about a project, brainstorming, exchanging thoughts and yeah, life in general. Or we can have it over a bottle of light beer maybe. When life gets serious we just need to have someone to laugh with!
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