Friday, September 15, 2006

First time... again

In my attempt to consolidate my previous blogs, I'm posting below random pieces I have written in the past. I'll ulitmately delete those past blogs I have abandoned to do my share in cleaning up the cluttered cyberspace.

First entry (posted some time August 2004)

I cannot think of a better title so I ended up with the most apt title for this very first entry.

This is already my third attempt at writing and maintaining a blog.

Thanks to my procrastination and sheer laziness. I cannot promise that this will be my final one, but I'll try my very best to get this going this time.Thanks to Douglas Bowman for the template I’m temporarily using for my blog. I'll improve on it as soon as I learn HTML (yes, I don't know how).For the mean time, I'll write some rambling since I don't have anything sensible to say.

I browsed over some blogs yesterday, and reading the entries prompted me to recreate another one of my own, again hoping to send my message across cyberspace and, who knows, even have a following soon. I found nothing inspiring in their entries (no offense), but these are people who are living busy lives (one is a computer guy, I think, and the other was a law student) yet they still squeeze in the time and have the dogged discipline to write. I've been doing practically nothing for the past four months after I graduated from college, so giving the excuse of "not having the time" is an unforgivable lie.

As an aspiring writer, I have a set of favorite writers whom I follow, look up to, and try to emulate. If you follow them as well, you might observe that my writing style (if ever I have such) is somehow influenced by these word-weavers. Let me list them, in no particular order:

Conrado de Quiros – writes a column (There’s the Rub) in the Opinion pages of the Philippine Daily Inquirer; has a huge following from the young and not-so-young alike. I find his style “gloomy,” yet thought-provoking. I find it a “literary experience” reading his essays.

Jose “Butch” Dalisay, Jr. – I’ve shook hands with this guy (yeah, big deal!). He’s a “variety writer” (there are variety stores and variety shows, right?), and he particularly gives lessons on English and writing in his column “Penman” during Mondays in the Arts and Culture Section of the Philippine Star.

Isagani Cruz – writes Separate Opinion (guess which section) for the Inquirer. He writes in a very consistent and impartial manner. He’s a retired justice, by the way.

Paolo Alcazaren – as a planning student, I could and should relate to this guy. He gives sound pieces of advice (which unfortunately fall on deaf ears) on urban planning and development, architecture, the natural and built environment. He writes “Citysense” in the Modern Living Section of the Philippine Star on Saturdays. He gives sarcastic remarks, but he cannot help it. If you’ve been living in the Philippines for quite some time, you’ll see what I mean.

Alya Honasan- writes for the Sunday Inquirer Magazine. “Stylish” (thuh?!) feature writer.

John Grisham – you know who he is. I humor myself that I’ll become a damn good lawyer someday, so as early as now, I should be familiar with the Fifth Amendment, Fifth Circuit, and the jury system. Touché! Wait, for awhile I forgot I’m living in the Philippines and would like to study and practice law here. I rest my case.

Stephen King – only because he wrote On Writing. I read Pet Sematary back in grade six, and from that time on, I always have second thoughts of reading horror stories again. (Cheels, pare!)

Jan Andrew Zubiri – hep! Don’t click on the "X"at upper right-hand corner of this window. He’s a good writer in the making. Others have described him as “a damn good writer,” “writes consistent and coherent paragraphs,” and “has a potential in writing.” By the way, they’re mostly his friends who wouldn’t want to offend him.My dear friends and fans, this is all for now. I’ll try to write (more) sensible insights in the days to come, that is, if I’ll be able to get this blog gig going.

Cheers!

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