Blogie Blog

Last night I took time off to help out a good friend with some of the more technical aspects of blogging. After maintaining his blog for some time now, Mandaya Moore decided it was time to take the next step — the one that’s beyond merely writing articles. Specifically, he was curious about MyBlogLog. So I apprised him of the wonders of social bookmarking services. For good measure, I also showed him the ropes around Technorati. Well, the basics anyway.

Sitting down with my friend and having been able to share my knowledge gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling yesterday. Not only because Mandaya and I are friends, but also because I realized I’d gotten so busy lately that I’d neglected my objective this year. And that’s to get more people to start blogging. Earlier, around summer, I was able to inspire two friends to take it up, but that was it. So I’m glad that my friend, who will remain anonymous behind his blogging pseudonym (for now), gave me the chance to pick up where I’d left off. Read on»

As some of my more loyal readers may have noticed, I’m very much into Japanese culture. I speak the language, for one (read & write as well). I used to play judo; and my hobbies include calligraphy and reading manga. I also used to grow bonsai (hmmm… can you say ‘grow’ in this case?).

In 2002, my very good friend Ichido gave me my Japanese nickname: Maru (accent on the 1st syllable, please). And last week, he gave me my real name’s kanji equivalent (see image) — it’s for ‘Oliver’ but in Nihongo it’s read ‘oriba‘.

Read on»

I spent Holy Week with a couple of friends on Siargao Island. We’d originally planned to go to Boracay some months before, but then I got caught up in my work. My sweet friends, they canceled the Boracay trip altogether because they didn’t want me to miss out on the fun. And so Alex, Bamba and I, we went on a mini-Amazing Race to one of the northernmost islands of Mindanao. (Mindanao: a land replete with diversities it’s easy to see why it’s so misunderstood.) Read on»