Under reconstruction

This blog is undergoing renovation... its author retooling...

Blog on!

Back(b)logs

My ex-girlfriend is frustrated; why has there not been any movement in my blog posts for some time now. Knowing she is the most loyal follower of this blog, I do not think I can afford to just ignore her disappointment. I owe her an explanation.

I am sure another soul or two among the few readers of this blog are also feeling the same way; exasperated over the deprivation of their regular dose of catharses derived from reading Redeemed Spirit. I am not about to let go of these avid fans.

[canned laughter... again]

Seriously now. The past month or so, I have been suffering from a serious case of this sickness that also afflicts many Filipinos; called procrastination. I would like to assume though that mine is a mild case; because apart from my blogging functions, my other normal tasks (like my regular exercise regimen and my photo-shooting) have not been quite affected.

The past month I have been writing blog posts but did not care to finish and publish them. Believe it or not (and humility aside) besides those currently posted, I have written over a dozen entries to my blog since early December of last year. These have all remained in draft status as I have yet to write 30 to all of them. Most will no longer have the chance to "see the light of day"; their subjects are already passe to merit publication. The rest will have to be revised, infused with more and updated information (and more wisdom and less emo).

Here are a few samples of the subjects (and gist of how I intended to tackle them) that have been "gathering fungi" in the drafts section of my blog:

1. Karylle (Tatlong Hari)'s "splendid" (if you know what I mean) Lupang Hinirang performance during the Pacquiao-Dela Hoya fight opening ceremony; and the hypocrisy that came after: "Ang galing-galing ni Karylle!". OMG! Please spare us.
2. Karylle (again!)'s smiling gimmick when asked about Marian Rivera's alleged pregnancy. It was pure and simple cheap dirty gimmick hatched by ABS-CBN/The Buzz and everyone fell for it.
3. DReAM Children Project's sad Christmas as its major partner, the Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI), has inexplicably suspended its support for the project. A company's folly, however, should not get in the way of a good advocacy. DReAM Children deserves a more committed partner.
4. (A blog contest entry of mine that did not beat the deadline) A song only has to have good music (acoustic, rhythm, with emphasis on the guitar sound) to become my favorite. Sometimes it only has to have good lyrics. That's why I have many favorite songs. Do They Know It's Christmas by Band Aid is among them.
5. All those noise and riotous revelry are understandable during New Year's eve. But firecrackers (and gunfire) on the supposedly silent and holy night of Christmas?
6. I and my family met our first good souls of the new year. They are Eugene Pascual and Alfonso Gonzaga. Eugene is a neighbor who offered his ride and helped us find an open shop (in the dead calm new year's morning) at the other end of town to have our spent car battery re-charged. Mang Alfonso, on the other hand, is a tricycle driver who delivered us back home and helped us hard-start our car (a pickup truck) when our "newly charged" battery proved to be a fluke. Good souls, good sign.
7. It is only now that I have come to know that polar bears and penguins, in their natural existence, never meet. Polar bears are natives of the northern polar regions while the penguins are found only in the southern hemisphere. Source: my son Ivan.
8. (Video Post) Koronadal's LCE Hon. Fernando Q. Miguel leads in the promotion of the city's forthcoming Hinugyaw Festival by appearing in a TV commercial inviting everyone to join in the fun. The honorable mayor excitedly enumerates the kinds of festivities and other pertinent info about the festival, except for one crucial thing: when is the festival going to happen.
   

Here's my (Chinese) New Year's resolution: I will cleanse the drafts section of my blog in the coming week, and will never again leave an unfinished post in it.

Change we can; change I did

Blame it on Barack Obama; his charisma so affecting it made a non-American like me imbibe his campaign slogan (A Change We Can Believe In) very literally. Blame it on the 2nd Mindanao Bloggers' Summit; wanting to apply my learnings from the event, I just thought changing my blog's title should be on top of the must-do list.

And what timing is more perfect than re-titling my blog Redeemed Spirit on the day when we, the living, annually redeem the spirits of our dead. Never mind if All Souls Day actually falls on November 2nd. The mix-up is forgivable; there is no telling of the difference anyway. I wish Congress will just legislate for Halloween, All Saints Day and All Souls Day to be collectively known as The Days of the Dead (and perhaps declare this a holiday for all ghost employees of government). The Mexicans, they call this very same period "Los Dias de los Muertos".

Back to the blog re-titling case. Well, blame nothing. It simply occurred to me when I was writing my take (excerpts appended here) on the just-concluded grand eyeball of Mindanao bloggers. After all, being a newbie in blogging I have been constantly experimenting on the look and content of my blog, so why not change the title as well; see if it "fits" better. It is not much of a change anyway as Daxi Weida remains as its main author.

It also helped that a fellow blogger whom I've met for the first time at MBS2 (despite her being my co-alumni of UP Kutang Bato), also changed her primary blog's name after the summit. I share her reluctance in attributing the move to MBS2's influence, but I have to admit there are values that I hold that were "redeemed" as a result of my participation in the Summit.

These are just a few of the realizations (for a newbie like me, there are many) I learned from the Summit:

• There is a need to counter-balance all the negative publicity Mindanao has been getting from traditional media; and the Mindanao bloggers are among our best options.

• A blogger does not have to showcase all that are bright and beautiful about Mindanao to let everyone know that many things are indeed bright and beautiful in Mindanao. This one has always been a position of mine. I am happy that this was reaffirmed during the Summit. The overarching need to blog about the good side of Mindanao was qualified as blogging aggressively, truthfully and responsibly. We do not deny that there is war, but there is more to war than the exchange of bullets and mortar fires; "there are stories of resilience, stories of hope, stories of dreams, stories of humanity" that come out of evacuation sites [Walter Balane]. We also do not deny that besides war there are issues that we face on poverty, hunger, corruption and (mis) governance, environmental concerns and even traffic problems. Which for me make Mindanao no different from the rest of society for other people, local and foreign, to avoid. And by objectively blogging about these Brooklyn side of Mindanao, a blogger in fact is furthering the advocacy for the eventual fulfillment of progress this land has been promised eons ago.
  

• Blogging the Mindanao consciousness means blogging truthfully and objectively on any thing that matter for a blogger from/of Mindanao.

• I finally was able put living faces to many of the Mindanao bloggers whom i only got to read in the blogosphere; most of these faces are young; and these bloggers got talent!
  

• One can actually make a living out of blogging; and I am not just talking here of entrepreneurial blogs.

• There are limits to the extent where digital photos should be enhanced (read: Photoshopped) and posted to portray a real, actual, or true situation. This realization I had after a short chat with noted Mindanao photo-journalist Bobby Timonera. Prior to our little exchange, I wanted to bring to the floor the question about the "ethics" of Photoshop-ing or digitally enhancing photos. This question, and all others that relate to it, has always nagged me every time I get to see astoundingly beautiful pictures in magazines or in the internet. I found the question timely to ask after Bobby talked about photo-blogging and related how he "shifted" from being a sensationalist to becoming a photographer of the good, the beautiful, and real side of Mindanao. It was rather unfortunate that the question never did get to the floor (the moderator had to traffic forum time), for Bobby himself admitted it was a very interesting subject matter to discuss.

To borrow from my friend Jinky: "Everyday is a learning. . . sometimes we fail, sometimes we succeed! What's important is, we continue to emerge as a learned individual. I came out from MBS2 a learned individual". When we learn, we change. Change we can; change I did. Welcome once again to Redeemed Spirit.

Paaman:

The 2nd Mindanao Bloggers Summit

The second edition of the biggest gathering of webloggers of/from Mindanao is on, and it's going to happen on October 25-26 this year in General Santos City.

Why am I going to the SUMMIT?

Because it's there...

Daghang Salamat. Ayo-ayo. Kitakits

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Mindanawon, Paminawon Intawon:
Blogging the Mindanao Consciousness

Thank you to the following for making 2nd Mindanao Bloggers Summit possible:

CO-PRESENTERS:
City Mayor Pedro B. Acharon, Jr.
Congresswoman Darlene Antonino-Custodio
NOKIA
Department of Tourism XII
ABS-CBN Regional Network Group
Bariles Republic
Gen. Santos City Tourism Association
SOCCSKSARGEN Bloggers

GOLD SPONSORS:
Friendster
Globe
AMA Computer Learning Center
Grab A Crab Restaurant and Coffee Club 101
Gregoria Printing Press

SILVER SPONSORS:
Nokiahost.Com
Asia United Bank
Family Country Hotel & Convention Center
East Asia Royale Hotel
Fine Pixel Advertising
IDEAS

BRONZE SPONSORS
GenSan Sale.Com
Blogging from Home Book
Pacific Seas Seafood Market
Generals Logimark Exponent
Prints and You
Writing Edge.Com
Forest Lake San Carlos Park
Rolee Bakery & Cafe
Jehzlau Concepts
Techykid.Com
Jaypee Online.Net
Blue Media Communications
International Container Terminal Services, Inc
Shalom Wizard Academy
Dreamworld Travel and Tours
Sta. Cruz Seafoods, Inc.
Dellosa Design Build Services
Kristan Bookstore
DOLE Philippines
Husky Bus Lines
Shakey's Pizza
Family Brand Sardines
Gaisano Mall of GenSan
Chowking - KCC
Jollibee National Highway
Procter & Gamble Philis., Inc
Mega Sardines

Daxi Weida at Blogger

Now, I have another edition of my blog, this time hosted by Blogger. Hopefully, this will play better than the first one hosted by another.

Hello there, this is my first post. So what am I going to say? Perhaps explain why I have to put up this blog? Maraming dahilan; but it may not be that necessary to list down and essay the reasons right here right now. When you get to read the posts as we go along, you yourself will realize why.

This blog’s name is Daxi Weida, such a weird name perhaps for most of you but its literal meaning you can easily google. And why make it the title? Well, perhaps because after googling about Daxi Weida, I just wanted this blog to represent that same kind of redemption of the spirit happening at the end of an idealistic yet atrociously dogmatic journey. Lalim ba? Ano raw? :)

In any case, whatever the konek, I wish everyone a happy reading. Do post your comments. Fear not. As my friend Prince Feyesper would like to assure us, everything here is autosophical.

UPDATE (Nov 1): I have changed this blog's title to Redeemed Spirit