When Kinky Love Trumps Blog Award

This author does not accept blog awards anymore.

Let me split a few hairs, if you will. I'd say my thanks if you persist, but I will not write about it to pass it on. And this post is written not because I'm swamped with awards. I have two already and I think it's enough.

My dear reader, I understand your problem. You have just been awarded a blog award, a variation thereof, from a fellow blog author. And because the tacit understanding with this blog award is to pass it on, you've just met one roadblock. You're one slot short of the five or six awardees. May be even two. It's not a problem if you are easy to please and finds everybody a genius. What if you have discriminating taste? What if you consider nearly everyone a dolt? See the problem on your hands?

Will you lower your standard? Perhaps you remember me doing some neat cartwheels in the comment section of your blog. Will you now set me as your evidence of your new found love for humanity? A nice way to reward Jan for his efforts?

Stop.

Merit or Game of Politics?

It will put me in the spot. I have just awarded 6 blog authors. Another pay-it-forward blog award will leave me nuts. In order to come up with a list of 6 awardees in my own blog award, I left out a good number of people in my network. Will my third award - if it comes - be able to smooth the ruffled feathers of those who felt slighted when they failed to make the cut? I don't think so.

This tends to degenerate into a game of politics. We get to nominate people on the strength of personal ties to us, with a minimum of merit thrown in maybe as an afterthought. Maybe if we give 50 % of the awards to people who are not in our network, but equally deserving of our recognition. Maybe then.

Link Love Failure

Of course I understand the value of awards as link love. But 5 to 7 awards for one recognition? A tie is rare in award ceremonies. If one's intention is to spread the link love, guess what will happen if you award a blog author who's not into a personal or free-wheeling site? Yes, the author will remain faithful to his niche. You'd get a sincere thank you. But there will be no write up of the award. Your link love is defeated. Boo hoo. Which is just as well because the recipient is well within his rights to do so.

This is not to belittle the two awards I have been given. I treasure them because they're my first awards and very special. It's my first tell-tale signs that I have not been stabbing at the dark anymore. The voices I hear are no longer the voices I usually hear in my head but actual voices - a remarkable progress indeed. Thanks Mye and Bingkee.

But the next one when it comes is not cute or endearing anymore. Trust me.

Alternative

A better tack is to make a link to another blog within the context of a post. Because the other author deepens the discussion and adds value to the conversation. Or maybe even because the linked author takes the contrary view, and offering this link gives your reader a comprehensive grasp of the discussion. Is it not then the more natural and effective way of giving recognition?

I keep my favorite blogs on my reader. That's not enough for me because I still drop by to comment on their blogs. I email them when I feel that commenting is not enough. I add them on my Technorati favorites. And if I wake up on the right side of the bed - hey, I even thumb them up in Stumbleupon. And there are even no strings attached to it. Because I do it on my own. That's my vote of confidence. That's my award to you. And that's my kinky way of spreading the love.

8 Internet Goals for 2009

It's all very well to be optimistic when you are down, and although you're seeing stars from the ditch, that doesn't cut it for me anymore. It has got to improve. I don't want to smell funny and disoriented from too much muddling through anymore. And a goal-oriented blogging is the way to go. So here are my goals for next year:

1. Clarity. I resolve to use simple, everyday words in my blog if I really want to gain readers. So that the riffraff in my neighborhood will finally take a liking to me and thus bulk up my readership. Without their sweaty embrace and at the very least their grudging respect I'd be doomed at the bottom of the food chain.

2. Use of Exotic Terms. I will do away with high highfalutin words so I can sneak in every now and then some jargon of my choice. Like SEO. Leveraging. Meta this, meta that. Every one should understand that it's just very much like a dance of joy when posts about couple of obscure financial jargon will have successfully driven an insane volume of traffic to this blog. Consider this a commercial break from regular program. Don't despair because I will make it up to you in our karaoke night outs.

3. Utility. I'd serve you a movable feast of riches via guides to your personal growth. Simply because I'm a buddy after your own heart. I care for you deeply. Not only will I teach you how to make your armpits smell like a baby, I'd occasionally point you where the wonderful freebies are. Free downloads and stuff. Because I care from the smallest of your whims to your total education.

4. Upfront and Personal. I'd try to a put a little something of myself into my writing. So you and the world can find some uniqueness from the drivel that I dispense against the output of the rest of the blogosphere. Or I can draw inspiration from your exciting life and the wench you call your significant other. And when she finally leaves you for your own father, hello, maybe there's poetic justice in seeing her nailed just right on the internet, okay?

5. Sky-high Statistics - unique visitors, page views, subscribers, adsense growth. Last week, I was ecstatic I had one subscriber. Of course that was shortlived because I found out I had subscribed to my own feed through my mobile phone. What a hoot. Although I honestly think I have good taste so a vote of confidence - even from myself - ah, that's big deal. Hahaha. Faith cannot move mountains at my behest, but I sure can haul my ass up there.

6. Zen. I'd be detached from materialistic considerations. My equilibrium rests not on the fickle tastes of readers and the inscrutable Mr. Google. But of course,just to be sure, I'd be keeping a tight watch over these concerns. Especially my small patch of adsense. I will be serenely watching my grass grow. And finally -

7. I'd intone every morning as I watch the sunrise, "Universe, I am ready. Give it to me, give it to me."

8. Chuck nos. 1 to 7. Okay, I need to go for clarity, utility, and Zen qualities. But not in the aforementioned context. I'd just be myself, engage you in meaningful conversations, I hope. And gently connect to the universe, and not holler into it.

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Drop-Dead Gorgeous Blogs

What to you is a drop-dead gorgeous blog?

If we speak of a blog that is easy on the eyes - can you break it down for me? Do you mean something like a movable feast for the senses? Is it a burst of colors and sounds? A veritable digital fiesta? Or just a functional, minimalist design to make a perfect counterpoint to its intended message or content?

A perfect blend of originality and creativity perhaps. Something you cannot find elsewhere in the blogosphere.

Or maybe it's the distinctive voice embodied in the blog. Humor. Compassion. Sharp wit. Maybe even plain skulduggery appeals to you. Maybe just for the simple reason that only that blog has the power to put you to sleep. "Look ma, no medication.."

Please make a recommendation or two. Name three or four blogs - I know you want to be fair. And please add some notes for each of your nominees - what makes them a compelling blog.

Come on....

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Being Jehzeel Malkovich

Yehey! I have my first Filipino commenter today. It's no less than Jehzeel Laurente, the super friendly, creative, funny and prolific creator of Jehzlau Concepts.

I can only think of two blog authors that really give me the final shove into blogging. Jehzeel is one of them. The sheer joy and enthusiasm and inspiration I find in their blogs has kept me sleepless for almost two weeks. The thought of blogging nagged at me even during the day. And so I hiked up my pants and waded in.

Most of the high profile blogs get me fired up too for their excellence, but they are high up in the clouds and out of reach. And if you're one befuddled newbie you need all the encouragement and inside information that you can get. Jehzel has that gift of friendship - answers your email, replies when you text, even invites you on his social networks.

And to think he's one of the top guns in Pinoy blogosphere. I'm not sucking up, mind you. Ratified.org, a web directory which ranks Pinoy blogs based on subscribers, page rank, Alexa rating and Technorati data, ranks him as No. 4 as of this writing. He had already reached the coveted first place at Ratified.org , but he got bored and lonely at the top, I guess.

He's been featured several times in Manila Bulletin's Blog-o-Rama. He's got it made, but fledgling that you are, you won't feel the difference. Because he's a decent and unpretentious guy.

Will he give the shirt off his back to help a fellow human being? I am positive. But why settle for the shirt when you can very well ask him to donate to you his aging laptop, in the spirit of Christmas? Hahaha. After all, he's buying this Christmas a Core 2 Duo quad, equipped with the latest strange-sounding state-of-the-art contraptions. Hehehe.

I have Jehzel as a mentor and friend. How about you - are you as lucky as I have been?