11 Years of Blogging

Today, I celebrate my 11th year of blogging. Yes, I am a pioneer blogger of my generation and one of the first Filipino bloggers. And yes, it’s been 11 years since I transferred from gaudy, ring-bound diaries to the more intangible and amazing cyberspace. I always liked the idea of paperless writing while studying at UP. Hauling volumes of multicolored diaries from one dorm to another was just too much. So blogging became the solution in the twinkling of an eye.

My earliest blogs were on the defunct Blog-city, which lasted for three years. It enjoyed its own level of fame and had a loyal following from all over the world, mostly amateur poets and lyricists. I blogged anonymously as I always dreamt of unfiltered and candid entries. My blog had no major drama and consisted mainly of posts on childhood memories, everyday mundaneness, and my life away from home. I also tried my hand in poetry, which eventually led to my first poetry book to be published.

As days passed and as the number of my readers grew exponentially, I had to look for a blogging platform that allowed layout customization. Blogdrive came to the rescue. By then, I was a law student at the Ateneo. My blog was my cushion and my lonesome ally on many nights at Starbucks (it was when most law students in my school spent hours upon hours at coffee shops) — I was able to vent out frustrations and disappointments in cyberspace while trying to remain incognito. It was cathartic to criticize my professors and the system. My words wanted to break free so badly and when they did, they were unstoppable. I had legions of readers (mostly law students) who followed my entries on a daily basis. Blogging was in a totally different spectrum as writing case digests and it offered a secure place for a law student’s deeper reverie. Read more