5 (tested and proven) ways to get richer using the Internet

The secret is simple: Be an owl. Or have security-guard-“nothing-good-passes-under-my-watch”-instincts.

So, how to make the most out of your online-site-tripping (and earn money in the long run)?

1. Be a professional joiner.

I get jealous when I see people’s names on a brand’s Facebook page. It could only mean they’ve won an iPad 2, iTouch, 10, 000 pesos or other whathaveyous that make you say, “Why didn’t I see this promo before?!”

2. Earnmailer

Earnmailer is a site that lets you earn money (in dollars) with every email you send. An alternative is to convert “your earnings” into load. I’ve tried it and earned enough to load me P60 last year. Not bad for passive income. 😀

3. Blog about events/style/technology.

This one takes a lot of time and research. But if writing (alongside technology, fashion, events, books or food) is your passion, why not give it a try? Let’s make it one of our goals, yey! 😀

4. Whip up a video and make it viral.

With a good camera and a good concept, you’re good to go! Whip up a video and make it viral. The more people you “fool”, the more bucks on your bank. 😀

5. Sell something.

Anything, except geckos (or any other animal, for that matter). Clothes, shoes, spa services. Note to all sellers: We sometimes get annoyed when you post photos of a lot of clothes and shoes, but we tell you, we view them and sometimes, we are curious how much they’d cost. We’re just too lazy to ask.

If all these does not work, it’s time to work out on your best “Mom, I need $___ for..” excuse.

The Lonely Things

I am not sure if this post projects me in any way at the moment. Hehehe! But, whatever the reason is, I just knew I wanted to write down a few things or objects that I think are the loneliest on Earth.

1. Money. Much has been said about their purpose and how they keep life’s wheel turning. But are they really where they belong? If I’m going to push this thought a little farther, I’d say that money really belongs to the bank. See the new ones that glisten? Who ever said that the most useful things are the loneliest probably knew a lot of things.

Not to mention all our heroes who have been twisted, turned, wet, thrown, sh** on, licked, exchanged, mixed with melted ice cream and many more.

2. Slippers. When we leave home, we leave them useless. And because that’s their sole purpose, I can only imagine how sad they feel every time we leave the house. Of all the kinds of slippers, perhaps bedroom and bathroom slippers are the loneliest, having to stay in closed areas all the time.

3. Tokens (which are left for days inside the game machines). We drool over the idea of having them so we could exchange them for goodies. We silently curse those who got the jackpot. We want to shake the whole gaming machine every time we’re frustrated. But the truth remains that tokens are one of the loneliest things.

Not to mention they all look the same. What a loooong day just to get them moving. How frustrating is that for them?

4. Seldom-used emoticons. Come on, when Jejemon went up the fad ladder, not everyone joined in. When it faded away, so did the fad of using emoticons. For some people.

5. Bottle caps. Stepped around if not picked by young kids, most bottle caps could have seen better days.

6. Bible. ’nuff said.

“What’s the worst that can happen?”

This line scares me.

Because usually after this is spoken, A LOT of things worse and unimaginable happens. Especially in movies. The killer strikes. A deadly virus infects the city. The trip turns into a complete disaster. And the protagonists end up crying over dead bodies.

Ano pa in life, praning ako.My mind then becomes a highway for the worst things to come. Hehehe. Better not drop this line when I’m around. Or I would think twice about what you suggested.

Let’s just watch movies and curl up in bed. What’s the worst that can happen?

Into the bin

Kuya Junie, our trusted all-round guy (in fact, our only guy co-employee aside from Sir Anol), tidied up early one morning before we arrived.

When I sat down, I realized that the space under my table was ‘wider’. I looked down and saw that the old phones turned over to us and my big box trash bin were missing.

I love trash bins. I cannot stand a day without throwing something away. It has become a therapeutic habit which I find very relieving. I am not sure but I think psychologists have added this to the activities and activities which can help relieve stress.

Now, Kuya Junie has replaced my trash bin with a more sophisticated one, the one like what my boss and other co-workers have. I don’t know, but I liked the box. It’s bigger, has a wider mouth(and can serve as the rats’ playground during the night, hehehe).

‘Attack life, it’s going to kill you anyway.’

Sometimes, I think of myself as a boring person. Mga 30% boring ako. I think. So I make up for it by being crazy through computer-mediated communication. Because I don’t want to be boring. It’s boring.

HAHAHAHAHA.

So, kung may mga araw na hindi maganda yung gising ko, I try to look for something which can shoo away the boredom and monotone of what’s about to happen. I ask stupid questions on Formspring, annoy people, write unfinished stories and EAT. Anything to pick up something to do and think about.

Like now, I should be writing a press release for Michaelmas, a Christian celebration (for one of our clients). But I am too bored to even click open Microsoft Word. And perhaps because of the need to be inspired, I looked for sites which house funny anecdotes and inspirational thoughts. Kind of like a virtual brain hopping.

And the title of this post got me interested. 🙂

attaaackk!

What doesn’t hurt you, won’t kill you (yet).

For me, one of the saddest heartbreaks is loving someone who is in love and already married to your best friend. Familiar? This is what happened to the guy who fell for a very happily married Natalie Portman in the movie, Love Actually.

Again and again, when I watch that movie, I cannot help but feel anguish. Especially on the part where he went to their (Natalie’s and her husband) house one romantic Christmas night and revealed his undying love for her using white boards/paper. T__T

It takes guts, lots and lots of tearful nights and self-control not to pounce on your friend and strangle him because he married the love of your life. I’m sure that the guy will ultimately find someone new, but for that certain point in his life, he felt the soul-eating pain of being in love with a girl who will never love him back in the same way. [Natalie gave him a kiss though, just before he left.]

Pause on that scene.

If I were him, here are the things that I would probably do:

1. Cry and cry and cry and cry. Volume up. Volume down. On the nth night, wipe everything wet and forget all about it.
2. Ask Natalie for one date and never show up on her life again.
3. Kick trash cans on the way home, get jailed and stay there for the rest of my awesome life.
4. Get “fucked up and die”. Speaking figuratively, of course. Like that song.

There’s always a positive side to break-ups/heartbreaks. For one, life teaches us to let go. In order to achieve something good, we must learn to forgo one thing for another. Besides, all things are bound to end. Andersen said that. Aesop said that. Even Shakespeare said that. Your just happened to end as normally as others–on the time you did not expect it the most. And in the most dramatic fashion, perhaps.

Perhaps break-ups or the state of being broken-hearted should be made a new form of art. Truly, there’s nothing like this kind of pain which gives birth to poetry, songs and Palanca-worthy essays.

I might try that. One day. 🙂

Si Sandra at si Sophia

ni J. Dennis Teodosio

Lagi tayong pinupukol ng kantiyaw
Dahil hindi natin kinasanayan limahid at galos

Ng luksong-baka at tumbang-preso. Kaya madalas
Pinipili nating magtago sa malaking aparador

Sa kwarto ni Tiya Bebang. Doon walang tumutukso
Gaano man kalutong ang ating mga hagikhikan.

Napagsasaan natin masasayang sandaling walang
Balyahan o bruskong harutan. Minsan kinati

Tayong gayahin hilig na laro nina Ate. Humiram
Tayo ng matitingkad na kulay sa bahaghari

At salit-salitan silang ginamit upang iguhit, buhayin
Sa nakatungangang puting kartolina,

Dalawang manikang papel ng ating pantasya.
Hinayaan nating ikurba ng talim ng gunting

Kanilang alindog, hubog, kabuuan.
Hindi tayo nagkamayaw sa galak nang mamalas

Kakaibang likha ng ating imahinasyon.
Ang isa, pinangalanan mong Sandra, pagkilala

Sa pinipintuho mo sa eskwela. At ang isa,
Binansagan kong Sophia, ang dahilan hindi mo

Nabatid, Tol, dahil inilihim kong kusa.
Sa mga taong mabilis na lumipas,

Higit na naging maigting ating pagkakaibigan.
Hindi natin namalayan, dalawang pirasong papel

Ng ating kamusmusan nagkaroon ng hininga, puso,
Dugo’t laman. Si Sandra iyong pinakasalan.

At naging ako si Sophia wagas sa iyong nagmamahal:
Ni walang kapalit na inaasam kung hindi manatili

Sa loob ng aparador na pinagtataguan at buhayin,
Pag-ibig na hindi maibibida sa mga kumpare at inuman.

This is one of the poems contained in the book, Ang Ladlad by Danton Remoto and a colleague (whose name escaped my mind). I think it is really sad and unfortunate. When I read this to my friend, she cried. I think that more than everybody else, closet gays are the ones who have the most number of ‘inner battles’, the man vs. himself blah that we usually pick up from our Gender and the Community subjects.

I feel for them in this case, because I believe that there is a gay personality within me (seriously) and most people I know. Sige lang ah, just be happy lang ta, mga kapwa ko bakla. :))

devouring Komiks

Quite unexpectedly, my thesis partner and I ended up with writing an undergraduate study on komiks. Right now, we are working on its Chapters II and III.

How did we end up with it anyway, considering that her leaning is towards Broadcasting and mine, Advertising? To say that we both love reading and comics is not much of a reason, but it is pretty much the final take.

Comics is a commonality between us. Although I do not love it as much as Wila does, I have a great appreciation for it anyhow. I have learned to love its contributions to the Filipino culture and have also accepted its limitations as a print medium. And that, I think, is one of the first few steps in learning to love something.

Our love for it started when Wila bought a copy of Budjette Tan’s Trese: Murder in Balete Drive—the first of the three Trese books (The two others are Trese: Unreported Murders and Trese: Mass Murders). From that day on, we digested Neil Gaiman, David Hontiveros and a few others who are noted for their contributions in the comics industry. We also invested a lot of time and effort scouring libraries and web sites for anything related to komiks—especially Trese, our subject for research.

Komiks is both complex and limited as an area for research, but my partner and were set on one thing: WE ARE GOING TO GRADUATE ON TIME. And our love for komiks will aid us along the way.

falling in love with Filipino writing

However mildly cruel, stone-faced or unreasonable the UPV librarians may be, my feet will still find its way back to the library in search of a good book, especially on Philippine Anthologies. This treasure-hunting activity is an influence of my lovely friend, Bemjo (who has not updated her blog for weeks now :P), who has faithfully visited the asphyxiation-causing library.

Because of this, I learned of Cristina Pantoja-Hidalgo, Paz Latorena, Jose Dalisay Jr., Susan Lara and Eli Ang Barroso among others. Their written masterpieces are as historically important as the discovery of our country.

Filipino 12 and PI 100 further magnified this love. The library introduced me to the works of Rio Alma (Virgilio Almario) and Jose Iremil Teodoro. Looking for Rizal-related books, I had simultaneous flings with Nick Joaquin, Gregorio Zaide, Rafael Palma and Ambeth Ocampo. Of all of these flings, I am most infatuated with Ambeth Ocampo.

There is so much to love about the Philippines, I discovered. We are a country of amazing pen-holders, recognized and unrecognized. We are in the land of descriptive, witty, versatile and effective writers. Too bad, only a few of us requite their contributions.

Realizing this, I am thinking of taking up Creative Writing when I graduate (and rich enough to do so). Or, in the very least, put up a publishing company (dedicated to Filipino writing) so I can read books for free. Now, why did I take up CMS instead of Literature? * Hahaha!

Writing moves people. It is tragic, melodramatic and witty (or it might be sloppily done), but it inspires people. It keeps us company in bed, in buses, during the lonely nights, and even in the bathroom. I believe that all my positive attitudes are coming out when I am writing or reading Filipino works.

When all of my foreign-written books are moth-infested or drowned by some random flash flood, I will stay sane reading Filipino masterpieces. Classic is what becomes of them.

*So I can be rich enough to take Literature and be available to faithfully dedicate my time towards writing. But do not get me wrong, CMS is still my first love. 😀