One of Just a Gazillion Days

Okay, so I sometimes write sponsored ads, but this one is not a paid blog entry. I just wanted to share because I thought it was really cool.

I recently worked on oDesk for a very nice site called Gazillion Days. It's pretty much like a global blog where you can write about your day(s) and get to share yourself with everyone. It's like leaving a memory for someone else to read. I dunno, I mean I have a blog... two blogs, and a few accounts on social networking sites, but I really thought this was a simple but really nice idea.

Here are my posts:
First Day In Baguio
Happy Best Birthday
Writing My Day Away

---

I love working for oDesk. I really do. I wish I could just devote my time, most of my time, to working for the various projects there. I love the travel blog I'm working on right now, and hope that I can get hired for the long haul. My boss there is a great guy. Very easy to talk to, and very reasonable. My most recent employer is a really nice person as well. I found out that I enjoyed working with these people though I haven't met them and they're sitting in their offices on the other side of the world from me... or maybe that was just the case.

But I'm really glad I found oDesk. And that's even before I click the "Billing and Payments" link to see how much I've made. I've already made a "few" dollars just blogging, working a couple of hours a day. And to think I was actually smiling while doing those projects.

So thank God for oDesk... and PayPal, too ^_^

I Wanna Go to Baguio

There are times when you miss someone or something so bad that you feel like your soul is crying out for that something that's missing. At this point in time, my soul is crying out for Baguio. I want to feel the cold (not cool) Baguio rain on my face, and scent the air that is distinctly the city of pines. I'm not sure how pine-scented it still is, but I don't care. I want to grin like an idiot when the bus starts its upward climb at Marcos Highway, and press my nose to the glass when the houses perched on the sides of the mountains become familiar.

It's not a matter of feeling depressed or withered inside right now. I don't. Not anymore. Well, not lately. I have my stories to keep me company and my friends to anchor me to the here and now. But I feel half-starved, like Baguio is a magical well of energies and I just need to go back there to draw strength.

It's not a simple want. I don't just want to go to Baguio. I... yearn. It's like an ache that just won't quit.

I need to go back there. And soon.

Can I Ask for a Raise?

* If my boss reads this, I'm just kidding ^_^ (or maybe not)

An excerpt from his e-mail to my team:

"As you can see, some of us like Denise have performed very well, with regard to number of posts, as well as the cost per post..."

It makes me feel appreciated. I love this job because it's easy to do, it's fun, and it's something I really wanted, and my boss is really nice, too.

Little things like this, small words that might have only been given in passing, they push me to do better :)

Spot On

A project kept nagging at me since last week. It didn't use to bother me (overmuch, at least) that Cedric Diggory died at the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. But after Rob got the part of Edward Cullen, he's become my flavor of the quarter.

The story that kept turning and turning in my head is a mix of GoF and his other movie, The Haunted Airman, where he played a WWII bomber that was crippled. I figured the mix of the two movies would be a cool explanation for what would have happened had Cedric Diggory been able to duck Wormtail's spell, but was hit by another that had crippled him.

I didn't have that much time to write it, so I just Googled for fanfics and I found this little gem of a fanfic called Finding Himself by the amazing Minisinoo, which was exactly (as in exactly) what I had in mind... except for Cedric had become permanently crippled (which I can't allow) and that he ended up with Hermione (which I can't allow either... because I like Hermione with Ron, and I like Cedric with me hihi). I'm not done with reading it yet, but it's extremely well written. I'd probably still write my own version of the story, though... if just to get the characters in my head to shut up. And I can't bear to have Ced in a wheelchair...

Anyway, that wasn't why I wrote this entry. But it's because of this... Minisinoo wrote this paragraph, having Cedric's mum describe her son.

"My son seems tougher than he is; he's learned to wear armor. I taught him. Beneath that, however, he's easily wounded. A bit of honest commentary from you could feel to him like a personal attack, yet he'll rarely confront you about it. Cedric runs from conflict, at least with anyone he cares about. He'll give in rather than fight with you -- but then resent you afterwards. The only way to make him fight is to make him angry enough to lash out. He hates conflict, but he does have a temper. You may need to use it sometimes."

It just feels like the writer was describing... me, both the good and the bad of it. Like she knew me, and was talking about me. I just find it... amazing.

A Spark of Light

I'm not a very social person. I usually hide behind other people and mumble my greetings before I go find a corner where I can hide. But it's a different matter altogether online where I can be a social butterfly.

Which is why I joined SocialSpark, a really cool online blogging community where people can hang around, be writers, meet cool people and get paid for blogging skills. Freedom to be yourself, new friends, money... who doesn't want that? It's like MySpace or Friendster, only you get paid. There are a lot of opportunities that you can choose from to ensure that you are able to write about something that you are genuinely interested in, rather than write for the sake of getting paid. This way, it becomes something you enjoy rather than something you have to do. And what's cooler that being able to use your own blog for it?

SocialSpark has 100% Audit-able In-Post Disclosure, and 100% Transparency which doesn't make you feel at all sneaky about writing for them.

It advocates 100% Real Opinions and doesn't push their ideas of a certain topic or product on you. You have the freedom to write whatever it is you want, just as in an ordinary every day blog entry.

And, it is 100% Search Engine Friendly which acts as the lighthouse that guides readers to your blog. It drives oh-so needed traffic and connects you with the world.

SocialSpark is brought to us by the same people who brought us PayPerPost which I have also recently tried and had not been disappointed in.

So make that spark on the net and join SocialSpark.

Blogging from Home

I'm in MY bed, and the rain is falling outside, and I feel so... at home, and well, apprehensive because I'm going back to NE tomorrow. It's May, the second week of my self-imposed deadline, and, yes, I am actually ready to leave.

My mom is making noises about moving my stuff to the masters' bedroom, the room my sister and I are going to share if (and when) I finally come home to stay for good. They're thinking of moving to my brother's room, and my brother is moving to my room. We just need to worry about the logistics, actually, of how to actually haul the furniture and rearrange the house. But then again, we have quite an experience with moving stuff around. It would be surprising though, that, when I move to my new room, my bed will become neighbors to a refrigerator. It's one of my pamana from my dearly departed grandmother. And although I don't have any use for it as it is, and can probably make some money if I sell it, I can't because she specifically said that I should keep it. Well, keep it I will.

I just need to worry about getting Internet connection at home, and I can move back home and take my blogging job (and my writing, and our online bookstore) more seriously. After all, those would be my sources of income. Again, I give myself six months. If these don't work, I'm back to the call center industry *shudder* Which is why they should WILL work.

I just feel very lucky. My mom and dad are incredibly supportive. I give them one crazy idea after another ("I'm quitting my extremely stable job to work as a writer in Nueva Ecija."; "I'm quitting my writing job for freelance work so I can work on my novel."; "I'm quitting my writing to be a naked dancing girl in [insert name of country here].") They just ask me if I was sure I'd be happier there, then say that they support me, and they'd always be there to catch me if I fall. I don't think I can find any better people to be my parents. God knows what he was doing when I was born. So to the Big Guy up there, thank You very much.

It's my 6th month in the company today. Doesn't feel like it changed much... I think it might just be time.

Ready and Waiting to Fly

I started working for my current oDesk employer last Monday, and I'm having a lot of fun, not to mention making extra cash. I'm working two hours a day as a blogger of all things. I'm writing a travel blog and it's so cool! I just need to research about places that I want to go to, and blog about that. And I'm earning half my salary on my full time job (depending on the peso-dollar exchange rate, of course)... for two hours a day! @_@

If (when) I'm finally able to start my working-at-home life, I can finally seriously work on the book that I'm seriously hoping to get seriously published. Seriously. I just need to get my backpay from CVG, so I can stay afloat, maybe get another 2 to 3 hour job at oDesk, raise my hourly rate, and viola! On my way to soaring. I can't wait.

Twilight Poster

* December so far away... must... hold... on

Changing My Mind About Jasper's Hair

Q: “For Ashley Greene: If Natalie Portman can shave her head for ‘V for Vendetta,’ if Christian Bale can lose 60 pounds for ‘The Machinist’, and if Sofia Vassilieva can also go bald for ‘My Sister’s Keeper,’ than why couldn’t you cut your hair to play Alice? Because for me, it’s going to distract.” - Danielle

Ashley Greene (Alice Cullen): Wow. I tried.

Jackson Rathbone (Jasper Hale): She did cut her hair. She cut her hair a good 5 inches, 6 inches. She has long hair naturally.

Greene: My hair is, like, down to here naturally [she gestures toward her waist]. We cut a good bit off of it. I cut it to here [she gestures to her shoulders], because it’s obviously wigged. I was all for the short hair. But I guess there’s a lot of [controversy].

Rathbone: With production, with the stand-ins and stunt doubles — we all have quite a few — they also have to match all of them as well. They found out for the girls, certain characters with short hair might be a little bit easier. For me, they don’t care because I’m next to her anyway, and every time I’m next to her, you just look [toward her]. It’s a much better sight.

~ Interview from MTV

If he keeps saying things like that, I wouldn't care about his hair at all...

Souls and Rain-drops

It's raining today.

I stepped out of the office into the hallway and there was a sound like unrelenting drumbeats. I walked to the door, drawn by the sound, by the smell of the rain that you could not mistake for anything else. When I was a kid, the rain meant no school, or if there was school, it meant wet socks. I rarely brought umbrellas to school, preferring the feel of the raindrops on my face. I like walking in the rain. There's something refreshing about it.

In college, the rain meant cold. I was studying in Baguio and just the hint of rain meant freezing winds and, maybe, a cigarette or two. That was the last time I walked, really walked, in the rain... in college. We didn't have any classes and there was a storm signal number 3. My roommate and I walked out into the freezing rain and laughed and danced like there was no tomorrow. How liberating that was, how... innocent and... happy, like there were no past hurts or future pain. Only us and the driving, freezing rain that hits the skin like a thousand pinpricks telling us that we were alive.

What would I give to be that again? How... weary I feel right now, like there are a thousand things sitting on my shoulder that I can't unload, that I shouldn't unload, no matter how many times I want to just lift my middle finger, throw it off and walk away.

But still the rain, the unforgiving rain. I wish it could wash everything away, every hurt, every feeling, every desire. How I wish I could stand beneath the rain again and laugh and dance. I think, if I do right now, it would only leave me numb, but not blessedly, not thankfully. It might just paralyze me with coldness but not numb me. I would still feel. And my only consolation is that people will mistake my tears as the rain. No one would be the wiser.

I'm so cold inside. So cold. And there's nothing but the rain.

Giving Cedric Diggory the Benefit of the Doubt

I've recently developed a crush on Robert Pattinson. Okay, so not recently. While my friends were crushing on Viktor Krum, I've always had my eye on Cedric Diggory. He's cute in a clean-cut kind of way, and how he was portrayed in the book... *sigh* Which is why I didn't mind when he was casted as Edward Cullen. It took me awhile to get a decent picture of him off the Net the first time. To me, he was cute as Cedric Diggory, but Edward Cullen's is not an easy role to play. Robert Pattinson's pics didn't look Edward Cullen enough, if at all. Even in the first pics from Summit, I wasn't entirely convinced that he (and the rest of the cast [except maybe, Emmett with the wrong hair]) fit the roles of the Cullens/Hales.

I shrugged and popped Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire into my laptop, deciding to watch Robert more closely. After all, I did think he was cute as Cedric. After getting over his "cuteness", I turned a critical eye on his acting. I can't say that I'm an expert, having only done minor theater stuff when I was in school, but I was... well, impressed. In an interview, Kristen Stewart said that Robert was "so soulful and he’s just not a liar — you can feel pain from him", and I couldn't help but agree, hands down, when I watched his acting more closely. Maybe they have something going on between them, I don't know. (You'll think that too when you watch the video where she picked something off his teeth on MTV. But that's a different story.) His face was so transparent, showing exactly what his character was supposed to feel: joy... nervousness... agreement... worry... fear. His face is so expressive. I dug up some clips from his BBC movie The Haunted Airman, and it was the same thing. I watched his role in Vanity Fair and still the same. That kid is, to me, a very talented actor.

I watched the Twilight interviews and collected pictures of the movie off the Net. When I get obsessed, I really get obsessed, and I devoured (still am devouring) everything Twilight. I came to the conclusion that, in my personal opinion, Robert Pattinson is MY perfect Edward Cullen. I don't know (or care) about Henry Cavil or Gaspard Ulliel at the moment. I don't know them enough to feel anything remotely strong as to cry and whine that they didn't get the part of Edward. I trust Catherine Harwicke to do this movie, just as I trusted Stephenie Meyer (and every author whose books I bought) to give me a great read when I picked her book up. I don't think anything, and definitely not Robert Pattinson (or Ashley Greene and her too long body and too long hair), can and will ruin the movie for me.

So, Rob, you got my support. Good luck and I'll definitely enjoy watching you as Edward in December.

Know what, I'd have probably whined if Heart Evangelista got Cho Chang's role in Harry Potter too, but then again...

I found this really brilliant icon from one of the users in LJ. If anyone knows who I should credit for this, please leave me a message.



* Ah, finally got that out of my chest.

Online Job Anyone?

I've always wanted to try applying for a freelance job and work from home when I stumbled upon this site.


I haven't actually tried it since I'm a little bit busy with actual work, but sometime soon, I'm going to make a career out of this (i.e. kakarerin ko). I do want an online job and work in my pajamas at home ^_^ I hope it works out.

Springing

Well, here where I live, Spring is sprung–weeks early, even. Our lilac bush looks like it will have flowers by this time next week instead of in the middle of May as usual. The dogwood trees, the magnolia trees–all the flowering trees are flowering. The daffodils and crocuses are, if anything, starting to fade. It may only be April 24th but it is very definitely Spring and, allergies notwithstanding, I’m happy to welcome the change of season. What I want to know, is:

Do your reading habits change in the Spring? Do you read gardening books? Even if you don’t have a garden? More light fiction than during the Winter? Less? Travel books? Light paperbacks you can stick in a knapsack?

Or do you pretty much read the same kinds of things in the Spring as you do the rest of the year?

Being in the Philippines, we only have two seasons, the rainy season and summer. I would love to experience Spring, Autumn and Winter though. I bet it would be beautiful.

I generally don't change my reading habit with the season. I just read what I want to read. Sometimes though, if it's raining and I'm not currently reading one of the books in my TBR, I also tend to read books that are set during rainy times. It makes me feel more "in the book". I remember almost always automatically reaching for Frank McCourt's Angela's Ashes when it rained because the rain reminds me of Ireland. Not that I've been there, but I'd love to visit. Now, the rain reminds me of Forks, WA and Stephenie Meyer's Twilight. If it's hot, I get a book set in the beach or some other sultry-temperatured place. But it doesn't affect my reading habit really.

Happy BTT!

The Things I Do for My Vices

Hehe okay, so maybe not vices...

Allan and I are in an Internet shop at San Jose City when there is a perfectly acceptable connection back at the office. Why? Because I wanted to download copies of the newly released videos for Twilight *sigh*

Anyway, here's the vid from MTV, a vid that I won't be able to watch at work :p

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

*cries because it's not December yet*

Weee!

I was writing Nade Daphne and Cedric when this window from my YM popped up saying that my blog entry for PayPerPost got accepted! Weeee! ^_^ But of course, I'd probably be restless until I see that money in my PayPal account :p But still, weeee! May pang-Jollibee ako!!!