July 27, 2006
Versus the TV
I know I shouldn't be slaving in front of it, but I do. At least now I keep it to two hours, maybe three, but that's not all right. In three hours I can finish a lot of writing modules. Three hours mean a chapter (if it's not NaNoWriMo; if it is it means 4-5,000 words).
Our church drummer mentioned that last Sunday. He's having the same problem. It's in our plans that if we move to our own houses, the TV is the last thing we'll get. At least I'm not alone. Still, it's a struggle the two of us have to overcome.
Sometimes I frighten myself with my writing passion. A few years ago this was how I felt about drawing, which now I am apathetic to. That's very scary. What if it happens to my writing as well? My solution so far is to force my self to draw and hopefully get that passion back.
July 26, 2006
Getting Delayed Again
The phone isn't working, which means no internet. Sigh. You can blame the typhoon for that.
Anyway, life hasn't stopped just because of the storm. I got accepted in the online comic book writing workshop. See, told you I could do it.
The music team is preparing for August 4, where we will be performing with two other music teams in a joint Praise and Worship event entitled One. Come if you can.
July 18, 2006
Something's Holding Me Back
I think my writing skills are improving now. I can write a bit faster than I did months ago. That should be a good thing.
Now I was looking at other writer's blogs and, comparing their rate of submissions to mine, I concluded that I need to write (and submit) more. Getting published on a yearly basis isn't going to be enough for a full-time writer, which is what I want to be.
My problem is that I don't share myself in my writing, and that causes two problems; my writing doesn't connect with the reader, and; I become so careful not to reveal myself that I stall when I write, and so write less.
At least I know what my problem is. That's half of the battle won.
July 15, 2006
Keeping it Simple
I deleted around fifty emails today on my yahoo address, most were messages from aquaintances and marketing offers that somehow didn't get deleted immediately. I also created two new folders to filter in mail when they come. I have ten folders right now, and I don't know what's inside. I'll be inspecting the contents in the future.
This is one of the revolutions I have made that started about ten years ago. With a room overcluttered with books from high school and below, unused art materials, and trinkets from who knows where, I was forced to reduce the number of items I had, brutally, not unlike the room cleaning featured in Oprah. Thus started my minimalist outlook in life. Although it makes life easier, it also makes it disposable. What happens is after some deep thinking, I throw away what I don't think is important, and there are a lot of things that clutter life that has no bearing in the future, or in life, or anywhere else.
One thing I found interesting. If I do forget something important, people can remind me of it.
July 13, 2006
Courage of the Past
King Arthur was playing on Star Movies, the one starring Clive Owen. I am fascinated by how passionate they fight, and it reminded me of one of my all-time favorite game, Civil War Generals 2.
Imagine this. Union and Confederate soldiers line up in front of each other while they load, aim, and fire their weapons. They don't dodge the bullets; they don't fire and retreat; they stay there, receive the attack, and those who don't get shot reload, aim, and fire. Why?
The game is played in turns. After the opponent finishes moving you decide what to do with the pieces you have, either move them or command them to attack. I say pieces because that's what they are, and in a tactical game you don't get emotional. It's more of an intellect-stimulating game so you attack, the opponent defends, a battle summary is displayed showing how many people died in the encounter, and you go off commanding the next piece. I don't mind not getting any emotional stimulation; that's not why I'm playing the game, so I love it.
However, I can imagine them to be people. Real people. It amazes me that they would actually stand in line facing the enemy to receive their bullets without flinching. What kind of conviction did they have to be able to do such a thing? How glib is the toungue of the commanders to be able to convince ordinary people (this is especially true for the South) to stand in the face of death? With all the leadership skills I have (or I guess, with anyone) I would not be able to convince people to go die like that. Why would you create a tactic that doesn't involve hiding from an enemy during confrontation?
I think that leadership then meant business. I think that people believed in what they fought for. I think the technology that we have in present-day warfare compensates for the lack of leadership and faith we have today. All this causes war to be uglier nowadays than it had been then.
July 12, 2006
Still Enjoying the Blog
I'm still experimenting with the two blogs I created yesterday. I saw somewhere that we'll see results after a week.
Can't wait.
July 11, 2006
I Should Write Full Time
I found two sites that offer to pay you everytime you blog: soulcast.com and writingup.com. Both sites use the Google AdSense program to pay you. Those are the links on the right. The sites put the ads on the blogs you create automatically, and when people click the links, you get paid. Of course it isn't really as simple as that, but that's basically what happens.
Analyzing the sites carefully then, you don't get paid for blogging; you get paid for the clicks the ads get when people look at your articles. It's not as exciting as one may think, but guess what? I created an account for myself.
Oh well, at least I get to practice writing if nothing else.
The other good news: I recently learned that a local station is airing Christian songs from 6 PM to 6 AM everyday. For those in Manila, the station is 91.5 FM, Edge Radio.
At last, something worth listening to on the radio.
July 09, 2006
Happy Birthday to The Erwin Robledo Website!
Even I couldn't believe it. It's been one year already, wow!
I wish I could give the site a facelift as a gift. I will, eventually, after I figure out how much time I still have in this world. Not that I'm going to die or anything.
Or maybe I am.
Weekends are reserved for practice for the main church's concert in August and our choir on the last Sunday of July. That, plus my portfolio, submissions for the workshops, and my blog work. I'm fine.
So there. My happiness right now stems from having life going according to plan.
By the way, last Friday's meeting was cool. We've established the guidelines for one of our games in melchman.com meaning it's up to me to start working on the script. Usually I finish the script, and Melch finishes the game, and it gets filed somewhere. Hopefully it won't happen this time.
Why? Because we have a business manager! That solves talking to clients.
So there. We're all happy. What this anniversary needs is a cake, I think.
Greet the site for me?
July 06, 2006
Not Quite There Yet
You know those movies where the hero gets fired up and decides to fix up his life, then cuts to the scene where he's shown as goofing off? Guilty.
I have two more weeks to submit four entries for two separate workshops, and I haven't done anything yet. The culprit? TV (what else could it be?). The justification is, there's so much information on it that it's silly not to take advantage of the technology. For instance, from watching, "Bituing Walang Ningning" I have learned that you can sell a song for P50,000 (my mom watches this. I just glance at the tube every now and then when I get snacks. Really.)
It's one of my very bad habits. I think of something to write, and when nothing comes up, I turn on the TV. The day ends without me having done anything. The deadline comes closer. I get panicky and decide to drop the project for the lack of time. Pathetic.
So. No more TV for me. Ever. Discipline.
The good news though is that I got another part-time writing gig as a blog writer. Imagine writing something like the one I do for this site, and being paid for it. Not bad. I can now do my portfolio in peace, knowing I have the funds to, I dunno, goof off perhaps?
And, the portfolio. I'm coloring a few comic book pages with the computer and I don't feel like I know what I'm doing anymore. It's not like riding a bike; riding an airplane is a more appropriate analogy for it, with me wondering what those buttons are for again. It'll come back to me. I still have one month.
As long as I don't turn on the tube.
I'll be in Megamall tomorrow for a meeting with our resident programmer for Melchman's Stuff (www.melchman.com). I'm not goofing off.
Oh, who am I kidding?
July 04, 2006
Nothing But the Truth
A friend from my previous call center job asked me how I was via email last week. She told me they were fine; in fact, they just got promoted. It was so hard to tell her the truth that I quit after I got scammed. Though it wasn't my fault, I did raise the team's expectations by telling them all about my new job and what's life going to be, working on what really interested me for a higher pay. It was really embarassing to have nothing to show. I almost told her I was fine.
Now I know how this friend feels. He was one of the few I looked up to back in the org when we were all fired up believing in the Bible and all that. We met a few months ago in a reunion and he told me he was fine working for the government with all the benefits and prestige, when in fact it was all a lie, as another friend told me (I make it sound like gossip. Eww). I wondered why he needed to cover up his life; it isn't in his character to do something like that.
Pride, of course.
Right there and then I decided to just tell her the truth and be done with it. I was in no way going to be like him. After all, I have plans to fix up this mess. I've got no plans to stay a bum forever.
I guess, if I could speak the truth, I should be able to tell you more about what's going on with my life and my attempts to improve my writing. That means typing even the bad things that happens. This should be hard at first, but we all have to start somewhere.
Hi. My name is Erwin. Let me tell you about myself.
