Wednesday, January 10, 2024

ON BUILDING A WEBSITE


For my book project THINGS, the task today according to my year plan is to blog about a new-year discovery as this is the 9th month of my 60th year. But since April in 2023 when I officially acquired a senior citizen status, my routine has stayed the same. If there were any new discoveries, I didn't have a record of those experiences. The major culprit was my lack of consistent writing. My last diary entry was dated 2021!

Well, early last year, I installed a loft bed with a stair cabinet and moved my Molave desk from the living room to the space under my bed. I made sure that I would be able to sit and stand underneath so I was happy about having created a 'writing space for myself'. This was necessary since my sister and her son have taken over the entire living room, and now, there is a study table for my nephew and a work desk for my sister. Both are folding tables by the way, and my nephew's is right down the stairs of the double bed, while my sister's rests right beside the door of the unit. I have been thinking about retrieving my Narra desk from my brother's resort in Batangas, where I moved it back when my sister wanted me to remove furniture in my mother's house to give space to possible renters. I acquired that desk from OMF, when they gave it to me after letting me work from home when my mother got sick. That table had deep drawers that my nephew could use for his clothes. Right now, most of his garments are in plastic boxes stacked under his round, blue, folding table.

I installed a double bed in the living room, so that part of the condo isn't anymore mine. Whatever mess they make now with the living room-turned-bedroom-for-two is fine with me as long as the mess doesn't get into my newly created space.

To cheer me up, I bought a new chair more for its aesthetic fit in my under-the-bed office than for its usefulness as a writing chair. And now I have been regretting the purchase because it's difficult to write sitting on that beautiful cozy chair. I am grateful that I have kept my blue folding metal chair from the time I was a boarder in Palanan in 2011, so I use that when writing. Meanwhile, the old, rotating, desk chair now belongs to my sister, who has been using it since the time they moved in with me.

Currently, all my positive experiences have to do with the luxury of sleeping on the 'loft bed' in my 35 sq meter condo. Up on my bunk, I am no longer bothered by the traffic of my sister and her son coming and going in and out of the bathroom. I can now rest in peace without Joseph jumping on the bed every time he goes to the window to look at children playing in the garden of Gateway Regency only one floor below. When I had a proper bed, it was also a sofa, and my nephew was hardly in the living room but was always lingering on my bed while he played, painted, or simply watched other children play from the bedside window. His mom has now installed for him a wall fan, and lately, he's loving the independence of watching Netflix on his tablet on his bed, with all his stuffed toys and 'dippers' beside. However, the child still asks me occasionally if he could sleep with me- which I let him sometimes because he is really a sweet boy. But more and more, I have been rejecting his request because he's nine and has grown taller. Cuddling him on my bed has become less cozy and comfortable, but I cherish his little head popping up the loft stairs every morning when he goes up to say, 'Good morning Ninang.'

Today, instead of blogging about any new discovery [because I really don't have one], I went to YouTube for guidance on productive blogging. Half of this day was spent googling and then watching videos on how to create a new website. At this age, I probably need more time to research on these technicalities before I plunge to the actual 'business' of blogging. I found Hostinger Academy which gave me a list of 'no-code' web-builders. I wondered why 'Wordpress' wasn't on that list, however, if I use Hostinger for web hosting, it directs me to 'Wordpress'. So since I already have this Wordpress blog, on impulse, I upgraded my confidantesite. blog, but then I canceled my purchase immediately because I realized that I still didn't understand the process. I had changed the domain name to 'auntiedote.com' but when I searched for the domain name after an upgrade, I didn't know where it went and was lost as to how to proceed to Hostinger. Confused even after three tutorial videos, I have now spent almost four hours of 'learning' how to build a website, yet I haven't learned anything.

I miss Sitesell, the web hosting I used from 2004 to 2021. It really was convenient for old people like me with its full tutorials. Even when you get lost, you can always go back and repeat at Sitesell and there are tons of easy help available which took only a little time to discover.

After cancelling my purchase, I got this email from Wordpress:

The following upgrades have been cancelled and ฿3,348.00 refunded:

Your refund has been sent to the method of payment that you used for your original purchase. You will receive it in 7-10 business days. If you paid with a credit card, this may appear as a credit/refund on your statement, or the original charge will show as reversed, which would simply remove the original charge from your statement - depending on your bank. If you paid via PayPal, you’ll see the refund in your transaction history.

If you have any questions or don't receive the refund, please contact support

Did I lose all of my previous blogs now? Wordpress says that my domain confidantesite.blog has been deleted, and as a result, I might not be able to regain that same domain name.

I should look for copies of my previous blogs - hopefully, I emailed copies of those to myself. This is a bit sad, but well, maybe this is also an adventure, although a sad one. So much for a new website.

 

Monday, December 25, 2023

ONCE-A-MONTH GOALS

 


Hopefully, this time, because I am desperate, I will accomplish everything I will jot down here:

1. I should be able to plot at least one chapter [or two] a month for Bianca's Diary (tentative title) and finish writing by April, in time for Editing and Layout in May. The plan is to finish it in time to get a writing grant in June and publish the YA novel in September 2024.

2. I should be able to blog at least three essays on my '60s journey -- aiming to develop a community of readers for the "Things Book."

3. I should be able to blog a review of any book I am reading -- aiming to develop a community of readers and friends for the YA novel I am writing. I should be able to read all the books I've listed in October of this year.

4. I should be able to read a novel by a Filipino author -- also to upgrade my grasp of Philippine Literature. 

5. I should be able to read and do some ART hobby, maybe painting -- aiming to help me build a new skill -- perhaps toward illustrations of Children's books. 

FOR NUMBER 1 -  Right now, I have eight chapters that aren't yet ordered the way they should [this organization will happen once I've determined all the chapters.] I have been learning that I am not a plotter, that is, my story happens as I write them, and so thinking and writing are always simultaneous -- that is, I can never plot or plan my chapters, and the stories seem to be lodged somewhere in my system and are only waiting to be tapped. Writing then is really slow and kind of forced in the beginning, until every thought has landed on paper and is ready for placement in the yet incoherent narrative.

FOR NUMBER 2 - This is the first blog on the '60s journey thing, however, I wanted to keep this blog more formal and still in the THINGS mode of essaying, so I need to focus on more objects around me, This is difficult only because I am not sure about what other mundane objects will yield some deep meditations. Later thoughts on the THINGS project involve planning and research of an end product, that is 'initially,' BAGS because I like them, after all, in the schema of everyday commute, this is a most necessary accessory. They will be manufactured and sold eventually. What pops up as a brand name is 'BAGAY'. I should look more into how to manufacture bags, and maybe I could also ask Ramon Rocha, former CEO of OMF, who had bag manufacturing as his first business. [This makes me consider the MAI meet in Bangkok come April of 2024, since I need to meet up with people and establish myself in a community of global peers. Why not?]

FOR NUMBER 3  -- Right now, I have been reading two books highlighted in the October list of YA books to read, but I have not been enjoying those books, although I have been learning much from how 'unsentimentality' figures in a narrative. So far, these YA books which are in the realist mode aren't the best reads for me, maybe because I am old, and for somebody wanting to write to Young People, I have to say I am so ancient that I don't yet fully appreciate the ticks of this genre. Then in the process, I think I need to somehow delve into reading fantasy, which, for a long time, except for Lord of the Rings, are books I have avoided for sheer dislike of unreal things.

FOR NUMBER 4 - I should read Biblioepsy to complete reading all of Gina Apostol's books. I have La Tercera in my Kindle App here on my phone, and It wasn't a satisfying read. I have yet to identify what I really enjoy in her books, but with The Revolution According to Raymundo Mata, it was just the novelty of it all -- that is, it was a new experience for me reading such a style so I enjoyed it. After a while, this style becomes tedious and demanding and not at all engrossing - which I think is something needed for one to keep on reading.

FOR NUMBER 5 -- Oh when oh when will I get down to this? So today, I should probably decide to think of this hobby smartly - so if I am going to study drawing, I might as well try getting to a point of illustrating children's books in the future. I have always enjoyed children's book illustrations. I will look at my ART BOOKS collection to see if there's anything at all that will teach me this. Or, there is always YOUTUBE, although I have to really clear this forest of information to be able to spend my time smartly only on the videos that matter.

Wednesday, October 18, 2023

BOOKED FOR THE FISCAL YEAR [SEPT 2023-202F SEPT]


1. THE WAY I USED TO BE 
2. WE WERE LIARS 
3. THEY BOTH DIE IN THE END 
4. THE HOUSE ON MANGO STREET 
5. THE MAGIC FISH 

 6. DIARY OF A TOKYO TEEN 
7. XOXO 
8. PATRON SAINTS OF NOTHING 
9. A STEP FROM HEAVEN 
10. THROWBACK 
 
11. KAY'S LUCKY COIN VARIETY 
12. THE SURPRISING POWER OF A GOOD DUMPLING 
13. HOUSE OF GLASS HEARTS 
14. SING TO THE DAWN 
15. LAST NIGHT AT THE TELEGRAPH CLUB 
 
16. MY HEART UNDERWATER 
17. WHEN THE RAINBOW GODDESS WEPT 
18. FROM TWINKLE WITH LOVE 
19. FORESHADOW 
20. GRACELING 

21. DAVID TUNG CAN'T HAVE A GIRLFRIEND UNTIL HE GETS INTO AN IV LEAGUE 
22. PICTURE US IN THE LIGHT 
23. FREEWATER 
24. MAIZY CHEN'S LAST CHANCE 
25. THAT CHILDREN'S BOOK BY NICK JOAQUIN

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