Written Contusions

One of my fave singers have just released a new song! Yey!

It's called Can You Hear Me. It made me happy to hear this song so here I am sharing this to everybody. Waah! I'm into soccer frenzy when I hear this song!

Ok so as promised, I have a new skin called No Time Left. This is in BlogSkins once again (a lot simpler, I already put my personal touch on this blog, obviously). I know the thumbnail (it's a pretty big thumbnail, alright!) is blurry but the current skin today is that skin so please forgive me.

This is in tribute to my dearly departed friend, Pits. I just figured that there really is no time but now. If we are to do the things we should be doing, better now than later. I hope people will like this.

Honestly, I took too long to make this skin because I wanted to find the perfect banner for this skin. Good thing I don't tire easily when browsing for this (although it took me about two days of hunting). The original picture was black and white so I also did some tweaking on this image. Of course, my favorite color is green so I made it greenish and then, lo and behold! Purple managed to weasel it's way in to the palette. Hahaha! Don't get me wrong, I like the color puple (sounded like Oprah's movie). It's just that it reminds me of eggplants whenever I see those two colors together.

By the way, I almost forgot. Thanks to the Palette Generator on Big Huge Labs for helping me be as consistent as possible, in terms of the colors on my skins. I always have to remind myself on some things. This is a reminder to put a page for my skin making tools here in this blog.

Here's the link to my No Time Left skin.

On a lighter, less blog related note, I was watching MYX yesterday and I saw Enrique Iglesias with a new video. It's called Can You Hear Me. Read more on this at The Devil's Pen.

Here's another skin that I made for Blogger. Again, this is posted on BlogSkins and for this skin, nobody rated this yet. I know it's sad. But anyway, you can still download this here.

So this other one is actually harder to make because I had to process the image. The toucan was supposed to have black feathers and an orange and yellow beak. However, I found black too depressing at the time so I got trusty old MS Paint and just inverted the color and cropped the image.

After a few lines of html and css, there you have it. This is just pretty mediocre for me because this skin and the Garden skin I posted prior to this were actually the first two that I had the guts to publish on BlogSkins.

As always, comments are appreciated, especially those that can change me for the better.

I have nothing to really blog about today so I just decided to put the older skins that I have already made from blogskins here.

This is a pretty simple skin called Garden because I wanted to have orange flowers when I get to build my own garden. Too bad for me, I haven't gotten around to saving enough money for that. According to BlogSkins, I got 89 downloads of this skin so far and I got 4.5 stars (not too bad considering the highest score is 5 stars) for this particular skin. This is available to download on BlogSkins. Here's the link to my Garden skin.

Basically this has 2 columns, one for a sidebar on the left side and of course, the posts on the right. When I was making this, I also put a background music but I left it out since it's too tedious to host it on the web.

Skins for July! Got tow already!!!

• No Time Left - posted on July 2, 2008. In memory of Pits.
• Fantasy Love - posted on July 5, 2008. Addictive! This is the current skin!

As I was going home, I was contemplating the sad fact that I have stumbled into a blogskin writer's block. Most probably because I have been dumbfounded as to what images or theme I would need to use and how to execute the layout.

I have two kinds of layout in mind: a, is to make it professional and light but heavy on CSS or b, to make it image heavy but light on css and embellishment. Since I am bogged down by such a dilemma, I went foraging for blogskin ideas thru the links that I could click on by MyBlogLog.

As I was doing that, I visited one of my contacts there. Her name is Robyn Tippins. You can click on her link on the previous sentence to go to her profile in MyBlogLog. As I was saying, I read her post on Practical Blogging about blog monetization and I found it so interesting. I mean who wouldn't want to earn money just by blogging... right? My eyes displayed dollar signs and I even heard ka-chings! from my pc speakers while I was reading the posts.

I felt greedy and wanted to do the steps that she proposed on there. I was tempted to visit the links that she posted but I remembered one crucial thing... I was not getting enough traffic into this blog so I went on another direction. I tried reading how to increase blog traffic on my blog.

At that point I came to stumble upon this post from EyeEarn Blog featuring 10 easy steps to follow to increase a blog's traffic.I found that step #8 is the easiest for me to do right now since I was blog surfing and I enjoyed that. Hehe! I found it very interesting and I will definitely follow the other steps listed there but I just had to tell you about those sites to help you in this crusade of getting ideas across to more people.

Ok, I've posted this, see you soon, and hopefully, I see more people going here in my blog. Everything changes, hopefully, for the better.

While I was updating my blog sometime this past week, I got a text message coming from my friend Lovie. Nung una, I was very happy to hear from her because I lost my phone due to freakin' stupidity (kwento ko na lang some other time). Anyway, she said she has some news about one of our dearest friends back in college.

When I clicked on "read" on my cel... guess what!? She said our friend Pits died.

Hindi ko na alam ang iisiipin ko. This year, dalawa nang kaibigan ko ang namatay. First was Muller. He was one of my office mates. Ngayon naman, si Pits. Kung nalungkot ako sa pagkawala ni Muller, mas malungkot ako sa pagkawala ni Pits dahil mas matagal na kaming magkakilala.

When we met, nagkasundo na kami kaagad. That was in the basketball area of LaSalle during the recruitment week for school orgs. Dahil ako ang VP for Tambayan, siyempre andun ako, manning the booth. Napakakulit na mama yan si Pits. Palatawa pa. Jokester and sometimes, the subject of his own jokes is himself. Mabait pa yan. He would attend our weekly prayer meetings and iyakan ng bayan. Pag may mga problema ang mga tao, marunong siya makinig and to give his own advice.

And then of course, there was the good times. Sa kanya ko natutunan ang katagang sprite genie (sprite na may gin). Madalas kami mag-inuman and he would even let everybody stay in his place kapag inabot na kami ng hating-gabi just to keep everybody safe.

Sabi ni Lovie, next Friday na daw ang funeral. But the thing is, nasa Binangonan ang wake and I don't know how to get there. Hopefully makapunta ako sa burol man lang.

To every body that reads this post, please play this game called High Delivery from Orisinal.com. Each flower you collect gets offered to Pit's memory.

Ok so pinost ko na nga sa blogskins tong layout na to. Guess what, I got two full star ratings. At dahil jan, I want to thank my sponsors, Wallpaper Abyss for providing such stunning backgrounds that we could use. And of course, Windows Live Writer for letting me blog without signing onto Blogger anymore.

Oh and speaking of Windows Live, I would like to let everyone know that Microsoft has this free blog publisher that you can download. To get a copy of your own Windows Live Writer, just log on to Windows Live.

Mabilis lang ang download. Pag ni-run mo na, parang nagpopost ka lang sa sarili mong blog and you still have the option of viewing your post as it will appear on your blog without publishing it yet. Same thing with photo blogging and video blogging, this program also features an easy way of uploading your media to your preffered online photo/video gallery like Picasa or Flickr. Not only that, you can also toggle between blogs that you manage especially if you have different blogs like me. I got four that I maintain at napabayaan already because tamad ako. It's a good thing about that kind of feature.

You may even post tags, and add plugins to your post. Plus, you can also add effects to the pictures to make them either pop out of the text or just plain blend them in as B&W. So there, you may actually be able to post everyday on your blog. Take it from me, super tamad ko talaga magpost. And this is my second day of posting for this blog. Hahaha! For more of the features, you can log on to the info page of Windows Live Writer.

Ok, stay tuned for the next update. Laging may nagbabago.

Ok so finally me desisyon na akong ginawa. Magboblog na lang ako ng mga blog skins na likha ko. Alam mo na, trip trip lang. Dito ko ilalagay sa blog na ito ang mga bago kong blog skins dahil simula pa nung una akong natutong magblog, andami ko na nagawang skin, kaya lang nawala na ang mga yon.

Dito ko ibubuhos ang aking kaadikan sa pag gawa ng mga blog skins. Bwahaha!

Kung sisipagin, magiging source din 'to ng mga skins for all other blogging sites, or at least ng Multiply.... *evil look at Multiply* Bwahahaha...

Now, as the first installment of my blog skinning (weh... bagong term ba yon?), here's what I call Artistic Kabuki na inspired by the anime Amatsuki. Here's a screen shot:

Looks family diba? E kung di ka rin naman pala tung@k... e yan ang skin ng blog na to ngayon e. If you like this, pwede mo to idownload from blogskins and click mo lang ang title ng skin na to. Bayad ko ha... ehhehe, siyempre joke lang, this is all shareware, just don't say you made it because hell knows, ako ang gumawa nito, and if I go to hell now, I've already made a deal with the devil, kapalit ng pagbalik ko sa lupa, ay ang kaluluwa ng laksa-laksang taong kinaiinisan ko at gumawa ng mali laban sa akin. Just give me my due credit. Hindi ako madamot. There, enjoy na lang sa pagdownload nito. Hopefully, I will make an impact in your blog.

So folks, stay tuned, maraming magbabago. Lahat naman diba?

I am still in my literary slump. Still a blank page.

I am burning my lungs out... smoke... dying neurons because of lack of sleep. Broken hearted? Not really, not so much heart left in me.

After a very late breakfast of cornflakes and coffee, I decided to turn on the TV to watch anything at all that the boob tube could dish out and I saw this local movie called "Ang Cute ng Ina Mo."

The heroine said a line that touched my heart. One that makes me think to revise this blog to a lighter note; move away from The Devil's grip.

She said, "How do I compete with 20 years that we've been apart?" -- ok short background, she got separated from her daughter who was taken to Australia and she tried everything to get to her. Her daughter visited her after so long and she tried her best to compensate for her absence.

It's just amazing for me to think that after so long, she never forgot her daughter and after 20 long years, she still had the will power to say that she will try hard to make up for the years that she wasn't there.

Now a thought occurred to me. If you've been in a relationship and then another person comes along and says to you, "I know you've been with your (bf/gf) for (x number of years) and I know that is hard to compare to but although I know it would be hard for me to win you over, I will face that head-on." What will you say to that then...?

Gee, I've found out that windows has this windows live writer that lets me write blog entries without signing onto blogger anymore. This will make my life much easier and I will be able to write blog entries faster. I feel that this is convenient for me. hopefully, I can end my spell of literary blankness. haha

Here's a quick list of my skins for this month.Feel free to browse through them. If you want, you may download the skin, just don't forget to give me credit. Thanks!

• Garden - originally posted on April 23, 2008 on BlogSkins.
• Toucan - originally posted on April 23, 2008 on BlogSkins.
• Artistic Kabuki - posted on June 26, 2008.

Sometime last Feb, a Goodah!!! branch opened up near my place and eversince I saw it, I had a foolish and inordinate desire to eat there. I guess it got the best of me so one Wed morning, I just woke up, got dressed and up and left to go to Goodah!!!.

Since they had to cook the food I ordered, I had to amuse myself so instead of staring at a couple on the opposite side of the place, I took pictures of the place and this photo came out nicely. Initially, it was in color but it didn't have the appeal that I was looking for so I reshot the scene under a sepia filter and voila, here it is!

The last person who massaged me died.

Somehow, for some crazy, twisted reason I have, I blame myself partly for Muller's death. Perhaps, if things haven't happened that way on that fateful Saturday, he was still alive.

That Saturday, my shoulders and back were aching from stress. All my muscles were tight. My back felt like it was about to snap and my shoulders felt a pull that I could describe as wanting to fold me in half. In addition to that, I was not feeling emotionally well that day.

I've always told my friends that I am an emotional vampire and I could suck a person's energy, like a vampire, only I suck emotional and psychic energy rather than blood.

In retrospect, perhaps I drained him of his last remaining energy resisting his impending heart attack.

What if I did not ask him to massage me?

Would he still be alive?

We've been friends for a long time now. From what I could recall, I met her when I was in my second year of college. That was 2001 then. We shared a whole lot and we instantly became friends. At that time, she was reading tarot cards for me and I treassured her advice.

We were both poetry writers at the school literary folio. After that though, she found her niche writing prose instead from what I can say, she does it well and good. And what a good segway to put in her link here on this post.

Featuring Kate: Walks Around the Village, a blog full of interesting shorts about random pictures she finds. Kudos Kate!

Since I don't have any post of my own, I'd like to post one song I heard that has poetry in it. Actually, all her songs have poetry in it but here it is... Bethlehem by Paula Cole

Bethlehem by Paula Cole

Pulling on the apron strings looking up
Standing on the chair to be grown up
I feel so little, I need my pillow
I hate the time, I hate the clock
I want to be a dog or I want to be a rock

Sunday's pancakes Miss Mary Mack
Color Polariods show my heart attack
In my second-hand pants and dusty shoes
The day that the playground laughed at my shoes
It's my birthday next week and what I want please
Is to turn on the heat so the fish won't freeze
The fish in the tank froze and died last week
Oh I want to be a dog or I want to be a leaf

Quarry miners, fishermen
In my town of Bethlehem
Picket fences, church at ten
No star above my Bethlehem

Now I'm only 16 and I think I have an ulcer
I'm hiding my sex behind a dirty sweatshirt
I've lost five pounds these past few days
Trying to be class president and get straight A's, well,
Who gives a shit about that anyway?
I want to be a dog or a lump of clay

Chorus

Still I'm tired of standing still
Tired of living - still
Everyday I dream of leaving

Everybody's talking about Becky's bust
The boys on the basketball team just fuck
The same ten girls, who don't know who they are
They're looking for some comfort in the back of a car
The six-packs of beer, the locker room jeers
I don't want to be me, I don't want to be here

Chorus

Red brick schoolhouse, dead end dirt roads, daffodils
No star above my Bethlehem

I want to be a dog or I want to be a rock
I don't want to be me, I don't want to be here

While at work, I received the most bothering and shocking of all news I will ever get this week. This would really ace the list, though at the moment of discovery, the date was only May 5th, 2008, a Monday.

Last Thursday's result night of American Idol featured Natasha Bedingfield with a song I just heard that night called Pocket Full of Sunshine.

Naturally, since she is one of my favorite artists, I'm here to publish the video I found of Pocket Full of Sunshine. I found a flash version of the video and this is the first time I'm posting a video that did not come from youtube so I don't exactly know if this will display on every body's computer but hey, here it is. This is so brilliant!




For more music and information about Natasha Bedingfield, you could log on to her official website, natashabedingfield.com.

My inkwell is dry. I haven't written any poetry for so long now. I cannot even retrieve my old poems unless I dig through a very thick pile of dust.

Although that is the case, I will just share a thought:

"Hindi lang iisa ang lasa ng sarap!"