Mikai: Oh, hindi ka naman pala mag-sasummer, eh bakit ka lumuluwas?
Me: Ha, uhmm, mag-attend ako ng 2ndPhilippine Blogging Summit (aba, kumpleto pa talaga…)
Mikai: Ano? *bewildered look bordering between funny and curious*
Rex: Ayun, iblog2…
Mikai: Nakakatuwa ka naman, paluwas-luwas ka pa para lang makipag-conference! Haha!
Yeah, she’s right! I did made effort to travel from the province just to attend iblog2. When I first saw this, I was thinking, “Free naman siya, malapit lang, so why not? I think it would be interesting…” And indeed it was.
The only hassle was the ruined schedule. It didn’t start on time. But it really didn’t matter. What mattered was there were not enough seats, haha!
When I entered the room, I felt so small. Why? There were yuppie-looking people everywhere I look – complete with the 3G phones, digicams, recorders, palmtops, formal polos and long sleeves, black pants, leather shoes and all that jazz. And I was wearing sandals, =)! There were only a number of students like me. But I wasn’t bored.
Each speaker was interesting. My blog is 14 months old already, but I've only been regularly posting entries the past few weeks. I thought a blog was a simple thing. I mean, it is just like a diary, only it was online – it is just any random person who knows how to type in a keyboard and surf the internet and that person’s thoughts on just about anything. But in iblog2, I realized how powerful blogging can be. I realized that by publishing your thoughts for the entire world to see, you can be a government’s enemy. The keynote speaker mentioned that in certain countries, blogs of certain people are blocked and cannot be accessed by the people in those countries. Napaisip tuloy ako, grabe, baka naman biglang ipa-block ng mga taong pinaparinggan ko sa blog ko ang blog ko! Hehe!=p
Anyway, I attended the Personal Blogging track. I even asked an orgmate to come over since it was her vacant period (she was taking summer classes), to think na wala naman siyang blog. It really was worth my time. One of the speakers asked if there’s any Kapampangan in the audience. We were raising our hands but he didn’t see us. He wanted to ask what taksyapo means. Kaya ayun, dali-dali namin binaba kamay namin. We didn’t want to explain to everyone what that word literally means. Nakakahiya kaya! =) Ansarap pa ng food! I mean, for a free meal, it really was something: free flowing iced tea, a few slices of cordon bleu, special banana turons, veggies and a generous amount of rice.
Pero may hidden agenda rin ako kung bakit ako lumuwas para lang sa iblog2. Namimiss ko na friends ko. That’s why I texted them and had dinner together. Hehe!
|