Wow. This started with blog-hopping. I was a bit bored one time so I clicked through all the blogs in Dee’s sidebar. You know, the list you see at the side when you go to TalesFromTheMomSide.com. I planned to pass some time by reading what her friends in the blogosphere have to say.
I was very impressed. These people write so well. I did some lurking a little bit and some blog-hopping here and there until I decided to try dipping my toe into the water by dropping some comments. The first place where I did so was in Sa Labas Ng Mandaluyong. The author of that blog, Jan, (Not his real name. I have to protect his identity because this person is such a celebrity. The number of his devoted followers is increasing by the day and is almost near the point where organized religion will start to take notice.) is a very nice person who greeted me warmly. Seems like the water is warm after all.
After some time of leaving comments like crazy to every blog that would allow me to, it seemed like having a blog of my own is a good idea. After all, I want to improve my writing. And nothing could do that better than, well, writing. Dee, however, is hesitant. She is a thoughtful angel who does not want me to dress myself up like a clown for all the world to see. (Gee, thanks Dee. I appreciate the concern but a part of me always wants to make fun of people sometimes; and apparently, I am not immune to myself.) Anyway, Jan to the rescue. Jan of J.G. & Associates, my attorney-in-fact, made a well-constructed argument in a seemingly innocent comment in his blog. That did the trick. But it was not over yet; Dee made me sign an agreement. She also told me not to make fun of myself. I told her I’ll try.
The conditions of the agreement were simple. I’ll just have to educate myself by reading:
- A small book she bought; and
- This, this, this and this. (including the pages linked from those pages and pages linked from those linked pages.)
Of course, the dreaded portion is what I call the Or Else Clause.
I simply said that I’ll do it. But deep inside, I was laughing. Boy, could it get any easier than that? What a deal. Nope, not a deal; that was a steal! That small book? I’ll be done with it before she can even blink. Four webpages and their links? That’s nothing compared to the number of blogs I read.
So, I began. I started with the book’s table of contents to give me a glimpse of the terrain. Everything went fine in the early part of the book. That is, until I came across the term parenthetic expression. I’ll read on that in the Web later, I said to myself. Then came particulars, an appositive, an amplification, and an illustrative quotation. After that, my head began to spin.
I then decided that maybe I’ll have better luck with the Web pages. So, off I went to cyberspace. The first one was short. I followed some links, then another, then… Hey! How many links deep should I drill down? She did not tell me that. Great. And I thought this was the deal of my life. Geez, woman! Are you sure it’s okay with you if I blog or is this another way of saying no?
On a side note, I’d like to advise the members of the male species to watch out for what women say. Always keep in mind the song in the TV show The Wizards of Waverly Place. Everything is not what it seems. Sometimes they say yes but mean maybe or even no. To my mind, God created women to confuse men or maybe to exercise and test their comprehension skills. That, however, is in reference to women in general. If the woman also happens to be a lawyer, good luck. You’ll need lots of it. I did.
But going back to the terms and conditions, Dee said that they are more resolutory than suspensive. Meaning, I don’t have to comply with all those boring stuff first before I can start with the fun stuff. I can start right away with the understanding that I will continue with those readings. Stop the reading, stop the fun. Yes, ma’am!
The truth is, Dee did not want to keep me from blogging. She just hopes to prevent me from tripping over myself by making me read all those things. Well, that’s not a problem; because, to reiterate, the whole point of this blogging thing is to practice writing. That and the fun that it brings.
So, here’s my blog and here’s the first post. I had fun writing it; I hope you’ll also have fun reading it.
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