Liebster Award 2017

We’re more than halfway through the year 2017, and here it is again. For the second time in a row, I have been nominated for a Liebster Award by the lovely Megan, otherwise known to many of you as Maroon Caludin. We have been visiting each other’s blogs for as long as I can remember, leaving a comment or two, and we’re also members of one another’s forums,1 even though I haven’t really been active in both forums for the obvious reasons. Other than that, thank you so much Megan~! 😄

And once again, if you would like to know more about the Liebster Award, you can visit the blog that started it all.

Awrighty yo, without further ado, let’s get to it~! ☺

Since I copied and pasted some of the rules from the original blog that started it and not from Megan’s blog, it’s just appropriate that I should just follow the original format.

A Favorite Blog

I’ve read and followed several blogs for over ten years of my blogging days that I have bookmarked a few of them over and over again. A lot of the blogs I’ve bookmarked cover several topics from being niche-less to blogs that cover interesting topics not too well-known by the masses, but very few of them actually influenced me to explore more of these topics and eventually become interested in them.

One of these blogs mentioned is Jemjabella, owned and maintained by that PHP ninja herself, Jem.

For over 10-something years now, she’s shown her natural wit and knowledge with everything web development, PHP, and nonsensical randomness from video games to “culprits” who claim they know best by using the worst practices and call them out in public.2 In addition to her blog, she also offers free flat file-based scripts for hobbyist web designers and developers, a tutorials site for beginners, and so much more. She also had an on and off love and hate relationship with WordPress, in which there were times where she built her own CMS system for her blog.3 Ever since she became a mother herself, she also began writing about tips and topics about children, parenting, and everything in between.

Those who disagree or may feel offended by the wordings of her entries say that she was being an elitist or someone being bitter. However, it’s human nature that pride can mess up a person’s ways of thinking, and it’s those types of people whom Jem targeted in the past. Her style of writing and her ongoing contributions to the beginner web designing and development community gained her so many followers. She gained, even more, today from young mothers such as herself, opening a few side projects related to motherhood and child care.

But most of all, she influenced me into pursuing the full-stack field. Her WordPress explorations, her knowledge of PHP, and even though she’s not too well-versed with heavy-scaled graphics used in a lot of hobbyist web sites (be it personal or fan/subject-interest-related), a lot of her tutorials and tips greatly helped me in integrating two of my loves together as one masterpiece. (probably the wrong way of saying it, but that’s how I felt)

Even though I rarely visit other people’s blogs for the usual reasons, I do come and stop by Jem’s blog once in awhile and on a whim. She writes more about life than what she used to write about those ten-something years ago. When I do finally understand more of PHP, one of my contributing plans with this basic understanding is to fork some of her projects (probably Bellabuffs and NinjaLinks) from GitHub and modify them to be compatible with PHP 5.6+ and probably add some features that Jem hasn’t added yet. I plan on doing the same with forking Enthusiast and fix its 5.6+ compatibility and other security issues.

And of course, one day, write my own scripts that can benefit hobbyist web designers/developers. One day.

11 Questions from Megan

(I’m wondering why 11 questions when the original rules say 10 questions…?)

1. How long have you been blogging?
   As mentioned on the site tagline (“10+ Years of BLA-BLA-ing about Life”), I have been blogging for over 10 years. To be more specific, I opened my first blog back in 1999. In short, 18 years.
2. What was your first site?
   A Dragonball Z/GT fanfic site called Till the Right Time Comes, c. 1997, hosted on the old Geocities. I remembered how it was all black, with white Times New Roman text, and CSS hasn’t caught on the internet during those times. Yet.
3. Do you have a favorite show?
   Today or in the past? In the past, I had so many favorites, I had a long list. Today, I no longer watch that much TV, except for the occasional Netflix with the family. So, in other words, I don’t have a favorite show now.
4. What is your favorite color?
   If you happen to visit my blog (through different URLs) for some time during the span of 18 years, you should notice one commonality between my layouts and themes. They all got some dominant presence of blue in different shades, whether if they’re the main color or trims of the entire overall look.
5. What is one of your goals right now?
   To have a remote job in the web development field, so I can work at home or anywhere else. Even a customer service job in the tech industry is more than suffice.
6. What is your biggest strength?
   The truth is, I never really think about my biggest strengths and weaknesses, so much that I think that I have more weaknesses than strengths. I guess for me, being able to collaborate and work in a team on a project, big or small, would be a big strength for me.
7. Do you play any games? If so, what is your favorite?
   On the console (PS4), I play Final Fantasy XV and Tales of Zestiria. On the PC, I play The Sims 4. On both my phone and on my Kindle, I play various otome dating sim games. My favorite out of my current ones? Final Fantasy XV.
8. What are you currently reading?
   Various coding eBooks for WordPress, PHP, Python, and Ruby. I also read various calligraphy, handlettering, and drawing/art eBooks too.
9. What are you afraid of?
   Dying alone. If I were on my deathbed, I want to see my family and friends as the last sights I see.
10. What kind of computer do you have?
    An all-in-one desktop and a laptop. Both of them are Dell.
11. Do you have a favorite scent?
    Not really, as long as they’re light, crisp, nose-friendly, and non-allergic.

11 facts about me

(… and again, why 11 facts, when the original rules say 10 facts?)

1. When I was training in taekwondo during college/university years, I also drew random comic strips (in chibi manga style) about my training, the friends I made in our club, and just overall college/university life. That was before I got my first exposure to the internet.
2. I got into the early days of K-Pop (Korean pop music) back in the late ’90s from both the taekwondo club and from my Korean classmates in Japanese class, way before K-Pop became mainstream in the masses some 9-10 years later. Those same Korean classmates also introduced me to J-Pop (Japanese pop music) also.
3. The first anime that I’ve seen was a very little-known ’70s mecha series called Mazinger Z through early ’80s reruns, from the ’70s Super Robot series. This was before Voltes V, Daimos, Steel Jeeg, Macross/Robotech, Space Battleship Yamato/StarBlazers, Voltron, and a few others that I’ve watched as a child. Oh, the advantage of growing up in the Philippines in the ’80s— close proximity to Japan.
4. I learned basic English (reading, writing, and some speaking/conversation) from my late grandparents (dad’s side) out in the countryside farming boonies in a province called Nueva Ecija. My late grandmother was a retired elementary English teacher.
5. I have been a choir member of my local Catholic parish community for over 10 years now. I had to halt for about year due to my weird scheduling of my current job. I’m happy to be back again.
6. When I was choosing a foreign language class for my freshman year in high school, I wanted to take French. My parents disapprove and convinced me to take Spanish, not because the Tagalog/Filipino language has Spanish vocabulary and influence in it, but because Spanish is the second most dominant spoken language in California and French has pretty much little to no place anywhere in California.
7. I have a love-hate relationship with the city of Los Angeles. Maybe because of the murky smoggy sky and the ridiculous traffic and all the hype that’s surrounding it. I even called my (not-so) little sister a traitor because she decided to settle in L.A. after graduating from college/university instead of coming back home in the Bay Area. I’d choose the Bay Area fog over L.A. smog any day.
8. I’m the only member of a family who has never owned or used an Apple product. When I won an iPod mini at a raffle at one of my previous jobs, I gave it away to my brother and bought a SanDisk mp3 player instead.
9. At one point, I owned three computers: a 5+-yr old desktop, a 3+-yr old laptop, and a 2+yr old mini-netbook. The mini-netbook was for job-related purposes (I was a Production Artist/web designer then), the other two for personal, gaming, and learning purposes.
10. Dance fitness, especially hip-hop classes, is my way of working out. I love Zumba also, but the hip-hop workout classes fit me more. Nowadays, just my current job is also a workout. 🤕
11. As of 2012 (or 2013?), I am officially a grandaunt. My niece became pregnant, then got married, and then bore a son at a young age.

11 questions to ask the nominees

(I’ll mention it again. The original rules still state that it only requires 10 questions, but, I’ll just go along with this one.)

1. Where do you see yourself at 10 years from today?
2. Do you have a personal bucket list? If not, do you plan on starting one?
3. Among your past travels, do you have any places, in particular, you’d like to revisit again? Why?
4. Do you plan on remaining in your current home or do you plan to move out somewhere else? (for any reason, such as a job opportunity or simply because you love to live in that particular place)
5. Do you like participating in blog linkups such as Timeless Thoughts and My Favorite Things? Do you plan on opening one yourself if you had the chance?
6. If you are able to choose a time in your past life that you would like to change or relive again, what period would that be?
7. Before you began to blog, did you have a journal or diary that you used to write your thoughts in? (just like those times back in middle school or high school in which you felt that no one, not even your family, would understand you and your feelings about anything around you)
8. If you are currently a college/university student, what prompted you to choose the field you are currently studying in to earn your degree on? If you are a college/university graduate, were you satisfied with what you’ve learned and able to find a job in your field? If you have no desire to attend a college/university at any time, why did you make that decision?
9. If you were to be born again, would you want to be born as an only child or would you like to live in a family with siblings?
10. Do you collect anything? (ex. stamp collection, pen collection, manga collection, etc.) Why do you like collecting these things?
11. What was the best thing that’s happened in your life recently? Why?

The nominees

I don’t know that many people/bloggers, to be honest, but here they are:

• Mikari
• Claudine
• Pauline
• Megan (back at ya!)
• Cristina
• Michelle

Insert some side note here…

I believe you can nominate the same people as the previous person who nominated you for the Liebster Award. It’s just that it’s never happened to me before, so if that happens, rather than me updating the same entry, I’ll just post new entries with only the different questions instead. So there.

1. Caludin – hers, WDC – mine [↩]
2. “The Pants Award” – long since discontinued. [↩]
3. Eventually, she returned to WordPress after encountering several bugs and issues that stressed her out full time. [↩]