First, some blog-related updates. In line with the updates made to Blogger Dynamic Views templates to enable sidebar widgets, it's only now that I noticed that one can also enable AdSense advertising on the blog as well. Now I know people have mixed feelings about advertising and go out of their way to add extensions to their browsers to blog them, and I respect that. However, a guy's got to eat (metaphorically speaking) and given how much time and effort goes into this blog, a little passive income from advertising couldn't hurt. If you feel the Google text ads are somehow too distracting for your reading experience, feel free to let me know in the comments. I'm also mapping out what widgets to enable in the sidebar, but we'll get to that soon enough.
Ironically after blogging about my respect for Batman given how he is essentially a human being who has the nerve, courage and training to face various super-powered villains, I found myself in a situation that significantly reminded me of my own human nature. And this is not about learning that I can suddenly perform kung-fu (but I can manage decent karate), but more being reminded of my own flaws and limitations and how even an obsessive perfectionist like myself can't expect to get things right every single time. The only pain was how my moment of weakness had negative effects on the men that I love, but thankfully we were able to work things out and make the necessary commitments to move forward. And that's part of what helps this relationship survive despite the many challenges seemingly in our way - the fact that love helps see us through and the determination that all three of us share to make this work. Relationships don't just magically come together after all - they always need hard work and perseverance.
Such moments are humbling experiences - times when one needs to be willing to swallow one's pride and ask for forgiveness. But beyond forgiveness, there's the need to make amends along with the pledges to make changes and do better. And for the things in life that are truly worth it such as love and a relationship such as ours, there is no amount of effort that seems insufficient.
In other news, discussions this morning has led to us mapping out a second Puerto Galera trip this month. Prince was already going since he had some travel tours mapped out for that weekend and Tobie suggested that we go along. I have to admit that I was a bit surprised for Tobie to initiate this particular discussion, but it doesn't mean that the plan wasn't welcome. In fact, I'm pretty excited to head back together with my babies.
And beyond just going to Puerto Galera, it's exciting that Prince is really trying to map out his travel and tours business and Tobie and I are in a position to help him in our own small ways. Between Tobie's graphic design skills and my meager social media marketing know-how, I think we'll be able to help him establish his new business venture well enough until it starts to scale and thus require more robust web systems to support it. I'm already mapping out a few ideas of how to use a Blogger-hosted site as an initial web portal with Google Docs providing back end order support and then seeing how things can proceed from there. I've been quite the Googlephile over the years and it only makes sense to apply all that I've learned about how the various products work together in order to help Prince achieve this particular dream.
Speaking of achieving dreams, I really need to get back on my writing horse, so to speak. Tobie has decided to present this as a challenge to me by setting a deadline of April for me to present initial story drafts that might be fit for publishing. I have this month to map out what I want to write, get some stories running and all that fun stuff, although I admit that I'm still scared sh*tless about all this. But that's the challenge that every writer faces after all - the fear of what we write not being good enough for the absolutely perfect literary critic that lives in our heads. And as Neil Gaiman advised, we shouldn't let the inner critic limit our writing.
Ah, but the challenge of beginning indeed! Still a very human challenge, but one that I will rise to face proudly. After all, if Prince can reach for his dreams of running a travel business, why can't I try to achieve my dreams of being a published (and paid) writer? It's still a rather lofty dream and it will mean a LOT of writing that needs to get done. But then I really think this is something that I will do well at. And besides, whoever said that the things we want in life were always meant to be easy? The harder the obstacles in our path, the greater the fulfillment we'll feel once we get past them.
Such moments are humbling experiences - times when one needs to be willing to swallow one's pride and ask for forgiveness. But beyond forgiveness, there's the need to make amends along with the pledges to make changes and do better. And for the things in life that are truly worth it such as love and a relationship such as ours, there is no amount of effort that seems insufficient.
And beyond just going to Puerto Galera, it's exciting that Prince is really trying to map out his travel and tours business and Tobie and I are in a position to help him in our own small ways. Between Tobie's graphic design skills and my meager social media marketing know-how, I think we'll be able to help him establish his new business venture well enough until it starts to scale and thus require more robust web systems to support it. I'm already mapping out a few ideas of how to use a Blogger-hosted site as an initial web portal with Google Docs providing back end order support and then seeing how things can proceed from there. I've been quite the Googlephile over the years and it only makes sense to apply all that I've learned about how the various products work together in order to help Prince achieve this particular dream.
Ah, but the challenge of beginning indeed! Still a very human challenge, but one that I will rise to face proudly. After all, if Prince can reach for his dreams of running a travel business, why can't I try to achieve my dreams of being a published (and paid) writer? It's still a rather lofty dream and it will mean a LOT of writing that needs to get done. But then I really think this is something that I will do well at. And besides, whoever said that the things we want in life were always meant to be easy? The harder the obstacles in our path, the greater the fulfillment we'll feel once we get past them.
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