Protecting my Identity

Posted on May 23, 2008 at 5:02 pm | 24 Comments
Filed under Internet Insanity • Random Realities

As what I have posted in my Twitter account, I’m really tempted to divulge my real identity here. But I can’t do that just yet. Well, actually, I used to post here using my real name but since I entered college almost two years ago, I gave myself a new identity because I don’t like people from the university to know that I blog. And that was when Christian Evangelista was born.

Just a bit of background about my pen name: the name Christian is my favorite name and if I were to be given the chance to rechristen myself, I would use this name (but of course, I still love the name my patents gave to me). That’s how I decided on my pseudonym’s first name. As for my pen name’s surname, I wanted something that would suggest that I’m a Filipino. The first family name that I thought of was Bautista. But then, there is a singer here in the country by the name Christian Bautista and as i don’t want to be linked with him, I had to think of another last name that I could use. And after some brain wracking moments, I settled with Evangelista. I’m planning to add a second name and maybe, a middle initial to complete my pseudonym but I can’t think of a name that would sound good when combined with Christian. Any suggestions?

The catch is, separating my offline and online life is hard, even with a pen name. Actually, my earliest readers and online friends like Tammy and Hener (whom I didn’t meet through the blogosphere but in a now obsolete forums dedicated to Harry Potter) know my legal name which makes it a bit harder for me to keep my real identity. I just hope that those few people who know my name can keep that as confidential. Haha.

Actually, if you are a gifted stalker, you would be able to know my real name. Some of those people who know my real name are even my contacts on Friendster. This is one of the many ways that you can use to track me down. All you need to do is to check their common friends. Haha. And that’s not even the easiest way, but of course, I’m not giving any other clues about my real identity or how you may know it. Haha.

On the other hand, to make your stalking activities more easier, let me give you my number: 09158399267 (I’m a Globe user). So yeah, text me, call me, stalk me. Lol. Just be sure that you do proper introduction1. Btw, that’s not the number my offline friends know.

The real thing that makes it difficult for me is that I don’t like having multiple accounts. One account is enough. So in some of my accounts where I use my real name, there are a number of people I met online who are included in my friends list. As for my accounts where I use my pseudonym, there are a few people I know from the offline world especially my high school friends who are in my contact list.

Yeah, I’m dead. My identity is being jeopardized. Haha. Well, someday I’ll post here my real name (and maybe, even my course). But then again, what will I do with my pseudonym? I’ve grown used to it and discarding it could be very hard for me.

  1. I rarely use this number so don’t expect a reply 100%. [↩]

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10 Years from Now

Posted on February 3, 2008 at 6:41 pm | 16 Comments
Filed under Boggling Blogs • Internet Insanity • Site Stuff

Today is the third anniversary of the blog that you are currently viewing. Yes, Asteeg.Net is three years old. I renewed my site last month through bank deposit1. As of now, I’m not thinking if I would migrate to a new domain. And I guess, I would not dare to leave this site again2. This site has been my home in the Internet for three years and it has been a part of my life. So why buy a new one?

I was in the church this afternoon to hear mass when a question suddenly popped in my head… What would become of us in the next ten years? I almost laughed hard in public when I thought of that. I was glad that I didn’t. Just imagine what will the people in the church would think about me. As you all know, I’m a Harry Potter fan and one of the things that I realized in reading the series about death is that the unknown is what we fear, and not death itself. But in this case, the unknown makes me excited.

I can’t help but imagine that some of us would be married by 2018, and maybe, we would have our own children at that time. And for those who have already their own children, they would be old enough to have their own blogs. I can’t wait to see Neil to be successful in life. Would the Filipinos dominate the blogosphere? Would Yohan, the son of Ms. Rachel will have his own blog? Is there going to be a new term for blogs? When would I be able to join the TriNoma Blogger Food Tour? Lol! Would I be able to meet those bloggers that I admire? When would I be able to use my real name here again? Would we know the real identity of Dan Hellbound? When would my effing style in writing change? Would Asteeg.Net still exist 10 years from now? And the seven million jackpot question… Would we still be updating our blogs by that time?

These questions are currently boggling me. I want to know the answers to these questions, but of course, we would not be able to know them until the right time would come. I’m sure, even Ma*Damn Tusha3 and her electronic tarot cards would not be able to predict what is in store for us in the coming years. And besides, if we would know them at this point, the future will be spoiled and the element of excitement would not be there.

Of course, the future can wait. What we have to do now is to enjoy the present and let our past lead us to the future.

Abangan na lang natin ang mga susunod na kabanata (Let’s just wait for the next chapters.).

*Raises glass for Asteeg.Net*

PS: I’m still thinking if I would have my own contest and give the winner a domain as a prize. I’ll just keep you all updated!

  1. I was wearing my school uniform on that day and the teller could not believe that I am a second year college student. She thought that I was only a high school student. Actually she asked me about three times if I’m a college student. [↩]
  2. I almost lost this site last year. I moved to a new domain but I was enlightened that this domain is where I should stay. [↩]
  3. She’s a fictional character that I and some of my friends have created back in our high school days. [↩]

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My Frustrations

Posted on April 3, 2007 at 5:44 pm | 29 Comments
Filed under Boggling Blogs • Internet Insanity

This year, two events for bloggers here in the Philippines were held. Sadly, I wasn’t able to attend even just one of the two.

I’ve been blogging for almost three years and since then, I haven’t met even just a single blogger physically (unless you’ll count my cousin). Those two events were great opportunity to meet bloggers. I badly wanted to go to those events. Obviously, I wasn’t able to. Why? I don’t know if this is a good reason, but I don’t really know how to get to Metro Manila.

During my childhood years, when there was still no SM here in Pampanga, my father and I would go to SM North Edsa. Well, SM North Edsa and UST are the only places in Metro Manila that I know how to go to. Also, I would not go to Metro Manila alone! I know how terrible that place could be and I don’t want my life to be in such peril.

Nevertheless, congratulations to the winners1 of the recently concluded PBA 2007:

But wait, this entry is ain’t finished…

Have you heard of iblog3? It’s yet another event for Filipino bloggers. It’ll be held on April 13 and 14, 2007 at the School of Economics Auditorium, in UP Diliman, Quezon City. I hope I can attend this one. I want this vacation to be my most memorable one because you see, if I’ll not be able to shift to another course, this will be my last vacation. I don’t care if I’ll not be able to attend our so-called closing party which is going to be on the 14th.

With this, I’m calling for bloggers from Pampanga who would attend the said event to contact me. I — call me desperate — would be glad to be your chaperon (or is it the other way around?). Okay, I’m tagging Euri and Ivy. Would you like to go with me? Haha. I’m dead serious. I really want to attend iblog3! So if you’re somewhere near San Fernando, Pampanga and would like to attend it, please, contact me.

I have my ways on confirming if you’re saying the truth or you’re just one of those people who can be a finalist for the next April 01’s Man of the Day. XD

And for WP users, I have a great news for you! Versions 2.1.3 and 2.0.10 were released!

  1. Full list of winners here. [↩]

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The Blogosphere Three Years Later

Posted on March 10, 2007 at 2:46 pm | 27 Comments
Filed under Boggling Blogs • Internet Insanity

It’s been almost three years since I posted my first entry in the blogosphere. Sure, there are so many things that have changed in the world of blogs. The blogs themselves and their owners.

For almost three years, the blogosphere had helped me in so many ways. I have met great people like Shari, KT, Robbie, Talamasca, and Hazel to name some. Sad to say, bloggers do come and go. And I’m just glad that even though I have a hectic schedule because I’m overloaded in school and sometimes I find myself frustrated with the blogosphere, I’m still here. I’ve also learned a lot of things. Back in 2004, I was blogging manually, and now, I’m using the most abused blogging software available, WordPress. What amazes me is that even though there are so many users of it who don’t really know how to use it, they are still comfortable with it. I wonder if these people know that it is documented and there is a support forums for it. An advice: stop posting your questions about WP in your blogs, either you search the codex or post your questions at the forums. Further more, don’t be afraid to experiment (but be sure to backup your database) and read! Reading can really save you from looking stupid. It’s been also my outlet of frustrations. The entries that contain my frustrations to my siblings, classmates, teachers, and random people are scattered in this site: some are available to the reading public, others are password-protected, and a few are marked as private.

In my first year of blogging, it’s very seldom that you’ll see blogs written in Filipino (and published by a Filipino). I can still remember that those people who started blogging before me were desperately looking for Filipino bloggers. Like them, I was also looking for some. A year or two later, the blogosphere was infected by stupid Filipino bloggers. Okay, I’m going to try to be more constructive. There was a sudden outrage from the pioneering Filipino bloggers. There was even this blogger who does not even know anything about PHP, he’ll ask whomever he thinks is good at PHP. And I was one of his victims. He asked me if I can help him. Even though it was my first time to meet him, I gave him a helping hand. Because of my stupidity, I gave him a zipped copy of one of my old themes1. The next thing I knew, he used my theme almost as is! I asked him to remove it because it’s very stupid, and not to mention rude.

Because the post where I originally wrote this is password-protected, let me quote some paragraphs:

If you don’t know something, it’s okay to ask for some help. But not to the extreme that you will ask somebody for help every time. We have other things to do like our studies, projects and our own sites. And most of all, do not get mad or laugh at me when I can’t solve your problem or I did not get your instructions! Remember, it’s me who is helping you! And mind you, be sure that you really know what your problem is before asking for help, otherwise, nothing will happen. I don’t have all time just to look at your codes and find the source of your problem.

Kapal mo hu?

A friendly advice, start with HTML (better if with CSS), do not proceed to PHP and other advanced programming languages if you don’t know HTML and CSS!

There are other issues that happened a year ago. After some months, I did not experience these issues because some bloggers (and that includes me) addressed these issues. They were really annoying. The most annoying were the spam comments from legitimate people. Don’t you get agitated when you read a comment that contains only a single smilie or does not have any connection with the post in question whatsoever?

I’ve been receiving a few lately. It would be better if you’ll not post your comments if you won’t read the entry itself. Remember, we don’t blog because of ranking, more so, not just to get multitude of comments. Besides, leaving comments in other blogs does not guarantee you that the blog owner will pay you a visit and leave a comment.

Another issue that I’m also having lately are post notifications via IM. You don’t really have to IM me that there is a new entry in your site. That’s why there is RSS, isn’t it? RSS notifies me that there is a new entry in your site whenever you post one. Most blogging softwares automatically publish your feeds. I can read your entries without even visiting your site. Do you get it?

Also, don’t forget that blogs are not really diaries. Yes, you can post something about your life. But if you’ll only discuss your life, your readers might get bored.

I can only suggest one thing: read! As what I had written above, reading can save you from looking stupid. Believe me, it’s true.

PS: Want to install PHP plus Apache plus mySQL in you own computer? Try Xampp! It’s for free! With this, you can run every single PHP file in your computer. This is not an advertisment from B2P. Actually, it’s currently installed in my computer.

  1. And hey, he does not even know how to extract it! [↩]

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20 Things About Blogging

Posted on March 3, 2007 at 10:48 am | 16 Comments
Filed under Boggling Blogs

Let’s start…

  1. Many people use WP, but they don’t know how to use it. Urgh. And oh, there is a new WP release (version 2.1.2). All users of WP are encouraged to upgrade their installation/s ASAP!
  2. Use Technorati to track your blog’s current rank in the blogosphere. But keep in mind that we don’t blog for rank.
  3. Google’s Blog Search indexes most of the blogs in the blogosphere. Try using it if you can’t find something relevant to your search in the main Google search. You can also use Technorati for searching blogs.
  4. I sometimes have a cross-post at LJ (add me), Multiply, WordPress.com, and Blogspot. These are four sites that you may want to use if you can’t host your own blog.
  5. Publishing an RSS feed is very helpful to your readers.
  6. Use Google’s Reader to subscribe to RSS feeds.
  7. Using WP? There are tons of plugins for it. Try to use some. Here is a list of the plugins that I use.
  8. Publishing your feeds? Use FeedBurner for more functionality.
  9. For WP users, you might want to read this article if you wanted to optimize your site for search engines.
  10. Blogs are powerful.
  11. Be careful with what you right on your blog. Remember, a blog is public, unless you make it private.
  12. Youngblood is a column in the PDI, but once you read it, you might get addicted to it because the topics that were discussed in the column are very random, it’s as if you were reading a real blog.
  13. You can earn money just by blogging! Please put harry07[at]gmail[dot]com as your referrer. Thanks!
  14. This is my first paid website, and it is powered by WP.
  15. Want to read more blogs written by Filipinos? Click here.
  16. Looking for somebody to host your WP blog? You can ask me about this.
  17. I posted my first ever blog entry (dated May 04, 2004) in Xanga.
  18. Two of the earliest Filipino bloggers that I met are still alive and kicking: Shari and KT. Lol.
  19. Blogging is simply addictive like coffee.
  20. The biggest issue that I know in the blogosphere has something to do with Manny Pacquiao. Okay. I’m zipping my mouth.

I intended to make this a 101 list, but I can’t. I’ve already ran out of ideas to write. Do you have something more to add? I’ll post them.

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