Because of blogging …

Here’s another tag from my new blog-friend Pining of Buckinghamshire, GB.

Five things that happened to me because of blogging: 

1. I always carry a small notebook in my purse and I also have notebooks lying around in every nook of the house so I could jot down ideas to post in my blog.  I would be riding the bus and I’d see a nice quotation on a billboard and I’d pull out my notebook and quickly copy it.  I’d be listening to the news or watching a talk show and I’d hear something that might be blog material and I’d jot it down.
2. I’ve always loved taking pictures of my family but since I’ve been blogging, I have been taking not just their pictures but pictures of fruits, flowers, trees, snow, etc.  Last summer, Ryan was the first one to say anything about my obsessive picture taking. Why do you have to take a picture of the pay phone?  Why do you have to take pictures of the murals?  Can’t you just go on the internet?
3. My desk is in such a clutter.  I have piles of paper – drafts of possible posts; newspaper clippings – possible sources of future posts; my journals from last year – another source of possible posts; books that are waiting to be read.  On my shelf are also tapes and DVDs that I can’t put away because I haven’t watched them yet.  If only I could get a break from blogging, then I can un-clutter all that mess.
4. I have been neglecting things that have to be done.  On New Year’s Day, I spent the day cleaning the oven and recording our home movies from over a year ago.  I used to be up to date in recording our tapes but blogging has taken so much of my time that our home videos didn’t make it to my in-laws in the Philippines in time for Christmas.  That’s usually my Christmas present for them.
5. The best thing that happened to me because of blogging is meeting many blog-friends from around the world.  I have met people from different cultures.  I have met Filipinos who live in other countries and I have learned how they live there.  I have met Filipinos in the Philippines and I get updated on news and changes back home and I get to see a glimpse of what it looks like there now.  I have met mothers who share their experiences in raising their children and I also get to share mine.  And mothers who are also sometimes as clueless as I am with what to do with our children.  I have met expats like me who found home in a new country and are content where they are.  I have also met expats who miss home terribly and can’t wait to go back home.  But the most important thing I learned from meeting all these people is that no matter what country or culture we are from, we are so much alike – in the way we live, the way we raise our kids, the way we feel about our country or family.  And I may relate more to fellow Filipinos because we are of the same background but we could also be so much different from each other.  Though we are from the same country and culture, we could also have different views on almost anything.

I am tagging Haze, Rhodora, Sunshine, Belle, Shoshana.