June 2016 RECAP #MonthlyRecap

Thought I’d do a recap thing, why not? So how was my June 2016?

Blog-wise. It seems June was so far one of my most active months as a blogger. I’m even surprised at my stats lately (must be something different I did that I didn’t exactly do intentionally?). I actually have several guesses why, based on what I know about blogging, and maybe I’ll keep on doing them. Hopefully.

Anyway, I have been widgeting (fidgeting with widgets…sorry, I just love playing with words). I have also been messing with the settings so y’all who’ve been following me (bless your good souls!) would’ve noticed some things. Maybe. Aside from the change in the landing page, the other changes aren’t exactly noticeable so I’m probably just making myself believe you’ve noticed, he he. Oh, but I’m not really done yet exploring and changing stuff.

I did add a new page, the Awards Gallery. I gave in to the temptation (sorry). Just wanted/want to show how much I appreciate fellow bloggers who appreciate blogger me. Meanwhile, it’s an opportunity to also share my shiny new badges (one more to add, hopefully soon). Currently not sure how doing that is going to help me, it’s just I like them, okay? Makes me feel that I’ve achieved something worthwhile as a professional. Goodness, I haven’t studied this hard since I graduated from college, which was eons ago. Tremendous blow to my self-esteem if I didn’t pass, to be honest.

Fiction-writing.  I gave in to Wattpad. Technically, that was in late May, but that’s as good as June. I posted my story Obsession but haven’t posted anything new since then.

Joined that writing community for three major reasons:

1. My stories might have more chance of getting read there by more people who actually like to read stories. I’m just being honest here. We’re all bloggers in WordPress, but not all have the patience to read fiction. This other “WP” is currently the It place to be if you want to be read. I’m still trying it on for size, you know?
2. I really would like to push myself to write fiction again. I’ve been in quite a lull, it’s not even funny. I am going to develop my novel there, plus, I am going back to stories I did or started many years ago and rewrite them. Of course, I will be updating you guys.
3. It’s…a bit personal.

After this, I’m gonna be heading over there to post something again.

Personal. Hmnnn…J.Gi has it better than Jennifer, I can tell you that. Lots of problems that never seem to stop. But we always move on, right? For now, I’d rather concentrate on that. My blog has been a bit sad these past 15 months, more or less. So I’d like to focus on the happy parts.

I got to finish another Sue Monk Kidd book, The Mermaid Chair. I’ve just started around 12 hours ago with Son of a Witch. I mentioned a few posts ago that I would be reading. Not as fast as I’d like to go, but at least, I’m going 🙂

Well, the highlight of June was our family’s first actual celebration of Father’s Day. The hubby works hard in his own way, but he has been feeling down a lot these past months due to “outside forces” who never seem to tire at focusing on his supposed inadequacies and not looking at another direction, such as in front of them where a mirror should be. I never tire of telling him I appreciate all that he does for the family and that things are bound to be better…

I decided to cheer him up and our little family went to the arcade for some fun and games then we gobbled on some pasta, pizza and ice cream at Pizza Hut. That was the first milestone for us, celebrating Father’s Day. The second milestone was I was finally able to have some pics developed, including our family photo, and put them on the empty frame that has been hanging on display in our living room for months! We’ve got no real albums (online ones only) yet so that’s gonna be one of my many projects. Heck, I have been at it even when my parents were still here.

 

Alright, I’m done with June 2016. Do expect more changes within July. Thanksies!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

What’s in a Name?

Awards time!!! This has been a long-time coming, but here it is. With apologies to those who abhor awards, but as I said in the past, I appreciate awards. Thank you again so much to Jafar for giving me the One Lovely Blog Award. I got another award, but his came first so I will address it first.

For the One Lovely Blog Award, these are the rules:

1.Thank and link back to the person who nominated you for the award. – I just did above.

2. List the Rules and Display the One Lovely Blog Award logo to your post and/or blog. – Here they are.

3. Share 7 facts/things about yourself. – Find them below.

4. Nominate around 10 other bloggers and let them know about the award. This is a way to introduce others to bloggers that you love. – I will skip this one and explain later.

5. Follow the blogger who nominated you. – I already started, pre-award.

Okay, for the 7 Facts About Me, I decided to focus on my name(s), which explains the title of this post. I just thought, “What else can I share that I haven’t yet?” Then I realized that I have always wanted to write about the evolution of my name(s)…Well, sort of evolution. I know you’ll probably go, “Whut?” but here it is and I hope you’ll like what I’m sharing just the same. 😉

1. Jay-Gee is how you pronounce J.Gi. I’m sure a lot of people have been wondering how to say it. That said, just call me Gi, short for Gigi, my real nickname. No, it’s never Jen or Jenny, though people automatically assume it just because my name’s Jennifer. I answer best to Gi.

2. “Gi” went through changes. Looking at old pictures, my mother wrote at the back and spelled my name as J-I-J-I (I think that’s cute), but later on, she changed her mind and began spelling it as G-I-G-I, which is the accepted norm, anyway. In high school, my sister did a cut-out of my nickname and stuck it on my door — it said Ghie-Ghie. I followed and spelled it as G-H-I-E even till I began working. That is why a lot of peeps still refer to me as Ghie. I really dropped that one long ago.

For some reason, Filipinos grew really fond of adding an unnecessary “H” to their nicks or their babies’ names, like Lhyn, Bhen, Johnathan, etc. My sister’s name looks cool, though, but I would have hated it if I were named Jhennifer, or Jenhiefer, or Jennifher. With apologies to anyone named as such, but...

This is the galunggong

3. My entire gradeschool life, I was called Jennifer F. mainly because I always had a namesake in class. Except in fourth grade, but someone was nicknamed Gigi, too. I didn’t tell my classmates about my actual nick for fear of being teased as galunggong, a kind or sardine that was then–and sometimes is still–normally referred to as G.G. So I stuck to Jennifer all the way through high school. There was a Jenny in my batch, and a Je and a Ge, which were short for Jean and Geraldine respectively, so I decided to stick to Jennifer.

My blocmates in college called me Jennifer but Gi became my “in” name when my sister introduced me to her co-members in a school organization as Gi. I ended up living with the family of a member, renting bedspace, and the people I met there called me Gi. A batchmate used to call me Jen but when she also rented bedspace in the same house, she began calling me Gi. She was already part of the school paper, which I also joined and she introduced me as Gi. Then we and several co-writers became members of a film organization so, well, you can guess what they call me by now 😉

Copyright © The Core Group Publishing, Inc. Unfortunately, I heard they folded up so the dotcom of the magazine is no more. The Tripod account was the first and reeeaally old one that was there even before I joined the publication

4. Why J.Gi? When I decided for a writer’s name, I think that was probably around the time I started working for a magazine, I wanted it to be Gi Federizo, kind of like Og Mandino or something. But at the same time, I still did not want to disrespect my parents so, as a “compromise,” I retained the initial. I did want it to be somewhat unique so J.Gi was born.

At the time I thought of this, I met a couple and the guy’s nick was J.vee. I thought hard to give up J.Gi so as not to look like a copycat, then I realized, who cared? Besides, it’s not like I was sure to become famous anyway, so why be bothered? It was not like he had copyright over it.

5. My new last name is Enriquez. As a writer, I retain my maiden name. No laws against that.

6. I have been these people:

Li’l Dove Feather — derived from two names. My favorite Cats The Musical character is Jemima, which means “little dove”; the actress who played her on video was Veerle Casteleyn and “veerle” in Flemish means “feather.” Incidentally, that sounds like my last name anyway.

Maya Sands — a combo of my favorite name, Maya, which I decided to use for my story’s main character, and Sands, short for Sandra or Sandra Dee, my airname back when I was a student radio DJ. I also answer to Sands like it’s second skin.

Charlize Gracie Dylan — also a combo of sorts. Not a fan of Charlize Theron but I liked the name at the time. I like the name Gracie, sounds really sweet. Then I like the name Dylan for a girl, also my fave character from the Charlie’s Angels movie (so sue me). Writers whom I met from Yahoo! groups and with whom I am connected still through Facebook still call me Gracie.

7. I do have a fourth alias, one that I cannot divulge. Let us just say that she was both a part of a social experiment I did on my own, and a kind of means to release depression at the time. She was more like a fictitious character rather than just an alias because I gave her stories, I gave her history, I gave her life. She had a life of her own. Of all the characters I have ever created, she was the best, and the world will never know.

So that’s it about my seven facts! He he!

As to why I am not nominating any blog, it’s not because I don’t want to or there are none that deserve it.  It’s mainly because I have decided to create something a little bit different, something that won’t require anyone to pass the award on to be able to accept his/hers. I mean no disrespect to the original creators of existing awards, BTW. I personally like your awards. But I will leave it to others to decide what to do with theirs.

Don’t Go Hatin’ on Blog Awards

I know that a lot of bloggers do not appreciate awards and I know why, and they have valid reasons not to accept. It does seem like a chain letter. A chain award, I guess. But I also do think that it can be very subjective. When I got my first award (Liebster Award), I knew it was given sincerely.

Thanks again, LANI!

It all depends on who gives it to you — is it someone you have great communication with or, at least, someone who visits you often (LIKEs, FOLLOWs or even just comments), OR is it someone who visited you just once or twice, just recently, maybe just gave one comment, if ever he did?

Make this quick mental checklist. Ask yourself:

(1) “Has this person visited and communicated with me enough?” (Because if not, what makes you so sure he’s read anything from and explored your blog to even declare he likes it enough to give you an award?)

(2) “Has this person exchanged views and ideas with me even if it’s just at his own blog?” (Because sometimes, people do probably visit your blog and just don’t say or do anything, but it doesn’t mean they don’t like what they see. So at least, give this person the benefit of the doubt)

(3) “What do I have in my blog that is good to like?” (You of all people should be the best judge of whether there is anything worth liking there, any quality posts you’ve done, any that people LIKE-d or commented most on)

If your answer for #1 and #2 is NO and if, with regards to #3, you are having a hard time convincing yourself that you have posted anything of quality, then do your Math and get a clue: No, he’s probably not really that into you (just to sort of borrow a quote). If anything, this is a good way and time to rethink your blogging goals. I’ve said it before that if you care about what you write, or blog for that matter, others may care about it as well.

That said, accepting the award is really up to you. You can choose not to participate, and any reason not to participate will be valid — no time to do the “rules”, not interested, etc. No one is twisting anyone’s arm. Just decline it politely. No, that is not a requirement, either, but that is called proper etiquette.

Thank you, JAFAR! I have accepted the award HERE

Thanks, CHRISTINE! Will get to this soon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t mind awards. Of course, I will not be a hypocrite and deny that I hankered for at least one, just to feel that I was doing something right. But if I didn’t, I wasn’t going to sulk about it, either, and would just try to do better. I’ve gotten three so far, two of them I have yet to post. Because I know they were given sincerely, it makes me feel appreciated. So sorry if I don’t feel sorry that anyone reading this may think this award-giving thing is pathetic.

If your concern are the “rules,” you don’t need to follow everything. In my book, if you are given the award, you’ve already done your job right, so you certainly do not need to do anything more. It’s not even supposed to be called a nomination because no one’s going to win over all the others, and who’s gonna be the supreme judge of that anyway? It’s an award is an award is an award. The moment it is given to you, it is yours and you can do what you want with it. Some of us have actually ignored the supposed “rules” or tweaked them to our liking. The only one who can demand the award back is the giver and so far, I don’t think anyone has ever done it, but don’t quote me on that.

Personally, I’m doing them because I like answering questions and sharing myself. I was one of those kids perenially asking others to write on her slambook (guess what? I still have those old slambooks). In fact, I can still totally do that, but others have grown to be too “mature” to bother; I think they just lost the fun of being young.

If accepting an award brings in more readers/followers, too, why not? Isn’t that what blogging is about? Sharing. Some will say “I just write for myself.” Sure, I write for myself, too, because it makes me happy. Recently, Lily of Such Small Hands posted the question, “Should I write? Should I not write? What should I write? And why? And for whom?” My answer: “Write what you want in all honesty and fairness because you love it and you do it for your own happiness (if it makes others happy, that’s going to be your bonus).”

See what I did there at the end. Because let’s be honest. If you don’t want anyone reading your blog, then go to your settings and set it on Private so no one will ever get to read it but you. No one’s telling you not to do that. A blog is just a modernized diary and if you want to keep it locked, it’s all up to you. In fact, that should be a great way to keep awards away from you. But if you intentionally keep it public, no one’s going to believe you don’t care about having people read it. There’s a conflict of interest right there.

From where I stand, this is how I see it: Awards are ways to show others appreciate you. So I will give awards to those blogs that fit my idea of what the awards are all about. Even if their owners don’t want to participate. Because in the end, it’s all about my appreciation of them and how they inspire me to keep writing.

 

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Do you agree, disagree or just agree to disagree with me? Comments are welcome, no matter which side you are on. This is a democratic virtual country. Well, except if you decide to be nasty because I intend to keep this blog war-free. 😉