I finished another book today. Wow. Once you start reading, you just can’t stop. I love it!
Which means I have something to write about for Between the Covers, but I’m not in the mood. So my latest post will still have to be The Hunger Games. Oh how I wish I could go see the movie right now. And then I’ll go grab books 2 and 3 and read them too.
For the meantime, here’s a recipe I Pinned, to be tried (hopefully) some time. Katniss’ District 11 Bread, from Our Best Bites:
For my Comments challenge I left a total of 114 comments all over various blogs. That’s 114% to goal and also 48 comments more than February. So for April, I’ll aim for 115 comments. Just because.
1 incomplete week spread for Project Life. I could do more there, and yes I will.
1 spontaneous road trip. And looking forward to more.
2 books read.
Lots of fun in the water for our dear Amir.
An average of 5 training sessions held per week in the past 3 weeks. With more to be done before this month ends.
Transitioning to a brand new team. Now that’s ongoing. And a lot of fun too.
Busy busy March, paving the way for an Amazing April!
This new month, it’s time to step beyond the stanchions holding the velvet rope, and seize the limelight! It is time I take more control of what happens to my life, instead of waiting around to see what would. Time to enable others to do the same.
I’ve been hearing so much about the Sprinkles Cupcake ATM. I wondered how they could make it happen and didn’t think about boxes. Seeing it in action (no, not experiencing it), it makes perfect sense – how it’s done I mean. 24-hour cupcakes makes total sense of course. Duh. haha
Nice.
As I drove home alone this morning, I was thinking about a blog post to vent on things that upset me today. But I realized that I had already had my chance to express that (thanks, Ric, though you are not likely to see this) and maybe it won’t do me any good to keep dwelling on it. After all, you are not the sum of your mistakes even when that’s what some people choose to remember. It’s a challenge for all of us, to minimize mistakes and always strive to be better. So I’m choosing to be better instead. Besides, I need not change my disposition about anyone because of this, but I doubt if they can still be the same towards me – and that’s their challenge not mine.
This showed up on cousin Nikki’s timeline an hour ago:
My thought bubble – I can so relate. Same thought while I was watching the Oscars.
There are so many good movies, but it’s so expensive to see all of them at the cinemas. You use up gas driving there. Parking fee. Lunch/dinner OR drinks and popcorn. And the cost of a movie ticket – wow. PHP 140 to PHP 220 for regular screenings, double if it’s iMax or 3D.
Because of the cost, we thought we’d just see a few movies on the big screen and wait til the rest come out on DVD. As it turns out, we miss the DVD release most of the time. Or, even if we already have a copy, we don’t get to watch it. Thanks to cable, I get to see some of the good movies I missed – a year later!
The movies is something I’d spend my extra cash on. But what’s extra cash? Where does that come from? In my case – online earnings. Yes, I make money online. But that’s not news is it?
Okay, so my blogs aren’t necessarily cash cows, but I do get a few dollars from sponsored posts every now and then. The thing that makes that plausible for my blogs is that I setup my blogs out of a desire to write and share. Earning from blogging eventually just happened. I don’t even remember if I first got offered ads and links or if I signed up with ad networks. Nonetheless, it wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t invest time and effort on my blogs first.
So there you go, tip number 1 for making money online (via blogs): Develop your blog first. Content drives traffic, and traffic attracts advertisers.
Which leads me to tip number 2: Socialize. I don’t just mean be on Facebook or Twitter. Those definitely help, but reach out to fellow bloggers. Engage in their blogs and they will return the favor. Engage with your readers and respond to comments. I love comments (which is why I challenge myself again to leave at least a hundred of them on other blogs each month) and hope I get more, but I understand the lurkers too. On some days I write something that will just be so compelling and readers will comment, on most days though, they’d just breeze through. And that’s okay.
Apart from sponsored posts, link and banner advertising is another way for blogs to earn. I remember receiving an offer for a very simple text link on my sidebar for Where the Moon Shines. I got paid 100 USD for that. That was the biggest one time gig ever. I don’t get offers like that anymore. So sometimes, I think back on what I was doing right on my old blog and it always brings me back to tips 1 and 2. I should always remember those two.
Anyway… seen any movies lately? I posted some of my recent films at Between the Covers.
On Tuesday last week, February 21, 2012, I took my first ferris wheel ride. Yep, it took 30 years before I would step in on a ferris wheel gondola. I’ve always just chickened out. I shared the moment with the boyfriend – who almost didn’t get on. It was also his first time!
It was a week day and we both had work but we went to the Mall of Asia anyway to meet up with Alfred’s parents, his older brother Andy, and little cutie Alphonso, his nephew. We were there for a birthday dinner to celebrate Tatay Fred’s 70th birthday!
Here’s the boyfriend’s parents inside the roomy gondola:
The rest of them had been at the Mall hours before because little Alphonso who’s only 3 years old wanted some play time. I arrived home from work at past 2pm so Alfred and I were only out on the road at past 3pm en route to the MOA. Traffic and wrong turns made our travel time longer – must have been 430PM already when we arrived at the MOA.
We hung out at The Creamery while Phonso cooled down with his favorite ice cream cone. Then we headed out to the bay side restaurants to get dinner. While Alfred and his brother went to market to buy the seafood we would have cooked at one of the restaurants, I took these shots of the MOA Eye –purportedly the biggest ferris wheel in the country today at 180 feet tall:
Alphonso was excited and really wanted to ride. It wasn’t difficult to convince Nanay and Tatay to go. But it was a challenge to convince Alfred that this was the day we would finally get on this ride. But convince him we did, and he even paid for it – PhP 150 pesos per person, even for the little 3-year old boy.
Each of the 35 gondolas is air-conditioned, and seats up to 6. There are a few VIP gondolas that offer more privacy – you can’t see inside. They aren’t in use yet and will cost extra. I don’t see the point though. People are too busy either getting scared of being so high, or admiring the view, they won’t have the time to check out the couple next door.
As for me, I was busy being scared. I didn’t move around much and only took a few photos.
The ride only took about 10 minutes. It wasn’t shaky at all. I felt quite stable actually.
I’d like to ride again, maybe at night so I can see the lights all around.
For now, I am just proud to say that I no longer fear the Ferris Wheel!
I shared the moment with the boyfriend – who almost didn’t get on. It was also his first time! 
