Chatting Vs. Blogging

I was introduced informally to chatting late 2003. I was not really interested because I do not know what to do and what to say, ignorant of the rules that I thought there were. Needless to say, I did not entertain the idea of going into conversations in a chat room. I perceived it (before I got hooked with it) as a waste of time.

Until one night, and I do not remember anymore when and what kind of night it is, I ventured into Yahoo's chat room. Aimlessly, I went to the general room. I waited there and observed. There was a group of people exchanging views, there are new people coming in and saying hello. I experimented with the icons, the features and I found it fun especially when you view someone else’s profile. It gave me a jerk when a chatter called my attention saying "Hi" and "how are you?’ It gave a fascination, like a little child being introduced what letter A looks like and how it is written.

And so it began – my addiction to chatting. I have met a lot of friends in the chat room. I have met a lot from different nations learning that we Filipinos should be proud of what we are and forget the mentality that we are inferior to those people in big countries. It was a challenge really to exchange ideas with different people but it was real challenge when you meet intelligent, interesting and charming Filipinos, who could expound on simple things, making your day bright and discovering brain waves that are similar to yours. It was real challenge also how you cope with brainless, vain, manic and nonsensical people.

But there is also danger in chatting specifically when you get addicted with someone. Though it is virtual exchange and you do not need to worry with the complications, it could play with your emotions, with your personality, with your beliefs and with your reserve.

I am not aware that there exists the latest craze called blogging. I am new to a site where you get to have a list of friends by invites (hi5.com) and being new I searched for Filipino friends and I chanced upon a Filipino radio researcher who is also a radio scriptwriter. I become interested and invited him to be included in my list of friends. He obliged in a message which mentioned his blog sites.

Being the inquisitive soul that I am, I ventured into exploring what blogging is all about. I discovered that it was about writing, which I have an addiction to. I discovered that I could have some sort of a journal or a diary. I am not fond of journals or diaries but I thought I could file my writings in this blogs. I found out that I could peek into other blogs or visit them frequently through the ‘next blog’ button. The ‘next blog’ button brought me to Ajay's blogspot of poems, one day, which then lead me to Rolly's blogspot and redirected me to Batjay's blogspot.

It was late December of 2004 when Geopoet invited me to view his blog sites. I am truly grateful he had given me the chance. It is a wonderful experience to blog really. It has opened to me vast consortiums of intelligent, sensible, unique and talented beings in a place we call Earth. It has enriched my vocabularies, multiplied my knowledge, honed my skills and sustained my values.

I cherish the joy that blogging is bringing me – extracting ideas from me which I never knew I keep. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr, son of the famous writer, Oliver Wendell Holmes, was quoted saying, "Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimension." And I thought blogging is really cool as it records a person’s current idea that he could refer to anytime once it is overridden by a new idea.

Need I say that I love blogging now more than chatting?