After iBlog 2

iBlog 2 was fun, but now it's over. Sadly.

I ran myself ragged running to and from the Sta. Ana room at the third floor of the UP College of Law and the penthouse of the UP Law Center, where the first bar review sessions were taking place, but it was worth it. My blockmates know how tech-oriented I am, so they were quite understanding of my disappearing act during the bar techniques lecture. Thank the heavens for friends who know when not to nag about attendance!

It was an interesting eight hours of hearing bloggers talk and take on different perspectives, and I learned a lot from the tracks that I attended. A lot of people attended, and the diversity is astonishing. I saw the old, middle-aged and the twentuy-something crowd pack the Sta. Ana room, and it was a blast to listen to one mother talk about how she got interested in the internet and in blogging because of her two kids.

Rebecca MacKinnon of Global Voices was there, and I found her keynote address a joy to listen to, sans the cat blogs remark. I first heard of her while researching on the State of Play Conferences for my paper. I shouldn't be surprised at her enthusiasm about blogs, if she can relate to the prospects of online gaming.

Dean Alfar fails to bore, and I found his enthusiasm about the writing process very infective. He was so right when he said talent can only carry one so far, but that it will eventually fail the writer. The importance of practice can never be gainsaid. I should know. As a journalism student years before, I was writing so much that I got grades ranging from 1.0s to 1.75s on pieces that were just on the first draft. Yeah, you may say it was arrogant of me, but I usually wrote at the last minute.

After four years in law school, and with my writing shelved for the most part, I now understand why writing is such a pain in the ass. It's a bit harder to rev up my creative engine nowadays, to enliven the link between the ideas in my mind and the pen that inks out the words. But it is a comfort to find out that once the fire has been well and truly lit, it's hard to stop the words from spilling.

Mike Abundo is persuasive on the "marketing your blog" angle, but then it's mostly common sense. Good tips, there, though. Psychologically sound advice. He reminds me of Josh Groban a little. Same impeccable kind of get-up, dark, wavy hair and very pale, clear skin. Skin that freckled and oily-faced femmes surely appreciate.

While Ellen Tordesillas could have been more relaxed in front of so many people, I do find the fact that she is a self-confessed un-techie who is doing her darn best to keep up with techie stuff very appealing. There was another speaker who kept on referring to persons interested in probing deeper into ICT and related stuff as nerds, or nerdy-geeky types. I can't remember the name, but that was a highly flammable subject. Filipinos must be really polite or repressed (count me in, on occasion), to let such remarks go unchallenged.

I'm just sorry I wasn't able to attend the track on blogs and the law. That was the track I most definitely wanted to attend, but it coincided with Dean Alfar's and when push came to shove, the latter was so funny I couldn't just walk out of the Sta. Ana room to go to the Binay room.

Oh, that's just the downside of iBlog2. Setting the sessions in simultaneous tracks definitely meant that I'd have to choose which ones I would prioritize. The thing is, I wanted to go to all. I guess I'll just have to wait and download the podcasts when these are finally brought online. Bummer.