I’ve always been interested in the crafting aspect of life and it extends to games and fantasy worlds. I love collecting materials and ingredients and then turn them into something more valuable. I prefer a peaceful existence, distancing myself from combats and guild wars. I can picture myself living in small but beautifully crafted cottage in the forest, surrounded by huge oak trees that shield my home from extreme heat in the summer and from the strong winds brought by the chilly winter. I can hear the steady stream of flowing water from the nearby, where all kinds of magical forest creatures stop by for a drink of refreshment. Whenever the wind blows a soft whistle, it forms a wonderful melody with the rustle of leaves and the chirping of birds nested on the thick and high branches of the majestic oak trees that surround my home.

One can usually see me walking around the forest, poking and peeking on thick shrubberies and searching for ingredients I can use for my potions and crafts. I am always looking around for herbs and spices to use on the rejuvenating snacks and breads that passersby purchase for their long journeys and training. I also frequent the clearest area of the river to get the fresh cool water for my fruit juices. Novices in training love to purchase them because they’re cheaper and pack a punch even if they’re in small vials.

Passersby who are quite hungry but have no coins to spare, usually offer materials they gathered in exchange for some food and temporary shelter. I do accept these materials, especially the fabrics and threads, as well as precious stones and gems. I love to sew in the afternoons after I’ve finished all work in the kitchen, so I create comfortable and sturdy clothing that I sell to other passersby. In the weekends, I love to spend some time creating talismans from the precious stones and gems I received. I wrap each of them delicately with a silver transparent thread that I weaved from the air and water during each months full moon and attach it into a cloth neck strap that people can wear comfortably around their neck during their journey. This protects the stones from harm and allows its powers to protect its bearer each time he goes into battle.

That is how I envision my life in Taborea. Peaceful and content, thriving with happiness from the ability to do what I want. We all need a little magic in our lives, this one is mine.

I have been always drawn to digital art. It started with 2d and 3d characters on the games I played and eventually moved on with adoptables and pet site art. I still spend a lot of time browsing through finished digital artworks in DA and wonder how people can do them. I spend some time each week trying to learn more about the tools of my trade which consists of Photoshop and Paint Tool SAI. I still feel that I need to learn more and I am considering applying in a digital art school once my budget allows me to.

I found out about First Academy of Computer Arts a year or two ago through Google while was searching for a school that offered web design and PHP courses. I even went on to inquire through email about their courses back then but wasn’t able to actually attend their courses because I was still finishing school then. Last year, I learned that one of my classmates took a course there and she recommended it highly when I mentioned I was interested. I’m glad I stumbled upon their website again now that I am focusing my career into pet sites and adoptables. I find their list of courses interesting and I am highly interested with their multimedia arts offering since I would like to learn more about concept art. Here are a few examples of their students’ works:

Basically what I found is that they offer the following main courses:

3D Arts that includes 3D Modeling & Design, Texturing & Rendering, 3D Animation and 3D Effects.
Multimedia Arts that tackles Concept Art (2D), Digital Animation and Basic Motion Graphics.
Print Media which contains Graphic Design, Graphic Illustrator and Page Design & Layout.
Web Design which includes techniques in Photoshop, xHTML, CSS, and Dreamweaver.

They also offer several workshops in case you have a specific area you want to focus on. In case you are interested to find more information First Academy and their programs, you can check out their website, www.firstacademy.net or call 898 27 24 to 26 and ask for Ms. Ciel C. Luy their Marketing Manager. The school is located 2F Saville Building, 8728 Paseo de Roxas corner Sen. Gil Puyat Ave. Makati City.

I learned about Facebook around 2006 when someone mentioned in the the Off Topic forum of GoPets. Back then Facebook was a private social networking site that only allowed individuals from US companies, universities and organizations to join and connect with each other. I wasn’t able to sign-up immediately because I wasn’t in the US so I opted to be included in their mailing list so i would know when it would be open to other countries. I think I got the invitation back in 2007 and when I joined it wasn’t really populated with people and there weren’t much games apart from WarBook. The applications that used to generate a lot of interest were the ones that “generated” some sort of compensation for posts, clicks and surveys; like the apps launched by dNeero, AceBucks and ClixSense. I think it was ClixSense if I remember it correctly. I couldn’t find anyone I know there because not many people have joined it yet. The only time I got a real friend there was when I started blogging and learned that one of my blogger friends had a Facebook account which she also used for gaining traffic to her blogs through social networking and online marketing.

Fast-forward to 2009 and Facebook has really evolved from a small and relatively silent community into a large and thriving community. Dynamic applications started to sprout and many developers started creating games that attracted even more people to join. I admit that even I got addicted to the games in Facebook last year, especially with Pet Society, Mafia Wars, Farm Town, Restaurant City, Country Life and other tycoon games. After some time the novelty of the games faded after a lot of copycat games came out. It got boring when developers started using the same “formula” for all their games and simply tweaked the theme and graphics to create a “new” game. I used to be very active in adding people just for the sake of advancing on the games I played.

Lately, I’ve only used Facebook to keep in touch with friends and relatives. I’ve lost interest in the gaming aspect of FB because I realized I was neglecting a lot of my websites for something that isn’t beneficial to me at all. I’m glad to say that I have weaned myself from Facebook and only use it every now and then to communicate with friends and relatives.

If you haven’t seen yet this adorably sweet viral video going around the internet, you should.

I seriously love this clip. It was so sweet and cute that I was going, “Awwww!” and smiling seeing her throw a foul ball back on a Phillies game and then getting a bearhug from her Dad after. Some people might have freaked out but its really adorable how Steve Monforto hugged her daughter Emily Monforto after she threw the ball. I kind of had a feeling she would do that because children has a tendency to throw especially when given a ball. My younger siblings used to do that when given a ball when they were little.

If it weren’t for her throwing the ball back, they wouldn’t get to appear on the “Today Show“, get a ball signed by Jason Werth and get personalized Phillies jerseys from the team. Her cuteness and throwing reflex definitely paid off. Who knows she might even become a softball player in the future.

Wow. Just, WOW!

I am seriously amazed at the video for Oprah’s kickoff party. xD I saw it earlier when someone shared it through Facebook and I was really speechless while watching it. At first I thought, what’s up with the girl in front cheering madly? Then when the other people started dancing, it reminded me of that train station dance I saw in YouTube.

They said it was 2100 fans who were taught the dance a day or so before the kickoff party to surprise Oprah. If I was in Oprah’s place, I’d be very surprised too. I really am amazed at how they were able to successfully pull it off with the huge amount of people in the crowd. I think it would have been more amazing if you were personally there. I wish I was. xD

The second time I watched it, I was more observant and realized that it was practiced because the crowd wasn’t relaxed and moving with the music like one usually would when there’s a group singing/performing on the stage. Still, the whole dance was amazing.

I tried to remember my previous TXN password but all the passwords I tried didn’t work. So I decided to call their 24-Hour Customer Care Hotline whose number was at the back of the card. Since I am not in Manila, I chose the Domestic Toll Free (for provincial areas) which is 1-800-1888-2277. When the automated/recorded prompt played, I chose Option #5 (press 5 on the phone) to access my EON account. A very nice customer representative answered the phone and helped me with my reset request after answering several verification questions. They asked the following:

1. Account Number (the one under your name on your EON card)
2. Full Name (on account)
3. Birthday
4. Cellphone Number
5. USER ID (the one you use to login to your EON online account)
6. Email Address

If the email address you used before isn’t working anymore, they can change it for you. When they ask for the email address, they ask for your preferred one. I was told by the CS that I will receive the email for the reset within 2-4 banking days so I would have to wait until Thursday. I hope everything goes well then.

Update: Woohoo! Received their reset email Thursday afternoon.

I checked the usual webhosts both recommended and loathed by people. I checked HostGator, BlueHost, DreamHost, HostMonster, LiquidWeb, NameCheap, LunarPages, ResellerZoom, SurpassHosting and a whole lot more. I liked some of the plans they offered especially the one with DreamHost where you get a year’s plan for only $9.94 if you use the 777 coupon as their way of celebrating Earth Day. The fun ended when I was shown in red letters:

The promotional code is not available in your area.

Eh? How sad. I also applied on Hostway since they have this Tango Reseller program that I found because of SitePoint’s newsletter and a whole bunch of people offering and recommending on their blogs. Who wouldn’t want it? It was a year of free reseller hosting and after the year’s up, you have to pay $200 to continue with the plan. So I went ahead and signed in trying to use a MasterCard that was expiring this year but it wouldn’t go through. I decided to try my Visa which expires in a couple of years and boom, my registration goes through. I receive two emails from them and I try to login the reseller cpanel login. I get in but then I get a pop-up saying,

Contact Hostway Administrators

And I don’t have any activation buttons to click which was shown in the tutorial. I sent their billing and reseller support a message saying the exact thing above but up to now I haven’t hear back from them. Should I now be worried about being billed next year on my Visa even if I didn’t get the reseller thing from Hostway? >.<

So finally by the end of the day, I find one webhost that I seem to like because of the good things I heard about them. A couple of bloggers also use them so I am more inclined to host with them. The only problem now is how to raise the money needed to get the hosting as soon as possible so I can start transferring all my files and websites to them before the servers of my current host go down next month. I have a couple of weeks to raise $120 to get the two-year hosting that I like. That would amount to just $5 a month. That would save me so much in the future. So now all I need to do is find ways to raise the cash. Wish me luck.

I started trying out paid to click (PTC) websites a long time ago and I never really got interested in them. One of the sites I did invest in first was Bux.to and I was actually losing faith in it back then because I had been waiting for my cash out for 6 months already. I finally received it a few days ago in my AlertPay account so I am quite contented because I finally got back my initial investment there. Everything I will get there from now own would be pure profit. Just before I received the payment notification in my email, I was able to join Neobux which is another paid to click website that tickled my interest. It wasn’t like the usual PTC where you just click get premium and referrals and forget about it. This PTC makes you active in their site and it actually gets you hooked because their business model simply works.

In Neobux, the members are active clickers because they simply can’t buy referrals and leave their referrals to do the job for them. You have to do your clicking part because you get credited based on your clicks. So if you don’t click yesterday, you don’t get credited with your referrals click today. Also you don’t simply pay and purchase your referrals one time, because you only rent them monthly. You have the option to extend your rented referrals before the month runs out so you can keep those good clickers under your wing. Its a good business model because with this option, you have to reinvest in the business and in turn you keep the company running. Great for you and the company.

Also what makes people love Neobux a lot would be their instant payments. You can easily get your cash outs from them as long as you meet the minimum payout amount and it gets credited to your AlertPay account instantly. Neobux’s business model is different. Its members have to actually put in a significant amount of work and time to actually earn and they can’t just get hundreds of referrals immediately and get rich that way.

I invested in Neobux part of the payment I received from Bux.to and used it to rent myself 100 referrals to help me get started. I couldn’t get it out of AlertPay immediately anyway since banks here in the Philippines don’t work yet with AlertPay (but AP did mention that they are working on setting up their services to work with Philippine banks) and withdrawing the funds through check (to be mailed to my home) would take a long time simply because our country’s postal service is really slow, so I decided to make the money work by investing it in Neobux. Hopefully my referrals and I could earn $30 before this week ends so I can get another 100 referrals next week to help me raise my income there. There are even members with only 1-2 referrals who have been able to accumulate the minimum payouts so if you don’t have funds to invest to the site yet, just a little of your time daily would work well enough.

So check out Neobux and the PTC innovation it offers. A few cents saved overtime can become a substantial amount in the future. I know most everyone would love to have some extra funds once in a while.

Calling out all bloggers and web graphic designers who might be interested to join the upcoming WordCamp Philippines this coming September 6, 2008 at the Augusto-Rosario Gonzalez Theater located at the 5th Floor of the Mutien Building of De La Salle – College of St. Benilde (DLSU-CSB) in Taft Avenue, Manila. Registration has been opened and one of the nice things about it is that its for FREE.

Seriously.

All you have to do after registering is make a little post in your blog if your a blogger to get your camp badge and kit, if  you are not a blogger you don’t have to do this step. Isn’t that easy?

If you’re new to blogging but have been making websites before and is interested to learn more about WordPress and its capabilities then the WordCamp is one event you would definitely be interested in attending. WordPress is used by many individuals and institutions not just as for their blogging needs but also for their content management systems. WordPress has a vast array of plugins and themes available that enables users to fully customize their websites, even to the point of it not resembling the default WordPress install in the outside.

Theme designers have revolutionized the way default blogs look through their innovative themes that not only showcase wonderful and creative designs but also enables WordPress to act as a full content management system. These wonderful theme designers have helped many WordPress users achieve great blogs and websites because of their theme’s great functionality and usability. One of the best things about WordPress aside from the multitude of free and paid themes available is the vast amount of plugins that exist for WordPress users. Each week tons of plugins pop-up all over the internet which enable users to further enhance their blogs/sites. Its easy to say that you wouldn’t get bored easily with WordPress because there’s so much you can do.

Give WordPress a try and then you’ll understand what I mean. I’m running several blogs and I use WordPress for it. Its easy to use, its free and most of all, its fun.

So please check out the main site for the upcoming WordCamp Philippines 2008 to learn more about the event. If you want to head straight to registration, click here. Also, there’s a good chance that Matt Mullenweg would be there to speak as well so I am definitely going. He’s just too cute. Before I get derailed from the topic, I’d like to thank the Mindanao Bloggers who organized the event. Thank you so much for your initiative and hard work in getting the WordCamp here in our country.

So in case you attend, maybe we can meet each other and get some pictures together. Hopefully many members of WordPress Pinoys would attend so I wouldn’t feel all shy and scared. I registered in the WordCamp using my personal blog so you’d be seeing me there as the girl of Clay Pots and Wooden Spoons.

See you there!

In an ironic country where cost of goods and services continue to increase each year despite the continued appreciation of peso compared to the dollar, the internet is the closest we can get to the greener pastures without applying for a Visa in the embassies scattered around Manila. People who do not have jobs or people who have jobs but still have insufficient incomes to sustain their needs, go to the internet to find opportunities that can enable them to earn and supplement their incomes which sadly they cannot do offline.

Although the internet does offer a vast array of choices of earning income such as:

1. paid to post (joining forums and posting to earn points to exchange for $)
2. paid blog posts (writing paid posts in your blogs and getting paid $)
3. paid to click (clicking advertisements to earn $)
4. paid to surf (clicking links or sites, viewing for 10-30 seconds then earning $) and so much more,

it does not mean that each Pinoy who joins one can be assured that he has finally found the golden pot. Many of these existing sites are a rehash of previously established sites and are just copying the process, style and hype. Some of these sites unfortunately are not really able to maintain and continuously keep their site up and running, thus some end up closing unable to give the payouts its members were waiting for.

When it sounds too good to be true, sometimes it really is. One must be wary of newly established sites promising the sun and the moon. More often than not these sites are the first ones to go down and get buried amongst the huge pile of defunct paid programs in the internet. One rule of thumb to follow would be testing the waters first before jumping and paying the fees. Check first if the site really is reliable by looking at their accomplishments, growth and maintenance. If you see that the members are really paid and the site is continuously flourishing it can be a good opportunity to invest. As they say, to get more money, you need money.

However, spending funds that you don’t really have isn’t good. Investment on paid programs are never risk-free. If you end up losing all your investment you only have yourself to blame. Only invest your spare funds if possible. This way you do not end up spending your family’s food budget for the week leaving your children hungry instead.