Open Mike at WritingToExhale

Your web design is nice, neat and scholarly crafted. But I don't like your comment provider, this disqus thing. Maybe because you have to register. Or maybe I still have to learn this disqus style, but it is not user friendly, my name has no link that redirects to my blog. But the lay-out is nice though, you don't need to put an @ sign in responding to your commenters.

You've been writing about writing and blogging about blogging, if you run out of topic, then refresh and be personal sometimes. By that, I mean encounters outside your on-line friends. Well, how personal is personal is up to you. If you're not comfortable exposing your personal life, well then, you can still talk about many things in writing. You can even talk about how Shakespeare sucks over Zorlone. Hahaha, I'm just kidding. Oops sorry Z.

And I have no idea about Naruto, so when you guys tease each other with such terms, well, im lost and OP (out of place).

You are not unkind to me Online, in fact you are very friendly and helpful, you gave answers to queries right away.
But I think ever since you won the most influential blogger, you've been busy hopping around post to post, twitter to FB, influencing other people, responding to everybody. Living up to their expectations huh? So its ok with me if you don't get to revisit the sites of your old fans, I understand.

And one more thing before people here will throw out an overstaying cry: when you said open mike, its just about anything right?
I'm curious but you can write about this:

What do you mean by Jedi bloggers? Is it an acronym or simply Jedi from star wars? Are all the Jedi bloggers a fan of star wars? Are you, Jan, the master Jedi?
Just when was this group founded?
Do you recruit members? And do you have strict criteria?

What does a Jedi blogger do aside from blogging and chatting with the Jedi group? Do you reach out to writers with poorly presented and unedited posts? Or you simply blend with the good ones?

Hahaha. I'm just curious. That's all.

Petit, Disqus is a trusted third party comment platform. You can entrust
your email with them. In blogs which use the default comment system, you
still need to log in with your username, email and URL of your blog, right?
It's just the same. What's even good about Disqus is you can sign in with
your Facebook account, Twitter account, Open ID and even FriendFeed. :)

Jedi bloggers are an informal group of friends. It started in Twitter: Roy, Doc Z, Jena Isle, Holly, Rey Jr, Elmot, Yatot, Luke, Dee, Kelvin and me and lots more. We chat, we have fun in Twitter and we promote each others' posts. We comment on each others posts. We help each other.

Then came the Top 10 Influential Blogs of 2009 contest of Ms Janette Toral. We hit the campaign trail so to speak as a pack. That's the operative word: we worked as one. One for all, all for one. Dyan tumibay ang samahan namin. Dyan na test ang loyalty and friendship namin.

And we did well in that contest. Out of the 10, we managed to win 6 slots. Not bad huh?

We're not a snobbish clique of bloggers. Anybody can join us. We don't discriminate. Walang caste system sa amin. We all eat rice, don't we - ah well, some do eat more rice than the others. Ahehehe.

We're a loose alliance. We help each other in blogging. And we help each other in real life. It's not all about Alexa Rank and Page Rank. Our friendship goes deeper than these silly metrics.

You can join us. We don't stand on ceremony here. :)

We're all Star Wars fans. And yes, I'm a Jedi. And I ride a mean space ship at a blinding speed of 20kph. Ahahaha. Do you now see what I mean. Hehehehe. Malakas topak ng mga Jedis noh?

well, to be perfectly frank, jan, all this talk about naruto is getting on my nerves quite a bit.

for several blog posts now, you have failed to mention even one little thing about luffy of onepiece and light yagami of death note and sena kobayakawa of eyeshield21.

it's a disgrace really.

i perfectly understand your disdain for naruto, which let's admit isn't that good, but your silence about kurosaki ichigo and his fierce battles in hueco mundo is nothing short of defeaning.

PS: this is officially my first comment here, so i strove to make it good. and yes, to pick up on our latest discussion, thanks to you, now i know what "grudging admiration" means. hihihi! :P

cheerios!

Walla - the Influential Blogger is in the house, guys. Thanks, Deejay! I'd
mend my ways from now on. I love Kurosaki Ichigo - whatever that maybe.
Ahahaha.

Don't ever sell yourself short, Deejay. It's anything but grudging
admiration. It's ghastly but if you want to I can pull out all stops, you
know. :)

My gulay, Jan, you cook people too?

Well, perhaps thinking long term, you might consider setting up a forum for this blog considering that you have all forms of visitors coming in from all over the galaxy.

That's me on the stove, Bonnie. For a change. lols

That's a good option - setting up a forum if future developments warrant one. Maybe I should read up on that more.

Oh, I must restrain my laughter as I consider the thought of anyone having anything truly negative to say about some one as gracious as you Jan. Now, I hope you are laughing too, or I will accuse you of having too big an ego :-)

Recognizing, however, if you dis on anime you may well raise some hackles.

I am truly intrigued by the interaction you create, foster, encourage. The inclusion of all.
Your reqeust for input is timely, in that I was going to email you and ask for your reflections on your ethnicity, and now you can do it for all.... You see, being from Canada, I see you as 'being from the Phillipines' With very little knowledge as to what that may mean to you. Perhaps you would like me and others to know something more concrete about your ethnicity. I see reference to 'Filipina' and would like to understand how that fits into your identity. How would you like people from other lands to refer to you or people from your country? Is being referred to as 'Phillipino' OK, or a term born from ignorance? I see a difference in the way you men interact with each other that is more playful and by no means less manly than I would see from Canadian men. It is as if those perma-grins on your avis are contagious. Care to comment on that as it relates to ethnicity?

Having said that I think of you as man, writer, friend first. Cheers, Trina

You can refer to us generally as Filipinos. If you want to address our women folk you can call them Filipinas. Phillipino is a bit odd - not an insult - just odd. No one uses that.

Racial slurs come in when other nationalities equate Filipinas with domestic helpers. While that to a certain extent is true - lots of our women folk work abroad indeed as maids - it's a surefire way of raising the hackles of most Filipinos nevertheless.

We're a genial people, quick to adapt anywhere in the world, anxious to please but at the same time quick to take offense. But we're doing well despite our lackluster government and yes - sometimes despite ourselves. Ahahaha.

Oh, don't let the playfulness here fool you. For most parts of the country machismo still reigns. But these are bloggers and blogging has been good to their noggins.

You can call me your Filipino friend. Or Asian friend. But Filipino friend or just friend will do. Thanks, Trina. :)

Thanks for clearing things up. I shall think of you as friend first. Recognizing that Filipinos are generally happy, but may be easily offended is fine as a generalization. Would you profess that to apply to yourself? Are you easily offended?
Since this was open mike time, I was really hoping you may agree to write a post on what it means for you to be Filipino. Hope that's not pushing you too much to bring that up again.
Hoping to never offend you, but that will be a learning process like any new friendship.

Am I easily offended? Yes and no. As regards with my online interaction -
no. It takes a long while for me to be offended. I give a lot of allowance
for failure to communicate clearly and unequivocally. Perhaps that explains
why we rely too much on smilies and truncated chat expressions?

What may appear as an affront may not be intended as such. I usually give
some leeway for this.

A clear and conscious attempt to humiliate me is something else. And yet
again, I take my own sweet time how to handle this. I don't jump right away
with both guns blazing. I hate creating a scene or making a fool of myself.

What makes me easily offended? I'm putty in the hands of friends. Friends
know me well - what buttons to push, how to make me break into a song and
dance routine, and in a sense what's essential to my sanity. So in that
regard I'm vulnerable.

Bottomline: general online bitchiness is no skin off my nose. It's the
friends, the people I respect and love who's got the power to make or unmake
my day. :)

Thanks for considering me a friend. It's moment like this when we recognize
it's worth it - the countless manhours we put into our online life. :)

OK Jan - I've not forgotten I owe you a guest post. I'm working on it for real!

Since you've opened the mike... Just a pet peeve of mine of course but me no like disqus. I like just the plain old commenting systems of days gone by. I don't want to register with disqus.

There's my 2 cents, buddy. For what it's worth.

I will say that I love the comment convos that spring up here. Even though my Filo is a tad rusty (read: non-existant) i can tell folks are animated in their discussion.

George

It's okay, George. Take your time. ",)

Do you have a spare email you can use to login in with Disqus? ... Ah, they
are an excitable bunch, aren't they. They're pushing each other for the
right to stand behind the curtains - anxious not to be the first guy to
throw in the first tough question. Very solicitous online buddies and yet
they bring in popcorn in case something dramatic happens. Ahahaha.

jan, you already wrote about naruto twice!

if putting ads would make you unhappy, don't do it. most bloggers are ad
blind, so there's really no need to worry about it should you decide on putting ads.

Nice insight, Novz. Since they don't see the ads anyway then there's no
cause for worry, right? Unless I overwhelm them with ads which is very
unlikely... Yeah, I protest too much. Next thing you know, I'd be gaining
respectable hits with my Naruto posts. Ahahaha. Yum. Yum.

This blog is a work of art! the color, the theme, and the content. Looks professional to my untrained eyes LOL.

No kidding, you talk the talk and walk the walk in blogging. I would only expect the best from you and so far, I am not disappointed. Well, except for Naruto and ads and paid posts and... uhm... kidding!

Z

The implication being to the trained eyes my blog looks hardly professional
at all. Okay, so let's start with item number one in your grocery list,
Doc Z.

Give me the bad news. How many months do I have left? Ahahaha

Jan,

Is this an offshoot of ......mmmmm.....will I reveal? he he he...Okay, confidential pala...Nevertheless, I apologize publicly. Next time I'll comment in your blog about such....and I wouldn't care less if you would kick me out....but you're too much of a gentleman to do that to an old person, right??? Ouch!

Do you know "The Three Musketeers" are Naruto fans too? In fact one of them - Nikes- is planning to blog about it. You'll have to dissuade him not to, on Saturday. Doc Z will be happy about it. Let's see who will succeed between the two of you.

Ah, I must admit that helped this blog post idea into the drawing board and into the page. :) I think there are friends and readers out there who are dying to tell me something, but for one reason or another are holding back. I'd like to make it easy for them by asking outright. Ahehehe.

Jen, I don't disrespect my friends. You can count on that. That goes as well with my dealing with readers. They are safe here. No harm will come to them once they enter my blog. The caveat only covers protection from cyber thugs and bullies.

Healthy discussion of ideas is not covered, meaning you can't come running to papa just because your pet notions are shown up as mere hot air or utter nonsense. I can't help in that department especially when discussions are civil and respectful.

You're late. I already agreed to Elmot's suggestion to write about Naruto. That's difficult for me swallow, but I'm doing it. I will not have Elmot taunting me here that I'm chicken. lols

I'll also pass and give the chance to others. I'll sit beside Roy and watch the action/drama unfold. I'll bring some popcorn too. :D

Ah well, let's wait for Matt Damon to come in. Or that guy in Royale
Casino. Ahahaha.

Hi Jan,

I'd like to say, I enjoy your presence on Twitter. You're constantly finding great articles to tweet about, you're positive and continually look for ways to pay it forward.

You rock, Jan

Wow, thanks a lot, Barbara. That's good to hear. I had an exasperating
time yesterday at Twitter. A Filipina asked me pointblank if I was a
spammer because my tweets were nothing but "advertisements of other sites."
She did not stop there - she even asked fellow Filipinos what to make of my
tweets, seeking confirmation if indeed I'd been spamming.

It ended well. I had reined in my anger and managed to reply politely,
explaining that they're interesting links not ads. She must have thought
Twitter was purely a messaging platform. Ahahaha. She apologized by the
way.

First, I love the picture, it is captivating :P

About the Naruto thingy, I don't watch nor read it either, he he. But my officemates are really addicted to it.

I can't really think of anything for now. All I know is that I enjoy every bit of writing you have here. That's why I kept on coming eventhough you haven't visited me that often, LOL! Just kidding! :D

How about writing about, errr, something about you that no one else knew about? A secret perhaps. :D Just a recommendation :)

Hi Minniemadz,

I admit I've been a slacker in visiting friends lately. Will make up for it
from now on. I'd be a good boy now. lols

Huwat? A secret? Which one - I have many secrets. Ahahaha. But I'm
game. I'd come up with something, Minniemadz. Promise.

Will be waiting for that secret Jan, he he. :D

Waaaah. That's a tough assignment, Minnie. Okay, I will think about that
long and hard. :)

Way to go, Naruto!!!! Wahahaha!

Yeah, try writing one about Naruto bro, I would love you to write something about anime...Now, that is a real challenge.

Hey, this is the second that I will be suggesting this to you? I think you have told me already your answer, but this is just one sweet suggestion or reminder...how bout adsense ads? Web hosting, remember? *wink*

Yeah, bro. That's a very tough challenge for me - writing about Naruto.
Okay, I will. Ahahaha.

AdSense, yes. I'm thinking of the least distracting way of putting it on my
pages. I hate offending readers. There's a middle ground, I know.
Suggestion?

I am excited of reading that post then, LOL! And I will surely invite all those Naruto fanatics...

What do you have in mind? A prelude to a beheading? Ahahaha

"Go to hell" hahaha!

I really don't like hugging the mike.... I'll just sit here and watch as others speak ;)

Maybe I should strike that out? Others might have second thoughts about leaving a comment. lols.

I would love to read what you have to say about Naruto. No, wait - if you're going to be mean, pick on Yuh-Gi-Oh. (I enjoy watching Naruto with my son - he's such a BOY - but Yuh-Gi-Oh? Saw the movie. Now there's an hour and a half of my life I can never get back. Yuh-Gi-Oh owes me. Big time. I didn't think anything could make Barney and Pokemon look like they had a PLOT.)

I can afford to be mean about Naruto now. An influenza blogger had absolved me of past sins as regards Naruto. Which reminds me - I'm going to Pampanga this weekend. Bummer. Roy's kids love Naruto. I totally forgot. You're right - I had better train my guns on Yuh-Gi-Oh instead. lols