Friday, June 23, 2006

Comments on Comments

For the second series of “Comments on Comments”, I’ll tackle the comments and responses that I, honestly, never expected to hear from people. I mean, I’ll always expect praises and flames, but these are the comments and questions that I never really thought I’d read. None of them are bad though!

Comment: “You’re just too young!”
My First Response: “Thank you, except for the ‘too’ part.”Thinking about it: Honestly, I get this comment a lot of times, even outside my blog. If you asked people who’ve met me in person, a lot of them say that my face and my stature give them the impression that I look so old! Well, no big deal to me. My ‘age problem’ only bothers me if and only if they use it as a basis for not listening to what I have to say. Everyone has episodes wherein people didn’t listen to him/her just because they were either ‘too young’ or ‘too old’. When people listen to what I have to say even if they know how ‘young’ I am, I really appreciate that.

Comment: “Can you write my story too?”
My First Response: “but I can’t…”Thinking about it: Some people send me messages telling me that I know how to write a good story, and they would want me to write them an article about their own stories. Honestly, it wouldn’t be much of a problem for me. However, I do believe that there’s nobody in the world that can do a better job at writing your own story than you. No matter how hard I try to write somebody else’s story (unless I was there), the result will never be as good as the result when you do it yourself. If Kimo was alive, or if the Crisis Zone arcade machine could speak, they’d do a better job at making us cry or keeping us on our toes!

Comment: “Can I ask for advice? My situation is like this…”
My First Response: *reads intently*Thinking about it: I’ve gotten a few messages lately that sought advice from me about their own problems. I read them intently and I try to answer them as best as I can. I appreciate the fact that people are willing to blurt out their whole lives to complete strangers, and that appreciation alone gives me enough strength to answer the questions. After all, reading through them would probably take me about ten minutes, and answering their mail would take me another ten. What’s twenty minutes of my time compared to that guy/girl’s whole lifetime? I try my best to answer the questions based on what I think should be done, but I just want to say that I’m really not an expert on problems; I find it hard to solve my own! *laughs*

Comment: “How did you get your blog featured?”
My First Response: “I wish I knew.”Thinking about it: One day, I just went up to my computer to do a little work, and I was so surprised to find that my blog got featured! I don’t know how it happened, or who decided upon it; it just happened. I guess it’s a blessing.

Comment: “What’s your secret in writing your articles?”
My First Response: “I will not tell you!” *evil laugh*Thinking about it: If the people who’re asking this are referring to the spelling and grammar, I’d honestly say that I let Microsoft Word do most of the correcting jobs for me. If you’re referring to my writing style, well, I don’t have a secret. The way I write is the way I speak—dreamy yet solid, realistic yet idealistic, detailed yet straight to the point. Confused?... yeah, I am too. *laughs*

Comment: “Are you taking up a journalism course?”
My First Response: “well, no…”Thinking about it: I don’t really know why I get this question a lot. I’m taking up a degree in Business Management, and the only English words I encounter are books, newspapers and cable TV. But then again, we get lots of English exposure in my business course, because I think a good business requires good communication skills, so I guess that’s it. On the other hand, I do admire lots of journalists, but I guess the words ‘author’ and ‘writer’ appeal to me even more.

Comment: “I admire you for not being afraid whenever you post your opinions.”
My First Response: *sighs*Thinking about it: I don’t really deserve this. Truth be told, I am always afraid to post a new blog entry. I’m always afraid of what people will think and how people will react to the things I say. There are times when I’m afraid to open my messages and read the comments on my blog. Sometimes I just have to force myself to read the comments on my blog, even if there’s the chance that some of them may be negative. I mean, who’d want to hear the message that’s long, but when summarized, say something like “you suck!”, right? However, because I do aspire to become a good writer, I have to get over that fear. I’ll never grow up and mature as a good writer if I’ll always let my fears get ahead of me and prevent me from doing what I love to do. I guess I’ll always be afraid, but with the help of the people who continue to inspire me to write more blog entries (you know who you are!) I’m starting to learn to let that fear inspire me rather than consume me.

Comment: “I’ve read your blog. Pardon me, but I think (insert flame here)…”
My First Response: *reads comment*Thinking about it: I really want to thank the people who send me messages like this. Although they flame me in a certain sense, I’m still very grateful that they go to extreme lengths to show respect. It’s easier to take in messages like this rather than those that start with “Hey, (insert insult here), (insert flame here)…”, and I appreciate their show of respect very much. Again, as I said before, it’s nice to hear criticism from a reader rather than blind insults from somebody who clearly didn’t read!

Comment: “I’m eagerly waiting for ‘Comments on Comments part 2’!”My First Response: *smiles* Thinking about it: Well, here it is! lolz....

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