At 5, Nanay had to buy me another pad of paper each week coz I'd scribble on the red and blue lines while pretending to listen attentively to my kindergarten teacher.
At 6, I wrote "Jodivie S. Malnegro Grade I - Lanzones" in cursive and it became such a milestone, I expected a Best in Writing ribbon on Recognition Day. Nope. Nadah. No tadah.
At 8, I never got tired of writing "I want to be an astronaut because..." Who didn't wish to be an astronaut?!?
At 11, I wrote stories and poems at the blank back pages of my older brother's Radtech Workbook. It was probably about monsters or friends or family. We made a bonfire to the gods to rid of mosquitoes and yes, the stories and poetries became sacrificial objects.
At 14, I wrote an essay for my classmate's oratorical contest. Props to her. She did an amazing job. My teacher then let me join the story telling contest with some bedtime story off of a fairytale book. Of course, I lost. I placed third, losing gracefully to a talented freshman.
At 17, I wrote miles long "testimonials" on my friends' wall. What did we call it in friendster? I started writing on friendster "note". Gaaahhhd. What did we call it even? College life. Teenage angst. I got through that "emo-goth-punk" stage too minus the eyeliner.
At 18, my friends uploaded photos on photobucket, flicker and multiply. I didn't have a camera phone, so my multiply account was full of "journal entries". A relative told me she had read about my post about quitting nursing school and she begged me to finish my last year. Oh, so... people actually read them.
Confrontation has never been my cup of tea so everytime I had an outpour of emotion, I'd write it down on my journal. Using pen and paper got too tiring and I became lazier day by day. I typed my emotions on my brother's laptop. I continued keeping an online journal through tumblr and multiply til multiply had to close around the time fb took over.
At 19, I started Blogger/ Blogspot. For many years, I wrote random stuff that I sometimes shared with my friends on my other social media sites. I prolly have a hundred drafts of haphazard conversations with Wowo. Wowo is me. Conversations with myself. Soliloquy. Monologues. Hence, Wonologues.
At 23, I tried to blog about stuff I personally would love to share with others. Sort of talking to a friend minus my socially gawky self. I had a dream of someday publishing a book that could influence the world. Ha! Big girl with an even bigger dream. I chuckled just thinking about it.
The years in between have been the dawn of social media. Everyone has got their own niche - beauty, tech, travel, food and bric-a-bracs. I took a hiatus. I was caught in between excuses of "writer's block", lack of sensible and "influential" content to share and all sorts of "my dog ate my homework" alibis.
At 27, I joined Davao Bloggers Society. I hope they didn't notice my social awkwardness. I smiled here and there. I lurked in our group chats. For a little over a year now, I skimmed through my fellow bloggers pages. I am still in awe to be surrounded with bloggers who have true talents in writing, some really excellent in photography, marketing, etc. We compliment and complement each other. (Though I'm not sure if I brought any to the table).
At 28, It's only been a little over a year since I joined DBS but it got me to at least help me get past my social awkwardness. I know I'm still all over the place and my blog is still a hodgepodge of ideas (or lack thereof). While I still have many more things to sort out, I'm pretty sure I've got a team to support me. #DBStheBEST Ayeee hihi (wink)
