Fifth Year Anniversary

I can’t believe it’s been five whole years since I wrote my first entry in this blog. Can’t believe that the most inconsistent girl in the world actually managed to maintain something for that long – churning out 800+ posts ain’t no joke.

It was my friend Flisha who first told me that there is such a thing as blogs and that she had made one and it’s fun and that I should make one too. Being the impressionable girl that I am, I did just that, and “My Side Comments” was born. It took a few name changes before I registered a domain for it.

First and foremost, it was a place where I could practice what I loved to do – writing. It started out as a journal documenting my life for my sake – to preserve my memories. See, the memory can be a tricky thing in that it can be selective in what it retains in its archives. But if I write it down while the moment is still fresh, I can always rely on that piece of my life being in my blog’s archives forever even if it will no longer be in my head. My blog = my brain’s back up disk.

It’s actually something that I had been doing by keeping notebook diaries since high school, but when termites ate all that up, it only convinced me that online was the way to go.

Unlike a diary, though, it was public, so it wasn’t limited to my eyes only and other people started reading it as well. My friends read it to be updated about what’s going on in my life, back when Facebook and Twitter were not in yet. “It’s just like being with you everyday!” they said. It was kind of disconcerting to go to reunions and have conversations that went like this:

Me: As for me, I went to Baguio this year and –
Friend: Right, I read about that on your blog!
Me: Oh, you already know about that. I also met up with our friend when he was on a vacation in Manila and we –
Friend: You went to that cool restaurant. I loved that funny pic of yours!

Next time, people, leave comments so I know you’re stalking me reading my posts and I don’t need to repeat myself! LOL.

There were also some friends whom I weren’t really that close to, then we started reading each other’s blogs and suddenly we were closer than when we were actually closer physically.

Then there were the friends who said “all my officemates also read your blog.” Or the friends of friends who found my site through a friend’s blogroll. But just when I thought that my blog only interested strangers of the third degree friendship kind, I got comments from complete strangers who randomly hopped into my site and liked what I had to say that they kept checking back for more. They were the ones who made me feel validated that I’m somewhat good in what I love to do. Aside from that, they make me feel a teensy bit like a celebrity. LOL.

So the online diary evolved to include reviews and recommendations, news and information, stories and pictures and videos that were both mine and seen elsewhere around the web.

Then just a few weeks ago, it finally led to what I guess it’s been building up for – the springboard to the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. What started off as a personal endeavor became a platform for so much more. If I were to list some of my best achievements in the past five years, this blog would definitely be one of them. 🙂

And oh, by the way, that first entry of mine? I don’t believe in it anymore. Adulthood is definitely more exciting than childhood, and I have 700+ diary entries to prove it.