My thoughts…on stuff

My evil twin Leon over at ListenToLeon.net decided to tag me, so I saw it fit to take on the challenge.

The rules are as follows:

* Link the person who tagged you.
* Mention the rules in your blog.
* Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
* Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.
* Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know they’ve been tagged.

Just like the other Leon, it’s going to be hard to think of 6 new quirks, but I’ll try.

1. I have this occasional problem where my mind and my mouth or hand don’t sync, resulting in me having to slow down and think out what I’m going to write or say, else I jumble two words together, resulting in a lot of apologies and crossouts.

2. When I’m studying in private, I tend to talk to myself. I don’t mean rereading the material to myself. I mean actually have a conversation with myself. It begins.

3. I heart birds. I admire their majesty. They also inspire me, as I can relate to their need for freedom, as I don’t like to be shackled by rules.

4. I am deeply paranoid. As a personal policy, I trust no one. And no, no one has seriously betrayed me. But in these materialistic times, it seems like a wise policy. Sure I may never be able to truly bond with someone, but what ever.

5. I enjoy enhancing my intellect. I read widely and try new things. Though I’m a college student, I view self-acquired knowledge is often more important than a degree, and a lot more fun too. But it’s much easier to prove your education with a degree, so…

6. I am a sloppy dresser, and because of this my mom and I have arguments sometimes. Don’t get me wrong. My mode of dress is acceptable, but I’ve never gone out of my way to make myself look Denzelian, unless forced. I guess it’s because I hate vain people.

Ok. MadBull, Ricardo, Angelika, Marsha, JDid and Stunner, I choose you! (flings Pokeball)

Fellow Jamaican blogger Jamaipanese tagged me through a viral linking post, and I have decided to return the favour. Why? Because I want to join Technorati’s elite  100,000…again.

The benefits of Viral Linking:

1. One of the fastest ways to see your Technorati Authority explode!
2. Increase your Google PageRank fast
3. Attract large volume of new traffic to your site
4. Build your community
5. Make new friends!

And these are the people who already took part on this tag:

Blognation, Pinoytek, Reyna, Bluep, Kotsengkuba, Buraot, Iris, Banco De Reyna, Manilenya, Mitch, Melai, Malen, Beng, Sasha, Foolsville, Lloyd Lopez, Jamaipanese, Leon, R.O., Justin, Stunner [add names here].

I have tagged CrankyPutz, MadBull, Cruel Virgin, Jdid and Saphrym.  Time to pass on the link love guys!

As you all know, I’ve been using Entrecard for some time now, and I have been satisfied with the results. I’ve found some good blogs, gained some new readers, seen a boost in comments, feed subscriptions and of course, traffic. By the way, I’ve unraveled the mystery behind the name. The word “entre” comes from entrepreneur. Makes sense with the whole e-business card schtick. With all these benefits, it’s little wonder that Entrecard has grown as it has.

On December 17th, they gained their first 1,000 bloggers. It’s now February 21st, and they now have 4,400. Pretty impressive. Having their widget on popular blogs like Problogger and John Chow helped them no doubt. But while Entrecard’s growth may be encouraging news for its owners, it’s bad news for its users. Why? Well, more users means more competition, making it harder and harder to stay on top. So what’s a blogger to do? Sadly, many of them have been gaming the system, only dropping on blogs that promise reciprocal drops, forming their own little cliques that only drop on each other, using browsers that allow them to chain drop faster, top dropper memes, entrecard contests (which nearly every Entrecarder has) etc.

My point is, too much attention is focused on gaining and not on gaining readership. Entrecard was built to encourage networking between bloggers, but it seems the same old blog exchange syndrome has emerged. And what happens to the bloggers that don’t game the system? Their blogs get undervalued and fall out of the spotlight, while those who game the system rise to the top. Now it’s hard to tell which blogs are truly worth their advertising cost and which are inflated.

You have to resort to their tactics whether you want to or not just to survive. I even had to resort to some chain dropping to keep my head above water. But I tend to frequent the blogs with good content and avoid the inflated ones. I loved the initial community spirit of Entrecard. It felt like my cozy little hideout on the Net where I could recapture the simple joys of blogging, with bloggers who actually cared about your content. Now it seems like that spirit is being eroded, and Entrecard runs the risk of collapsing under its own weight. But I know one thing, I’ll be long gone by then.

P.S. Does anyone know if there was a glitch in FeedBurner’s system, as I went from having 52 subscribers to 39 in one day flat! I know that readers can be fickle but jeez!

I guess it’s about time I honoured Andrew’s request and respond to his tag. But I didn’t wanna get tagged again so early. To me, getting tagged is like catching a disease. It’s lengthy, unwanted, and you always end up giving it to someone else. Well here goes, 7 unusual facts about me.

1. I don’t listen to music…period. The only time I come close is when I’m hopelessly bored and turn on the radio to prevent myself from drifting into a catatonic state.
2. I once had a nightmare about my alarm clock falling into a vat of toxic waste near my bed (don’t ask me how it got there), then mutating into a giant, horrible clock monster that slaughtered me and all my best friends. Most bizarre dream I’ve had to date.
3. My greatest fear is being electrocuted, yet I love electronics.
4. I once owned an electrocuted lizard carcass, but had to throw it away. Women in the house after all.
5. I love my body. I have my Mom’s slender physique and I have my Dad’s appetite. Sucks for you who have to go visit Jenny Craig every time you bite into a burger. Ha ha!
6. I had a longtime crush on Ms. Bellum from the Powerpuff Girls. What? She had a killer body, a killer brain AND didn’t put a price tag on her charms, which you’ve gotta admit is rare nowadays.
7. Any drunk moments? None! I try to keep a clear mind at all times, so no liquor (in excess at least). Plus my friends plotting to spike my drinks makes me more cautious of the stuff.

Well there you are. 7 things you may or may not have wanted to know about me. GC, Jamaipanese, Cranky Putz, Enemy, CoolDestiny, you’re up!

I intended to post this over the weekend, but my connection was on the fritz again. Flow is really starting to piss me off. Anyway, back to the post at hand.

I originally heard about Entrecard from Jamaipanese. I was hesitant to join as I was around during the age of the blog exchange, and I know the pain of investing your precious time and effort into earning credits only to have the site shut down or be left with no one to spend them on, worse after the failure of BlogRush. But after some convincing, I tried it, and my only regret is that I didn’t join sooner. If you don’t know what Entrecard is, it is a business card for bloggers. You gain credits by swapping Entrecards with fellow Entrecarders. They gain credits as well when you drop your Entrecard on their blog. This creates an interesting way to earn credits, as you can reward your favourite blogs, and is a lot harder than simply staring at the screen for 30 seconds and clicking some random number.

Despite what the naysayers have to say, Entrecard traffic isn’t completely worthless. I’ve seen an increase in my Adsense clicks, comments and most importantly, my RSS subscriptions. Before Entrecard, my RSS subscriptions were approaching 30. Now they’re approaching 50. I also like the way you can use credits. Sure you can use them for the usual ads, but you can also use them to buy anything from comments to blog hosting. I’ve also found some great blogs that now make part of my daily routine, and old favourites such as ProBlogger. And thanks to Entrecard, I can advertise on them now, though I haven’t been lucky enough to get a spot on the big blogs. I also realized, interestingly enough, that BlogExplosion activated my blog soon after Entrecard came on the scene, after over five months of waiting. Feeling competition anyone?

My only complaint is the calculation of a blog’s ad spot price. If you miss a day or two of card dropping due to work or whatever, the value of your blog plummets, and it’s hard to catch up. I normally at least read to content of the blog’s I visit, unless they contain the magic words “make money online”. (The majority of them anyway.) But when I have to regain lost ground, I have to drop cards like a madman without any regard for content. And I really don’t like that. Will Entrecard keep up this momentum? I dunno. BlogMad was something back when I came out. And people have already begun to game the system. But for now, I’m gonna milk Entrecard for all it’s worth.

GC tagged me some time ago, so it’s about time I return the favour. But before I start, I’d like to apologize for my absence for the past few days. My Internet got cut off over the weekend, for absolutely NO reason! You have no idea how that inconvenienced me. I tell you, Flow should change their name to Blow, because they, well…you know. Ok, back to the meme.

1. At what age do you wish to marry?
Whenever Ms. Right comes along, or whenever I get tired of waiting and grab the next best thing.
2. What colour do you like most?
Blue.
3. Where is the place that you want to go the most?
Hmm. Never really thought of that. I’d say either Paris or Rome.
4. Which part of you do you hate the most?
The procrastinating part.
5. When you encounter a sad moment, what do you do?
Console myself in the fact that I have life, and once I have that, there’s hope.
6. What are you afraid to lose the most?
My morals.
7. If you win $1 million, what would you do?
Immediately invest some, stash the rest away and then use the returns to start or improve my business.
8. How did you celebrate the New Year?
Sitting alone at the computer, like I am now.
9. Til now, what is the moment that you regret the most?
Not telling her I loved her.
10. Which type of person do you hate the most?
Too much to tell.
11. What is your ambition?
Wealth. Power. Women. You know, generic stuff. But what I truly want is for my name to be synonymous with greatness.
12. If you had one wish what would you wish for?
I’m with GC on this one. UNLIMITED WISHES!
13. Name one of your body parts your wifey or girlfriend tells you she adores:
My…chest.
14. What is the best gift you can give someone this year?
One that doesn’t cost me a dime.
15. What do you need to do this year in order for you to be happier in life?
Make enough money to be self-sufficient, if even for a year.
16. What are the Top 2 things that you are most thankful for the year 2007 that made you even more happier for 2008?
My computer and my renewed determination to succeed.
17. What was the best lesson you learned in 2007 (be specific)?
Life is fleeting. Make the most of every moment.
18. In this very moment, are you doing what you thought you’d be doing at this stage in your life?
No. Is anyone?
19. If you knew tomorrow was the final day of existence, what would you do today?
I’d make out with all of my hot classmates, squander all my money, confess my love to all my secret crushes, tell those who irritate me on a daily basis how much I despise them and perhaps run through the street naked.
20. If you could do over any moment or decision in your life, what would it be?
I would’ve gone for a degree in IT instead of a degree in Business.
21. If you wanted people to say one thing about you at your funeral, what would that one thing be?
He was a good man.

22. What is your most treasured childhood memory?
Chillin’ with my pals, eating snacks and sodas we bought from cashing in old bottles, talking ’bout what little we knew about life.

Madbull, Taylor, Owen, Jamsprint, Leon, Gordon, Jamaican Dawta, Stunner, I hereby pass this curse meme onto you.

Here’s the rule: Remove 1 question from below, and add in your personal question, make it a total of 20 questions, then tag 8-10 people in your list, list them out at the end of this post. Notify them in their chat box that he/she has been tagged.

Just wanna clear things up. Readers, my blog isn’t dead (and neither am I). Same goes for you spammers, ’cause since my absence, I’ve seen a dramatic surge in my comment spam, from about 30 per day to 100 or more. But just to let you know, I’ve got Akismet on, so you can try from now til Kingdom come, no spam will get through. I’ve been really, really busy. Schoolwork has had me down, especially last week, where I had four assignments due, all group work, three of them due in the same day. There was a case where a student had a nervous breakdown due to the workload, so you know things are bad. I didn’t even have time to post a hiatus notice. Heck, I barely had time to scratch my head. I didn’t even have time to post on my blog’s 2nd anniversary, which was on November 16th. The assignments are in, but the battle isn’t over yet, as finals are fast approaching, and I don’t have a single textbook. So you know I’ll have to work even harder for a 1st class GPA.  But I’ll make it up to you during Christmas the holidays (damn political correctness) and post like hell. So just putting you on notice. I’m back!

…to the new home of My thoughts…on stuff! Pull up a chair, and make yourself comfortable. I haven’t finished packing completely, but enough to start life here. Thanks to Taylor for helping me with the transition. There will be a few drawbacks to the move, like loss of Pagerank and the potential loss of readers during the transition, but I’m confident that the advantages will outweigh the disadvantages. All this reminds me of Stunner’s adventures in finding a suitable living environment. Hope I won’t have nearly as much trouble. So have fun and enjoy the refreshments. Just don’t spike the punch bowl.

If you’ve been paying attention to my blog, you’ll realize that I’m sporting a brand new button in my sidebar, the Thinking Blogger Award. I was granted this award by Ricardo of UNLOADED. His take on my blog: “Let Leon share with you his humorous insights on the hot topics of the day. If it’s a big event unfolding in the world of pop culture, he’s got his always unique take on it. Lots of fun.” Nice dude. I could’ve taken the gold one, ’cause I love gooold, but silver has a certain understated elegance to it. I’m happy to have won this award, ’cause I’ve had my eye on it for quite a while, mainly because it’s an award granted to you by your peers. Kinda like the Oscars, but without the pomp, pagentry or fake gratitude. Now I’ve got it, a testament to my mastery in the art of not sucking. As the rules of the award state, you must grant the award to five bloggers that make you think. So here they are. P.S. These aren’t the only ones that make me think, so don’t feel any way

The Madbull’s Blog - Chronicles the adventures of the Mad Bull, a Jamaican expat in Cayman.
And Still I Rise - A blog with intelligent, thoughtful posts that anyone can relate to.
CrankyPutz - An indian chick whose posts are always hilarious.
She’s Royal - A new favourite for me. Always has interesting points of view on the seemingly mundane.

And the most deserving of this award (drumroll please)…
Cruel Virgin - A woman who always provides some seriously thought provoking posts.

There you go guys! Enjoy your new sidebar bling!

Break out the bubbly, fellow bloggers! Today is International Weblogger’s Day, so go ahead, pat yourself on the back for your contributions to the blogosphere. The good ones anyway, not those “YouTube” blogs. Aside from my birthday, this is the closest I have to a personal holiday as I’m not a father or a mother. I checked my inbox this morning and there it was, an email informing me of the date and inviting me to post about the day. I’m still wondering how they got my Hotmail address and not my GMail address, the one I use on my blog. This made me feel a bit special and things like this are perks to blogging.

I haven’t gotten any as of late, as I feel as if I am giving more to blogging than I am getting in return. I spend hours brainstorming and scan various news sites just to come up with a single post. And since I don’t have Internet access (yet), I have to walk 15 minutes from home to use a cybercafe. And after I post, I have to comment on 4 or so blogs just to get a comment on that post. My site stats are a lie because 80% of my “readers” are actually surfers on blog exchanges, who only stick around for the required 30 seconds. No wonder I haven’t been motivated to post much lately. Well today I looked at the number of posts for June and realized that I only posted 4 for the month, and today’s the 14! That and today’s date made me renew my commitment to blogging. That special email made me realize that I am still important in the blogosphere, and my voice should remain strong. Happy International Weblogger’s Day!