Category: Updates

To learn from the sky

Tina Leave a comment

Sara Bareilles released a new album called The Blessed Unrest the other day and I’ve been listening to her song Chasing the Sun on repeat:

[youtube WFFberbflbU]

I love the entire song, most especially the chorus:

You said, remember that life is
Not meant to be wasted
We can always be chasing the sun!
So fill up your lungs and just run
But always be chasing the sun!

It just sounds so hopeful, don’t you think?

* * *

I’m going to take a little blogging break.

When 2013 started, I had this plan of blogging (at least) once a week, so when the year ends, I’d have around 52 posts for this blog. Plus I figured it’s some kind of commitment to find something interesting to blog every week, and it’s not as hard as blogging everyday for an entire month (believe me, I tried that).

But…things haven’t been exactly smooth sailing these past few days. I think it’s obvious from my previous posts? If you’d allow me to be brutally honest, I’m not really okay right now. I would normally write my heart out here while I sort out everything (as I have done in the past weeks), but this time, I don’t really feel like doing it. There are too many things that I need to come to terms with, and frankly, I just don’t feel like writing about them here. It doesn’t feel right just yet. Maybe sometime later, I guess. I don’t know. But definitely not now. I figure I should keep them to myself for the time being.

Hence this break. I might post a little bit every now and then. Something random or whatever. Heh, it’s not like I have a ton of readers, anyway, but to the five or six (or so. hehe) of you who read this, then please bear with me a little bit. :)

I’m just going to go and chase the sun for a little bit while I figure some things out.

But don’t worry, I’ll be back.

And I’ll be okay, promise. :)

Oh and I’ll still be here, anyway. And here. And if you know me in real life, ((Let’s hang out or something. I’d love to catch up.)) you know how to reach me.

* * *

Why don’t you tell me a story, instead?

Image from we heart it
Image from we heart it

I’ve been toying with this idea for a while now, about inviting friends as guests to my blog so they can share their story. I never really had the time to work on it until now, since I’m going on this break. So instead of reading about…well, me, you’ll be reading about the stories of other people. I’ve always believed that we all have stories to tell, and so I’m opening my blog to people who want to share their story. One of my most favorite artists sang it well:

There’s life to be lived, and stories to tell, lessons to learn, we don’t know yet.
Nothing to lack looking back knowing that we have lived it well with stories to tell.

Tell me a story. Any story. Family, friends, loved ones, pets. Funny, happy, sad, tragic. Tell me something you’ve been wanting to talk about, or something that you feel that should be told. It doesn’t have to be inspiring or religious or life-changing — just tell your story. Let’s start from there.

Interested? Leave a comment on this post, or drop me a line and let’s talk. :)

Here’s the thing

Tina Leave a comment

Also known as: Dissecting the reason why I am probably not blogging that much here

The thing about having new blogs is how shiny and blank it is. It’s supposed to be easier to write in, it’s supposed to have more possibilities than old ones do. It’s a blank slate, easy to mold, easy to bring to a new direction compared to having an old one and reinventing it.

I think I’m having some kind of problem with that. Ideally, I should be able to write here more than I usually do, because it’s fresh and blank and all that. I should be posting more, writing more, but I find that every time I wanted to write, I just don’t feel like it. I know I’m not obligated to write every single boring detail of my life here. I just feel like I’m neglecting this blog and not making the most out of it, especially if I know I can write something. I know I can. I know somewhere there, I have the words to fill this blog with thing that matter, not always to anyone, but to me.

But the problem:

I suppose I may really be pressuring myself. Or maybe because I don’t really know what the point of having this blog is about for me. I know the point of my book blog and I’m glad that somehow that’s still going strong. But what about this blog? Why didn’t I just close the personal blog side and just focus on book blogging, which is something I really enjoy doing? Why is this still here?

I don’t know, really, except maybe it’s because I love words. And maybe it’s  because I can’t really be bothered to sit down and write in a journal when it’s easier and faster to write in a blog. I love writing in a journal, don’t get me wrong, but we all have to admit that it’s not always easy to find time to write there. It’s why blogging is so attractive because it’s easier and it’s faster. And as much as bloggers say that they really write for themselves, you can’t deny that there is attraction in knowing that there is some audience. Maybe there’s this part of me — the writer part of me — that wishes somewhere out there, someone will stumble upon these words and feel better. Or at least, feel some sort of kinship and find comfort in knowing that they’re not alone, just like how I find comfort when I read blogs such as hers or hers.

I guess my point is…I need to know the point of this thing. I wrote about this a year ago but I guess I never had an answer. But maybe this is the time for me to know what that answer is, right? Just like I know I can never stop reading, I also know that I can’t stop writing. And since fiction isn’t my only outlet…here’s the blog. Can this be qualified as creative non-fiction?

I guess I should really ease the pressure on myself to write the way other people do, and just write. I’m me and they’re them. As much as I remember that I am writing for an audience, I must never forget that I am writing for myself, too. Sounds contradictory? Yeah, it is. But if you’ve been blogging for a while, you should probably get this.

Or not. I apologize in advance if that didn’t make sense.

So…let’s try this again. No pressure. More coherent entries to follow. But first, I’m going to Baguio this weekend. See you when I get back. :)

So let’s try this again, shall we?

Tina 1 Comment

Hello and welcome to tinamats.com!

I know I started a reboot early this last (oops, still writing with 2010 in reference :P) year, but I didn’t get to update it as much as I thought I would, so I removed those and pretended they didn’t exist. I put up a sorta fancy (or not) under construction page (who uses that still?) and then forgot about it again until after Christmas, when I realized that I need to move to this domain by 2011, and no later than that? So here it is. Still slightly rough around the edges but it’s alive.

I know this post is meant to be on January 1, 2011, but I didn’t want a totally blank blog on the first day of the year, and let’s face it — I know I would not be able to blog that day no matter how much I want to. I would probably be panicking that day because I can’t make the old website work. Or maybe not. But it’s just better to have something here than the completely blank blog, right?

So, hello an welcome to tinamats.com! :) Tinamats.com is basically the new Refine Me. I loved and owned that domain since 2003, and it will always be a part of me, but now, I have to face the fact that I have to move on from that domain and get something more…me. Hence the domain name. Hence the move. And I need to put all my blogs under one domain already, so I moved everything here.

But where is Refine Me, you ask? Clicky. I had a lot of trouble with the 301 redirects and all, so typing refineme.org will not lead you here but there. What I wanted was too complicated to really explain, but I ended up with a decision: I wanted to start fresh, and that means really letting go of my old domain name. At least, after two years.

If you’re new here, hello. :) If you’re not, welcome back. If you’ve subscribed to my feed, I hope this shows up in yours…if not…well, I’ll have to start from scratch then.*shrug*

2011 is the year when all things are new. Not all literally of course, most are figurative. :) New stuff are always exciting. And tinamats.com is new stuff, ergo, it is also exciting.

Hah. I don’t know if that made sense. But anyway. Welcome! :) And happy new year! :)

P.S. You know what else is exciting? Binary dates. Like, 1/1/11. Or it can also be 01/01/11. This post is published at 1:11 too! :P And that is me being a #geek . :-B