MY NAME IS JOSH & THIS IS MY HAUS.

This post is about blogging. This is a post wherein I will share to you a glimpse of the “foundations” that I consider as I, a person who loves to write, have learned. But again, this is just me. This is a long post I wrote freely, so I hope you are sitting on a comfy chair. On we go?

I started blogging when I just graduated from grade school. I’m not good in math but I guess that was 6 years ago and now while writing this, I can still remember vividly a tiny kid browsing some music reviews over the internet and trying to post on his own. It was really funny and I just hope that my first blog site didn’t exist anymore or some kind of deactivated by the admins of Multiply, as I felt so embarrassed thinking of that humbling, previous creative dimes that I made way back then.

So a lot of you were asking about my blogging skills, my art and my views  and this is what this post is all about (although technically I don’t consider myself really a blogger). So let’s start with the big question: Why blog? Well my answer in my humbled perspective (which could be potentially incorrect) is that for the love of people, and to make a reflection of who am I as a person. My creativity, my worldview, my persona, my demeanor, my motives or even my faith and intention reflects the way I write or blog. And I think it works with you too whether you like it or not. No matter what you do or how much you pretend to be someone, at the end of the day, it’s still you.

I love to blog because each and every day, there’s this fire on my belly. I believe that as soon as we wake up every morning, a new story is born -  a story that sometimes we are unaware that it could inspire people, give life to those sleeping hearts, and could also at some point, shake the walls of indifference thus love is easy to spread. I can even remember waking up in the middle of the night just to write or create a piece of art even though sometimes it ended up in the Recycle Bin.

But here’s the catch. Here on Tumblr, aside from awesome blogging sites, many issues seemed to arise in which I felt eerie sometimes. One is the hype about being “Tumblr Famous” and the art of “following” people which seemed to be a big deal rather than writing quality posts instead. Sometimes we lose our point of why we are doing this. But isn’t blogging is all about freedom of expression rather than just me “following-awesome-people?” I really don’t see the point when people really have to make a hype about followback. There’s nothing wrong of expecting it. But to die and do everything just to attain that? I guess that’s another story. Sometimes this “following” is like, indeed, respect. You just don’t get it, you earn it. And also about the perks of being famous, I always refuse to be called in that manner. Being famous deals with pressures and all that, and I don’t want to put pressure on everything that I love to do – which is inspiring people, lifting them, care to hear their hurts and stories, and what they prepare for the world to hear.

I think it’s good to be somewhat influential if you are leading people to the right path. But just to satisfy the self-centeredness on you and be famous? L-A-M-E! That’s why even in blogging, we should never let the praises get on our head neither let fame change us into something we are not.

Let me just end this random post about blogging that went into something I haven’t expected with a quote from my favorite NZ singer/songwriter. She says: “Certainly sometimes I feel as if I was born in the wrong era, you know with the internet and people with camera, and phones…everything is captured… there’s nothing sacred anymore…there’s no mystery. Sometimes I wish we were back in days when there was vinyl and you would discover an artist… a friend would tell you about a record and you wouldn’t download it to anything… you would put in on the record player and have this tangible, physical experience with the music and you wouldn’t really (have to) know anything about the artist…”

I feel the same way with blogging too (although she associate the thought with music.) Sometimes we just have to not put everything, but at the same time leave something to the people around us – people who were willing to hear our stories and sentiments.  We just don’t want to leave these people walking away with an amazement of what we do but something positive, real and honest, and that could somehow lit a light even to the tiniest angles in their lives…

Congratulations! You made it this far again (unless you cheated). So that’s it. Thank you for having your ears…or eyes at this moment. So this is what, for me, blogging is all about. Thank you for your time.

Writing,

Josh J 

(via joshmaldito)

Let’s talk. Yes you. You and I, let’s talk about ourselves.

Over the past few years, we travel and walk across so many places, been with people that come and go  and sometimes made imprints on who we are, been on buses that at some point vehicles we wasn’t supposed to be on, and in so many different angles in this world.

I was stunned, as I’m always in constant struggle to share some precious sentiments about my life, of how the people around me reacted in such a way regarding on what I do and believe and that they all like, “Hey, I didn’t know you were that kind of person,” or “I never expected that you do all these things…”. Now those comments gave way to this post called “Icebergs”. Yes, you’ve heard it right - that big, cold block of Ice that sunk the big ship Titanic unto the cold dreading waters of Antarctic Ocean. But that’s not what I’m going to talk about.

One of my contemporary heroes whom I love to quote (which I will never name because it would sound clichéd for sure) once said this, “I think our lives should be like icebergs. The great things that people might see above the surface should only be the smallest reflection of a relationship and life of devotion that goes much deeper. Iceberg rule = 10% public/seen, 90% below the surface/unseen.” When I come to stumble on what she said, the memories of those people who walked past through my life of being surprised of who really I am as a person,  came rushing back to me.  And that certain reflections made a clicked in my spirit like a light bulb that lit into an amber glow (with a “ding” sound effect).

1. Indeed, our lives are like icebergs. - I believed we are person equipped to love and be loved. As a human being, we are ought to live not just for ourselves but for others too. And as a response to all the things happening around us or in a community we belong, we are called to live a life of “faith without deeds is dead”, not making a show to our deeds and actions for the people to see but the intention must be planted deep from within with roots encompassing everywhere – a genuine testimony of love as a verb. Like an iceberg, we must not just be concern of what others see us from who we are outside, but also our “inside” being must also be kept in balance.

2. TEMPERATURE – We can never see an iceberg with the same degree of a freshly bought McDo French fries. It will always be cold. Dreary and “cold” moments in our lives will always come and come no matter how much we try to run away from it. There are moments no matter how far you search for an inspiration still at the end; you still got nothing to say. I guess, that certain coldness in our lives depicts the fact as people, we will always be people. We have to accept the fact that we have limitations, just like an iceberg willing to return to the ocean and will be back soon…

3. BEAUTY – I’m always get fascinated by icebergs (aside from their awesome Hydrogen Bonding). I believe we are that too. Beauty emanates deep within us, a certain endpoint that we all share.

4. MYSTERY – Icebergs floats on a deepest part of the ocean. Like I’ve said, it’s bigger part lies from the bottom. I think as people, we should also learn to save something for ourselves - something that we could enjoy as a sacred material and an intimate relationship within ourselves and to the Divine. I guess there’s a need to do that. I mean, like save something for yourself like enjoying some quiet moments, enough sleep (physiologically speaking), enough spiritual exercises and etc.  Regarding to this point of mystery, it accepts the challenge from the line that glows in the Gospel of Matthew, “For what it is if you gain the whole world but lose yourself?”

I am glad that after all these years I am still alive. Discovering the “Iceberg Rule”, I have learned that living life is all worth it, no matter how cold my “iceberg” living would be, or how heavy the iceberg I represent in my daily existence as a person. At the end, I still thank God that there is “me” in this world, enclosed with a vast ocean of grace, and I’m too willing to take that challenge to live with an Iceberg rule, and I’m not taking it back.

-Josh 3/10/12

P.S Just saw this doodle created by this Tumblr friend/doodler (if there’s such word). Awwwwwww, thanks for this Ben (bergabfor). This is so rad. *teary + humbled*

This has been a hard week/weak for me.

Yesterday, I decided to join my friends for a walk around the city before going to my friend’s birthday party. I join out of my preoccupation, hurts,  confusions, dryness, and being in the state of arid inside. We walk and we walk…

Walking with strangers… Watch the flickering lights that seemed to be in a state of decay… Watching the ocean like a pool of ink for a writer, but still unable to write. Hearing buzzes in the air that seemed to be a deafening noise for a crippled heart.

How I wish this dryness would end…but the world is still turning isn’t it?

This is the walk. This is the art of walking…

2/4/2012