My Conversion to Blogging

For the past two years or so, friends have been regularly egging me on starting a blog. My friend and sano (Bicolano priests, ex-priests, seminarians or ex-seminarians address themselves as sano, from the Spanish word paisano, which means countryman) Gibbs Cadiz, Desk Editor of Lifestyle Section of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, had been particularly gullible. We spent several hours discussing about blogging, how it evolved into a discipline, including its promises of monetary rewards. “It’s very easy,” he had always assured me.

Gibbs had always suggested that I make a “niche blog” – a blog that would be dedicated to discussions about an all-encompassing theme. And one immediately came to mind: religion. Or more particularly, contemporary issues that confront the Catholic faith. Write about issues which the Church, or our changing cultures, or anyone else, would find – still - uncomfortable to discuss (read: controversial), he advised.

I honestly toyed with the idea. With tons of research materials and resources that I have at my disposal, I thought I could be up to the challenge. Several topics easily flowed through my mind: priestly ordination for women, marriage for priests, optional or contractual celibacy, artificial birth control, and – here’s one for you Gibbs – gay marriage. Sex in religion could be one “very hot” subject, too. I could blog about the sexual undertones in the celebration of the sacraments, sex and the city of Vatican (an obvious take from the famous Sex and the City television series), God and sex, priestly sexuality, sexist remarks made by modern Popes, sexual symbols in churches, the sacred and the profane, Roman Catholic Kamasutra, sexual symbolisms of the altar and the Eucharist, sexual “temptations,” orgasm as an experience of heaven on earth, sexual cults, S.E.X. as Spiritual Experience, sexetera, er, etcetera.

But then, one thing could prevent me from blogging, I soon realized: I no longer have the luxury of time to write. I am a full-time entrepreneur and would be often up working even in the wee hours of the night. I am an importer and trader and would often need to be up at night to be able to communicate with several of my suppliers abroad. I live in Quezon City, my office is in Intramuros, Manila and my marketing office is in Pasig; I have to negotiate those three places everyday. My cars are a virtual mobile office. I am a full-time dad, too. I drive my three kids to and from school, to their tutors, to Kumon, to their sports activities, to their gimmicks, or to their rendezvous with their friends and classmates (gosh, I dread to think of the time when I would have to drive them to their dates with their boyfriends or girlfriends as well). On average, I spend seven hours maneuvering the steering wheels, the gears and the breaks everyday. I have my mind filled with business and family concerns, my heart with hunger (oh, my heart hungers for sooo many things), and my ears with the glass-breaking voices of the women in my life who would scream and nag on me at any time of the day. Added to these, I have my bonsais to take care of. I give them a part of my precious time everyday, too -- watering them, pruning them, wiring their branches, giving them fertilizers, just beautifying and admiring them.

So, amid these circumstances, why should I blog? And how could I find time to blog?

Well, as philandering husbands could find time and very creative ways to escape from their wives, I could find time and ways to blog, too, right? Pardon the analogy, but with all the things that I need to do daily, I just find myself in a situation where writing and blogging could actually be compared to philandering, or womanizing for that matter.

Anyway, I titled my blog Kiko’s Sketches and Kicks. It’s not completely a deviation from my original concept of religious theme for it still will tackle subjects with religious undertones. The advantage is, it definitely covers more areas and more varied themes. For with its wider realm, I could also talk and discuss about domestic political concerns like the Philippine (in)justice system, “customary” corruption in the Bureau of Customs, bribery as a business strategy, smuggling in the Philippines, guide for Filipino smugglers, how to make your money talk or how not to talk about your money, how Customs officials illegally enrich themselves and solicit sexual favors – yes, sexual favors - from importers and brokers, “tongpats,” or cloning Jun Lozada. I could also talk about my business line which is importation or my commercial product which is meat. I could talk about hog production, meat processing, chicharon, meat trading, where to find the best beef, hotdogs, meat science, or how to humanely slaughter animals.

In short, my sketches and kicks will be, to adopt the current trend among Filipino bonsai aficionados, freestyle.

So, welcome to my blog, feel free to comment, and I hope you will disagree more than agree with me on many of the points I shall raise. That should guarantee more discussions and sharing of ideas at the very least. But more importantly, I hope we may all find and experience the real reason for and purpose of my conversion to blogging:

The simple JOY in blogging.