Shuffling

Hi all!  I am currently shuffling between my two blogs. in Monique Zamora dot Net and here.
You can catch more of me and my own antics and rants there, here it would mostly be of Andy and pieces of me. :)

Thanks for reading and following! Drop me a note or comment so I can exchange links.

Finally

I have purchased my own dot com! :) yahoo!  Getting your own domain really is exciting.  It's not just because all your adolescent life you actually wrote on your notebook, book cover, or wherever else something like myname.com/ yourname.com .  Now it is actually a reality.

And I thought that getting your own dot come was a superscience by itself! Haha! Think again.  With some paypal load and a little knowledge of installing wordpress plus loads of friends who help you with it... voila!  Come and check out moniquezamora dot net. :)

It pays to be social

After many years of being member in a social network?  What has it done to you?  Many times it actually did me bad.  Negative that is.  The separation was brought about by the discovery over at Friendster. Well, that's history now.


Lately it has been a lot of meeting both new and old friends from all over the world.  Discoveries that one friend is a friend of another that you have met somewhere else.  You wouldn't realize it until you see the "common friends" list between you.


Today I realized that more than the horrors of meeting people online, the innate goodness surfaces.  I met a fellow blogger Ate Antonette who blogs at Cool Mom Antonette.  I was actually at ease when she began commenting in some of my entries.  She probably is around age with Mama.  Seeing her and her husband here in Dubai is really a welcome change in a what should have been a common Saturday at the flat.  I think I just met a truly good friend in them.


Thanks for the goodies!  Mangoes still waits to be eaten. Can't wait.  And the perfume too. :)

Meeting Online Friend (aka- EB!)

There are a lot of horror stories about meeting someone online.  I mean, let's face it, we are living in dangerous times. No, this is not a horror entry.  I 'll try to share here my online quest of meeting friends.

When I was graduating from high school it was the time of the internet boom.  Really, everyone wanted to go online but it was really expensive.  I remember I paid 60p (about $2 then).  Chatrooms were kinda old, First there was something before IRC.  I cannot really remember what it was but I remember I had to use a prefix before I can send messages to someone. Then there was IRC, well, there's still IRC now but I think most people use yahoo or other chatroom sites to chat.  There was ICQ.  I stayed there for quite some time.  My first boss also had ICQ, then everyone migrated to Yahoo!

I met a handful of people through the net.  There's one from Manila.  I have actually met him personally too, on several occasions. We have been in constant communication since 2000, I think.  We have maintained friendship on and offline.  Then there's someone from the US who I still exchange Yahoo messages with (since 2003).

Then blogging came.  I never really thought that I'd meet people through blogs.  Well, there are the exchange of ideas when you post online, but to exchange emails/ messages/ PMs, it's another thing!  But hey, when I started to work here, and you got a lot of idle time in the office (read: recession in the construction industry), finding something good to read and you can relate to becomes life saving (from insanity).  I began blogging on a very personal note, on and off since 2007.  Then I realized that blogging, even if I am not the stellar writer that I wish I were, became something of a release to me.

So then, I frequented a site, soon I became constant visitors to other bloggers webpages.  It's fun to read something about someone and just about anything actually.  

Then I met a fellow Filipina working/ living abroad and actually asked me to help her purchase a ticket to Burj Khalifa (crazy how in the most hi-tech world, they do not have online reservation).  For me, it was, okay, I can possibly do it.  And I did get them the ticket, sent it to their hotel yesterday, and today I was able to talk to her... This is fun!  

It may be a long shot to meet someone as good or as sincere as these bloggers, mind you, there really are nasty bloggers out there.  But isn't it nice to help out a fellow Filipino, even with such a small request.

Oh, we're finally meeting come Saturday here in Dubai! :)

Domain Name Migration

I have finally found the courage to get my own domain name.  I tried for about two years for another domain name which we had a different plan with my friends.  But it failed.  It actually became my own domain name and host for my other blog. 

Which actually reminds me that I should be migrating stuff from there to here.  I know, I have been using wordpress previously.. I really liked it.  But this old blog is kinda hard to leave too.  So I am still contemplating if I should abandon blogger for a wordpress hosted blog.  

At the moment, I am perfectly happy with blogger.  So I'll let it be for now. :)

Two Hundred-- Crossroad again?!

When I started this blog I knew it would be something about me and my former boyfriend.  I was then expecting, about 12 or 13 weeks on the way, I was hopeful of so many things.  I tried to be positive inspite of the odds that I knew were against me and our history.  I hoped.

I was excited.  I blogged about the travels I did that year, the anticipation of waiting for him to come back, and of course, the excitement of the coming baby.  It was a fun year, the first.  

But in 2008, the dreaded news came.  I was surprised, or was I? Or was I just waiting for it to happen? Well, it did.  And in a way it was a closure that I was waiting for.  Of course, it would not really close, there is my little girl caught in between. 

In 2008 it was different.  I was in a new challenge.  I would be a single parent, not that I wasn't when I got Andy but truly.  There was no dream and hope of getting back together. Or the wish of a happy ever after for us.  I was alone.  I'd have to raise Andy by myself.  

And then it turned on a different avenue altogether.  I got accepted to a job abroad.  Never did I imagine I'd be working outside the country.  I was quite happy where I was at and there was the baby.  The challenge that the opportunity opened to me made me think, what would happen if I go out there and try?  I am not gonna lose anything.  Well, save for the next 3 years in Andy's life, which by the way is really important.  But I thought this is something that will be for Andy anyway. 

The stay here, more than one and a half year already has been an eye opener.  It made me appreciate what I have and what I don't.  It made me realize that not everything can be bought by money.  Oh, that was said before, right?  But you just had to experience it to learn it.

It made me stronger.  It made me realize how much I want to come back home. Yes, you read it right.  I am still in a crossroad now.  Should I stay for the whole duration of the contract, or should I ask to be sent home?  Surely I would not want to resign from this company to get another job in this country. Seriously. 

The contemplation now is when.

This is my 200th post.  I was thinking of what ti write at the beginning of the day.  Now, I am back at thinking of what I should do.

Engineers, Architects and others

When I moved to Dubai I never realized that this is what life has for me. One, it is so very very hard. Two, some days are just really so very lonely. I guess it is up to me to keep myself occupied.

Anyway, one of the things that has kept me sane is work. Really. When all else seem to be oh so very lonely out here working keeps everyone realize that hey, I am still good. I have work to do and it is okay to be here.

Being in an Architectural Consultancy firm one of the best things that perhaps has kept my mind off the nagging loneliness at home is seeing the projects that the office is handling. Particularly my area where we handle construction. About 2 weeks ago I was shocked when I saw one contractor submit a material for the bathroom. No, it is not simply the bathroom accessories that I am talking about. It is not even a simple shower, although months ago I did get one submittal for showers! This time what I got was a bathtub! I was like, what the heck is this thing doing in here?

Anyway, I will not be surprised when some other days there will be bristan taps and ideal standards coming in to be submitted to me.

Spring Cleaning-- Or is it Summer Cleaning?

It's Summer here in the Philippines. We do not have Spring season. It is just wet and wetter or hot and hotter. Take your pick.

I realized that I have really taken for granted my blogger blog. I was so absorbed with another site. Anyway, I am back and I am spring cleaning.

I will be posting as often as I can. I will keep everyone updated. And another thing, I have updated my blog name. For those who read my posts here, it had a previous name. Now I am really spring cleaning!

Happy reading!