First of all, thank you for the e-mails alerting me to the so-called demolition campaign against me as well as to attempts to polarize the PMN community. No, I am not going to do anything about it. I won’t stoop to their level. As for the PMN members, they are adults, they can make their own assessments. Since that fateful day in December 2005 when all my blogs got wiped off, I have learned never to get too attached to any project.
But, let me take the opportunity to at least try to make sense of all this.
When my daughters were very young and I was a stay-at-home mom raising them without a yaya in accordance with our (Speedy’s and mine) mutual decision, days and nights were so full that there wasn’t much time for stray thoughts.
When the kids started going to pre-school, things weren’t much different. I woke up, prepared breakfast and lunchboxes, woke them up, bathed them, dressed them up then Speedy drove them to school. Then, it was time for me to clean up, go to the market if necessary, cook lunch and have everything ready before picking them up from school. Because pre-school hours were short — 3 hours maximum — my mornings were always full. It was only during the afternoons when the girls took their nap that I could manage a few hours of relaxation. Then, it was homework or reading, drawing or some other activity until it was time to cook dinner.
It wasn’t until the girls were in grade school that I found I had too much time on my hands. They were out of the house from 7.30 a.m. until 4.00 p.m. and I was left to my own devices. Sometimes, I went shopping. But shopping was not an activity I could do everyday. It was around this time that I started to find myself getting irritated with little things — neighbors who played the radio too loudly, drivers who blocked our driveway, dust I couldn’t get rid of, the neighbor’s cat who liked to raid our kitchen… I was nitpicking, I was finding fault everywhere, I was combative all the time.
It wasn’t much, much later that I would realize that the irritable feeling was because of all those idle hours. I wasn’t exactly doing anything productive and I couldn’t channel my energy properly. So, I resumed my career. It was timely too since we could really use the additional income.
All this got me thinking. Housewives have often been stereotyped as bored women who spent their days gossiping with the neighbors about the other neighbors, feeding on each other’s suspicions and sowing intrigue. The bored housewife syndrome. Perhaps, there’s really some basis for the stereotype. See, too much idle time makes a person prone to useless and unproductive thoughts and activities. In fact, without any productive work, people can start getting neurotic. In the case of housewives, I don’t really think it helps that many spend hours each day glued to their TV sets watching teleseryes/soap operas/reality shows where intrigue is always the focal point of the plot. It’s like feeding with intrigues a mind that has already been primed for them.
It’s no different on the internet. When a blogger has nothing genuinely relevant to write about, and when the blogging doesn’t lead anywhere, the bitching starts.
Me? I don’t have anything to worry about. I have a full time career as a writer, I teach part time, I’m going to publish a cookbook and there are preliminary talks about resuming my legal career, albeit on a limited basis. I might be joining a law firm soon, not as a practising lawyer but as an opinion writer.
So, wanna demolish me? Eat my dust.
You go Con. You’re right. Let’s move on. Better stuff to do.
Yeah, and I have three entries on draft mode.
Hehehe. Rock on, Connie!
“When a blogger has nothing genuinely relevant to write about, and when the blogging doesn’t lead anywhere, the bitching starts.”
That’s one reason why I am going on a blog break muna. I have nothing genuinely relevant to blog about at the moment. Kaysa ubusin ko ang oras sa “blog chika”, ayusin ko na lang muna ang bahay ko.
i am so out of the loop. demolish you in the blogosphere you mean? to think that the blogosphere is supposed to be a “free country” where anybody can have her voice. you are a good voice in the Philippine blogosphere connie.
sabi nga di ba, pag maraming bunga ang puno ng mangga, binabato.
when you say eat my dust i can already imagine you saying that in person kahit di pa tayo nag-mi-meet.
ha ha ha!!!
someone tries to pull a demolition campaign on you? jusme, di ka ba nila kilala???
have fun, rhodora!
Gloria, “free country” also means all kinds of people. You know how it goes. But, thank you. Thank you. Re “eat my dust”, I was actually going to use another word instead of dust, pero wag na lang hahahaha
ruth, ikaw naman… alam mo naman this is not the first time that something like this has happened. that blogger who launched a campaign para siraan ako just because i wouldn’t link him.
yeah, that’s exactly what i meant. obviously, di nila alam that such tactics don’t work. not on you.
hehe, kung meron mang polarisation ekbalu, obvious ba kung nasaang pole ako? hehe
Sabi nga, an idle mind is the devil’s playground….or something like that. I’m trying to sound witty pero parang pumalpak ata
I don’t read that many blogs myself but a negative campaign? Against you? For whatever reason? I have believed in the adage of “Do what you want others do unto you” which would mean that whoever the guy is destroying you would also asking for the same treatment. Right? Karma is karma, after all, whether you believe in it or not, it does happen.
Your philoshophy about the idle hours is precisely why I didn’t want my wife to be a housewife. She wants to, but I refused the idea out of hand. I did, however experience being a houseband for 3 years. It was a rewarding experience for me being the homemaker. But I was still productive, in my own way.
salamat, ruth. hehehehe
ah nice quote, kongkong. tamang-tama.
Ang taas ng pangarap nilang ipatumba ka, Tita Connie, hahaha!
“too much idle time makes one prone to unproductive thoughts” — and I totally agree. and sometimes I’m guilty. minsan nga, I can just sit in front of the PC for hours thinking of paranoic things. and when this happens, I try my best to be occupied with something worthy.
the routine you mentioned re: your SAHM days back when Sam and Alex were still preschoolers, that’s exactly my routine nowadays. the only time I have for myself is when my son is asleep.
boredom and exhaustion were two things that my Mom was warning me now that am about to leave the corporate world (me still on turnover up to now, sigh). I do hope I won’t experience the bored housewife syndrome you mentioned. I’d like to see myself the way you hurdled through it–be productive for worthy things and still find fulfillment being a SAHM and no no no to those idle moments.
The Mentat, some people don’t need a reason, you know? Some people, on the other hand, invent reasons.
Angela, LOL. hahahahaha
When your son is old enough, Feng, and you don’t need to watch over him 24/7, you will know when it’s time for YOU. You will. And I hope you discover your own world of adventures.
I think it’s not a question of how much idle time one has but the character of that person. I’ve seen many people who work 2 or 3 jobs pero may time pa rin for idle talks. These people are usually the envious type that they can’t refuse to talk about people who has something that they don’t. They character-assassinate the subject of their envy but as the saying goes, “you can never put a good man down”. Saludo ako sa attitude mo towards this kind of people. Dati iniiyakan ko yung mga ganyan but I realized later on that why would I allow them to affect my life eh I know myself better than them. The only opinion that counts is my family’s (sometimes close trusted friends’ too).
Demolition campaign? How come nobody recruited me:)
You know, when I was a moderator of a forum I’ve seen all kinds of obnoxious and hateful behaviour but for me the lowest were the seemingly neutral members who pit the main players against each other by sending them private messages of invented infos they got from the other party. I sincerely hope this is not what is happening here.
You certainly have an enviable albeit very busy sked Connie. If there are any negative campaign against you, you are too established to be taken down. I loved that last line – eat my dust.
OMG, I never even noticed. But….why? I mean one must have a million insecurities to launch an attack upon another person. I am glad you are comfortable enough in your shoes to be able to ignore them. Hayaan na nga lang, pawis naman nila nasayang.
Carol, I think you got the keyword. ENVY. One of the seven deadly sins.
Geri, I’ve read the comment threads where the two major players in this hate campaign have been bitching about me. They’re not always together. They didn’t recruit you probably because they know you’re not like them.
Mommy M, why… maybe for no reason and that’s simply how they pass the time. but more probably it’s insecurity. insecure people are very mean and vindictive. as though they world deprived them.
Demolition campaign? Are they crazy, it’s like signing off and bidding adieu to the universe.
One thing i have learned from blogging is that when connie says that you’re tying a nosse to hang in then you’re gonna have to back off or get hurt.
I am behind you all the way.
Anton
ilang taon at ilang hate campaign o demolition job na ang na witness ko sa mga blogs mo pero … nandito pa rin ako. ang kaisa isang blogger na binabalik balikan ko since i stumbled upon your site 3 years ago. di ko na siguro kelangan sabihin bakit.
hate to say this but … i think … INGGIT ako sayo
Thanks, Anton & Lee. Alam ko naman hindi lahat ng tao mabibilog nila ang ulo.
I hope this episode on Pinoy Blogsphere reality series will stop soon. It really saddens me to see what is going on. To think we Filipinas should help each other instead of trying to destroy each other for all the world to see. I respect and look up to you both as women of substance. It has already been established that you don’t see each other eye to eye in some issues but is it enough to put yourselves through this kind of stress? It’s not healthy to feel such negative feelings. There is too much hate in the world already, is it too much to ask for peace even at blog level?
KK, some people cannot tell the difference between issues and personalities. Most think that a disagreement over an issue is an attack against the person. If you will look at the comment thread in my earlier entry where all this began, you will see that.
And it is precisely because we seek to uplift the image of the Filipina that it becomes more important to know who is real and who is not.
If there is stress, it isn’t I who suffer from it. I am as I have always been — honest with my opinions irrespective of who they are directed at.
If there is hate, it isn’t I who is going around scattering hateful comments in other people’s blogs. Back-stabbing ain’t my style.
And there is such a thing a principled peace.
Wahhh!!! Why can’t I have idle time? Shucks, I still haven’t watch the DVDs I borrowed from Abe, tagal ko nang di masauli! Hahahahahah
Uy, bago to ha.
I’m confused. Panong demolition campaign? What, stop other people from reading your blog? Unsubscribe from your RSS? Close their eyes when they see your name? Labo men. Seriously, I don’t get it.
The internet is getting weirder every day
What demolition campaign? Some people have nothing better to do.
They’re not even worthy to sniff your dust.
I knew it! There seems to be a blogging Mafia in the so called Philippine Blogosphere. Or at least one is now being set up. And they’re organizing a demolition campaign against Connie! Huwhaaat?
There has been a lot of showbiz-worthy issues and intrigues going on here and there over the past few weeks. Only in the Philippine Blogoshpere indeed! I really find it funny, amusing, and interesting. I just hope there is something ‘healthy’ in all this.
Gail, intriga. And nothing obvious, syempre. These disgraceful creatures call for meetings/EB just to bitch about me. Amazing, really, pati mga kakilala from law school has been dragged into this mess.
Auee, di ko na nga pinapansin. I just want them to know that I KNOW.
Hi Marc, di bale, sanay na ako sa ganyan eh. In the end, people still know where to go for good content.