Should we move to WordPress?

We’ve been long contemplating about moving Shale, from its current home at i.ph, to WordPress. Nothing against where we are right now, but although Shale has never looked any slicker, we thought it’s time to move out of where we are and go into somewhere new, and probably slicker. If so, we would probably even relaunch, with a new name.

But why now, when we’re in the middle of launching two new sister blogs and a lot of things are in the horizon, despite us being really busy with school? To be honest about it, it’s all a whim. That’s why we’re asking you guys whether we should even move - move to somewhere new, and somewhere probably easier for us to work with, now that we’ve started to ease towards a new direction, or stay here and grow.

We’ll admit, it hurts if we move blogs (and definitely not move all the entries, unless we all prefer to do it manually, which is very tedious work), and we don’t really want to leave behind the comments already made about this one, like the reputation we’ve gained covering the General Elections, or from the handful of people in other countries (especially radio presenters, like Annie Mac) who’ve noticed and taken note. We’d gladly appreciate your thoughts; to send them in, comment on this entry, or email us at shale@i.ph. Nevertheless, we hope to have you staying when we do decide to move (if you say so, or if we find WordPress easier), and watch out for future developments in this space.

We’re pretty excited because…

…in case you’ve noticed, we’re launching two new sister blogs within the coming weeks. It’s surprising, yes, considering we’re supposedly busier than ever, but again, nothing helpes when inspiration strikes. For now, though, they’re nothing much, but Shale Film Notes (which would basically contain my notes for film class) and Shale Third Person (which would carry all those personality profiles) would be coming your way sooner than you expect. For now, though, just hang on!

Breaking the unintended hiatus

I must’ve done this a long time ago, catching up with you guys. It’s been really busy during the three weeks I was forced to go on hiatus, despite brimming with a lot of thoughts (and stories to write about), and now that finals weeks is starting in DLSU, I figure I’d be doing some catching up.

By now, though, most of the things I would’ve written would be invalid. The freshmen elections have finished, and the controversy has since died down. I’ve cried over movies. I’ve thought of smiles. I’ve finished church service way back and haven’t written about it yet. I’ll reiterate again that I’m having a lot of ideas for Shale, but then again, I’ve been barraged by school work and much more school work. Even my other blog hasn’t been getting enough updates lately.

Don’t worry though - I’m starting my catch-up sooner than you expect. Within the next two to three weeks - before we all get busier again, thanks to majors - I’d be finishing the Godfather of two series, launch a new series of articles on the artists and tracks that have been rocking me and my environment, and write essays on the freshmen elections (which Santugon has again swept for the CLA) and smiling, among all things. (more…)

Another series launch?

For the next five weeks, hopefully, I would write here a series of entires regarding my observations and experiences regarding church service, a prerequisite in Religion 2 class. (Now, I’ve had enough talk of prerequisites, but it’s the only term I could grasp.) I’m just dropping by to explain why I decided to call that series Godfather of two: I’m a, well, godfather of two children, thanks to baptism rites.

But should I elaborate it much later? Let’s start writing the entries.

Senseless site statistics

I’m practically overwhelmed at the responses I got from you guys after reading Shale Campaigns. From the week since this blog’s sister launched, I got much more visitors than expected - if you’ve not heard of it yet, I think the top-level candidates for Santugon have dropped by - from places as far as Australia, with some finding me through Google. I got, according to my site statistics, more visitors at 16.00, and a similar number at night. I got the most number of visitors since the launch yesterdayAnd the people I know reading them - they’re amazed or they’re clueless.

Which means, the main site’s been left abandoned for the past week and a half. That’s precisely because there isn’t much to write about yet, but I know I’m boiling up a few things. Shale Campaigns’ got my attention for a while, though. But I promise, it’s all coming soon. For now, though, you can link through Shale Campaigns and read all the political stuff I’ve been writing (and interviewing) about.

But think about it. One hundred eighty-nine visitors ain’t bad at all.

And the campaigns begin

Between midnight and 06.00 on Monday, Shale Campaigns will open to an unsuspecting (probably) voting populace. Although I don’t really intend to rattle the election proceedings this year, with me being a frosh and all that, I figured I would write my experiences in my first real college election proceedings. (The freshman elections could have been my first, but let’s face it, this one’s much bigger.)

Oh, and I don’t exactly promise to be unbiased. But trust me, I don’t have any political leanings, but I guess that scared you off somehow. All I want to do is write down my experiences, my thoughts, and what would unintendedly become some sort of marathon coverage. That is, of course, unless the authorities find out about my attempts and have me expelled, but that’s an exaggeration, really.

For now, though, the site still looks like a huge pile of mess. Obviously, a cutesy flower isn’t fit for a blog about the elections. Let’s see, then, if anyone disagrees with me this time.

Yet another welcome message

Thanks to Caresse for telling me about this service - although she hasn’t convinced me to switch blog services, I had another idea cooking up in my head. All it took, probably, is less than a week’s worth of time, and more than enough imagination to make up for it.

Everybody, welcome to Shale. It’s this little magazine for, apparently, those who cannot be content with anything less. If you’ve passed by The Upper Blog - which I have been updating for the past twelve months or so - then you’ll realize that it’s been a big mish-mush of stuff concerning my little goings-on, as well as anything else I have a comment on. Well, it’s not going to get a huge makeover and be a dumping ground of all the mush that’s been currently happening in my life, but instead it’s where Shale comes in - extended coverage, all the time.

Back in high school I made a print version of this thing - twenty pages made up of really small pieces of paper stapled together - that talked about school happenings, issues and the occasional controversy. It didn’t really take off, thanks to my short attention span, but my classmates were noticing it, as much as they noticed its much larger cousin (think of short bond paper stapled together). Think of this, then, as another little attempt at creating magazine-like content that probably wouldn’t make any sense in the end. (more…)