Happy second birthday, blog!

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Oh look it’s January 9. Can you guess what happened on this day two years ago?

Yep, I started this blog. So, yay, Happy second birthday, One More Page!

Color me surprised once again, that my book blog is still thriving. It’s even more active compared to my personal blog, which by default should have been more active given my propensity to talk. But I guess it’s a sign of growing up, too, because instead of talking about myself, I talk about something I’m passionate about: books. And words.

A little story. Sometime before 2011 ended, my friends and I were talking about our plans for the coming year and I mentioned something about my life plan involving books and words. I don’t know if I will eventually quit my job and write full time (although that sounds lovely) or if I’ll switch careers and get a job related to books and writing even if it’s so far away from my course. I don’t know anything. But one thing I know: I see myself working with words and books in the future. I’m pretty sure that’s my life plan. Moving towards that is another question (and another post, for the personal blog).

But anyway, I think I wouldn’t have really figured that out if I wasn’t reading so much and blogging about the books I read. So in a way, this blog is sort of living out that dream, or moving towards that life plan. Now I don’t want to pressure myself with all that life plan talk and any pressure would make me not want to do this anymore. I’m still determined not to let things get to me, and to still have fun with this. :)

And thank you. To the 170ish subscribers, to everyone who take the time to visit (even the spam bots) before they check out dakine backpacks at RockyMountainTrail.com, and everyone who has left a comment or sent me email through this blog. Thanks for reading through some of the drivel the things I write. Thanks for making this twice as fun. :)

So again: happy birthday blog! I hope you’d have many, many more years to come. :)

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In My Mailbox (14): Mother’s Day and a Long Hiatus

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Before anything else!

Happy Mother’s Day to all moms out there! :)

Especially to mine:

<3Thank you for getting me all those books when I was a kid even if you’re not too fond of reading, and I know sometimes you think I read too much. :D  Thank you for reading all the things I wrote despite that fact. :) I love you!

* * *

It’s been a long time since I last did an In My Mailbox post. Other than laziness and trying to resist buying books, I went on a book-buying fast during the Lenten season. I could not buy books for myself, but I can buy them as gifts, or receive them as gifts since my birthday falls within Lent. It’s all good, and I ended up using the usual book money for other equally important things, like clothes.

But as soon as Easter morning came, I went to Book Depository and ordered books. :) It felt nice, to celebrate victory in that way. The books aren’t here yet, though, so that will be for another posts.

The books I bought in recent bookstore trips are a different matter. And so after a long hiatus, here’s my 14th In My Mailbox. In My Mailbox is a weekly book meme hosted by Kristi from The Story Siren, where bloggers post about what books received that week, be it via  mailbox, library or store.

In My Mailbox (14)

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Happy Birthday Giveaway Winners

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My birthday week has come and gone and I can definitely say that has been one of the best birthdays I’ve had. thanks to everyone who made it special. :)

Those people who made it special includes everyone who joined my birthday giveaway. Thanks so much for your greetings and your recommendations. I love how some of my friends who are usually quiet online even left comments just so they could greet me and help raise the amount to donate. There were 44 comments (43 actual comments, 1 pingback) by the end of the contest period. Rounding it off to 45, That means I get to add $9 to my donation. But since 9 is a bit of an odd number, I decided to make it $10 instead, making my donation $35. Again, I know that isn’t much and I don’t think it can hardly buy gold coins, but every little bit counts, right?

I made the donation today, much thanks to Paypal for making it easy. :)

Donation receipt

Thanks again to everyone for helping me with this. :) Let’s keep on praying for Japan, and for the world, too.

And now, for the other and the most awaited part of this post: the winners! Put all the names in via random.org and clicked Randomize! First two names in the list are the winners. :) Wee~

(Of course I’m putting them under a cut. Suspense much. Drumroll…)

(Oh, and it should be winners not just winner. :D)

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[Closed] Happy Birthday Giveaway!

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You know, I meant to have a 30-day blogging thing going here at One More Page this month because March is my favorite month being that it is also my birth month. I also thought of having a month-long giveaway. I meant to do those things but March hit me with too much work and real life things that I didn’t have the time to set it all up. My reading is also slower compared to my January one, and it’s kind of frustrating because I really can’t do much about it (except maybe…not sleep).

ANYWAY. Being busy doesn’t mean I can’t hold a giveaway, even if it’s not as grand as how I planned it to be. So behold: my 25th birthday giveaway! :)

I’m keeping the mechanics simple. Just leave a comment in this entry and answer this question: What’s your favorite birthday read? Or if you don’t have a birthday read, what’s one book you’d like to read on your birthday? It doesn’t have to be a book, but if it’s a book, do share so I can see what it is! :) The giveaway will run as long as it’s March 17 somewhere in the world — that starts 8:00pm today (GMT+12 – as soon as this post is up) up to 6:00pm on March 18 (GMT-11). This is open to everyone, and I will pick 2 winners by Sunday, who can get any book of their choice worth $15 from Book Depository. :)

Image from cdryan.com

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE. I don’t want this to be just a simple giveaway — I also want to help. I’ve been planning to donate to Red Cross to help with the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami relief efforts. I’ve set to donate $25, but I thought you guys could help me raise that amount. For every five (5) entries I get for this giveaway, I will add $1 to the donation. So if I get 25 entries, I will add $5. I know it’s not much, but every bit counts, right?

One more time!

  • Leave a comment on this entry with your answer to this question: What’s your favorite birthday read? Or if you don’t have a birthday read, what’s one book you’d like to read on your birthday? One entry per person only. :)
  • This will run from March 16, 2011 8:00PM (GMT+8) to March 18, 2011, 6:00pm (GMT+8) — that’s how long March 17 is all over the world. Comments left beyond that will not be counted.
  • I will pick 2 winners on Sunday via random.org. The winners will receive a book of their choice worth $15 from Book Depository.
  • For every 5 entries in the giveaway, I will add $1 to my donation for Japan relief efforts on top of the $25 I will be donating.

Clear, clear? I’m not sure if I will be able to put up a post in the next few days since, well, I may be busy, so keep those comments coming. :)

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Happy birthday, One More Page! :)

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Happy birthday blog! (image from weheartit.com)

Happy birthday blog!

Who would have thought that starting a book blog on a whim last year would last…well, for a year? :)

I’ve attempted to start niche blogs in the past, but they weren’t the type of blogs that people who don’t know me would be interested in reading. The reason why people started “niche” blogs back then was to earn money, but I never felt that I had enough patience and interest (and money!) to maintain a blog that talks about gadgets or tech or whatnot. So I’ve made a lot of blogs that eventually fizzed out: a Pinoy Big Brother blog (it’s my guilty pleasure), a Script Frenzy blog (that only lasted for a week), two NaNoWriMo blogs, and if there was anything else, I couldn’t remember. The only other living “niche” blogs I have are Wordplay (the 365 fiction blog that kind of failed miserably) and this very disgustingly emo romance and whatnot blog. I have always considered opening a book blog, but I felt that the reviews I write were too attached to my personal blog so I never made the move. And besides, if I removed the book reviews from my personal blog…then what would I blog about?

Kidding. Okay, half kidding.

But starting a book blog was one of my good decisions last year, and I think it’s come a long way. I know I’m just one in a thousand book blogs out there, but I’d also like to believe that this humble blog has made waves, even if they are just small ones. :) It’s too far to tell if I would still be doing this in the next five years, but I am pretty sure I will keep on reading and writing about books for the next year. And maybe the next. And the next. You get the idea. :P

Happy birthday, One More Page! To everyone who have been supportive of this from the start, to everyone who’s left comments and followed, to the 100+ Feedburner subscribers, to my inspirations and role models in the blogging world, and to all the friends that I have met online and in real life, I have two words:

THANK YOU! :)

It would not have been a great book blogging year without you guys. <3

Before I forget, though: today is the last day of the Anniversary Giveaway! A comment on any entry from December 24 to January 9 (today!) is all you need to be entered in the contest, where you can win some of my favorite books in 2010!  It’s a little thank you to everyone, and a way of giving back to the wonderful book blogging community. This is open to everyone (at least wherever Book Depository ships). I’ll be picking the winners within the week! :)

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