It had rained the night before. The fog was thick when I walked my kids to school this morning.  I opened my computer upon coming home and found myself perusing the photos I had taken this summer. Bright and  cheerful images that chase away the gloom.

My favorite picture. Isn’t she pretty? My lemonqueen sunflower. Last spring was the first time I ever planted a sunflower and when summer came I was rewarded with not just one, but lots of golden beauties. My neighbors were drawn to it. Some of them would steal a flower or two, which infuriated and delighted me at the same time. The product of my hardwork was simply irresistable. Jesus, my nextdoor neighbor,  always complimented them whenever he sees me in my front yard. They were my pride and joy.

The resident grasshopper. I sprayed him with a solution of water and detergent. It wasn’t good enuff. Next I sprayed him with a water and chili pepper solution. Didn’t work. So I said, “OK, you can stay. Just don’t eat too much or i’ll squash you with a rock.”

Almost as big as a plate in diameter, mammoth sunflowers don’t last as long as the smaller lemonqueen variety. Their edges curl up after two days and they start drooping. Probably because they’re heavy with seeds. They’re not the best variety to plant if you want to attract birds to your garden. Nobody even bothered to snack on their seeds. They must have been too tough and too big for tiny mouths.

By September my neighbor no longer said, “O, they’re so beautiful!” He just asked me, “What’s wrong with them? ” Autumn was coming and their time was up. I was feeling a bit sad to see them waste away. On a particularly hot day, as a sat by my daughter’s bedroom window, I heard a distinctly different bird sound. Not the usual house sparrow bird call. They seemed to be coming from my dying sunflowers. Six birds were hanging upside down, feasting on the seeds of my wilted lemonqueens. It was a feeding frenzy! They were not just house sparrows or house finches. They were American Goldfinches! But wait? I was puzzled why they were gray instead of  bright yellow green. I found out that the American Goldfinch starts molting in the late summer. Their bright yellow green feathers start turning gray. Wouldn’t it be nice to have watched them in their more colorful attire? It’s okey, though. It warms my heart to know that I have given God’s tiny creatures some moments of excitement and satiety. I’ll be planting lemonqueens again this coming spring.

]]> http://chiquibaylon.net/2012/01/warm-memories/feed/ 0 http://chiquibaylon.net/2011/10/turkey-vultures/ http://chiquibaylon.net/2011/10/turkey-vultures/#comments Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:48:37 +0000 Chiqui http://chiquibaylon.net/?p=2707

While straightening up in my room, I found the book “Sightings” (by Sam Keen, published by Chronicle Books) peeking out from under my bed.  Seated on the floor with my back leaning on the side of the bed, I picked up where I had left off. I came upon a section entitled “Turkey Vultures”. It thrilled me to realize that the illustration and the descriptions of the bird were very familiar to me. Two weeks ago, while hiking around the lake at the Santa Fe Dam and Recreation Area, I saw a large black bird perched on top of a tree. It took to the skies as I crept closer with my camera. “O, so it’s not a crow on steroids,” I mused. Crows are smaller and black all over, but this one had a whitish/gray coloring under its outstretched wings, which contrasted dramatically with its black wing linings. I couldn’t tear my gaze away from its powerful white-tipped pinions. Never before had I seen a bird like that in flight. With its wingspan around five feet in length, it looked majestic up in the sky, almost like a haughty monarch surveying his kingdom.  When I had reached the other side of the lake, it glided close enough for me to see that it had a red featherless head, reminding me of a turkey, and a white curved beak. I’ve been wondering, for days, what kind of bird it was. Now I know. Thanks to Sam Keen. I did say that I was going to find more gems in his book, didn’t I?

Vultures are undeniably impressive when they’re soaring effortlessly  through the skies, but they are ugly  when they’re on the ground.  The fact that they feast on decay is another turn-off. Many consider them to be low class birds, their prestige level being the same as that of garbage collectors. Through the years they have been looked upon as harbingers of doom and death.  They’re not very well-liked. Interestingly, however, you will notice that the first part of its scientific name (cathartes aura) means “purifier”, a word that is heavy with positive connotation.  It bestows upon this hideous, janitor of a bird, an almost godlike status. When people are dirty and full of sin, gods purify them, making them fit for life again. In the same manner, when the environment is littered with decaying animals, the vulture disposes of them efficiently and keeps diseases contained, making the surroundings conducive to life.

I must admit that I felt some disappointment when it dawned on me  that the awe-inspiring bird I had been admiring was nothing more than a carrion-eating vulture. But as I reflected on the meaning of  ”cathartes”, I felt ashamed of myself. I had allowed popular perceptions to diminish my appreciation of this creature.  The lowly vulture was called a “purifier” because it provides the earth with a valuable and noble service.  I  really should give this reviled buzzard all the respect that it deserves.

Sightings by Sam Keen is a book I found in our local library’s booksale. It’s published by Chronicle Books (a really cool publisher in my opinion) and filled with illustrations by Mary Woodin. I’ve been reading it for several nights now, the last thing I do before i turn off  my bedside lamp. It features the birds that the author has had the chance to observe in the wild. Keen has been an avid bird watcher since he was a child. In this work, he talks about his observations of different birds and how each one has lead him to a certain realization in his life. What I read in the introduction struck me so profoundly that I scrambled out of bed, rifled through my desk for a piece of paper, and scribbled away furiously. They were words I didn’t wish to forget.  They compelled me to keep on reading.

Here is what got me all excited at half past 12 AM last Wednesday: Our most intimate revelations of the sacred come in odd ways that seem meaningless or trivial to an outsider. In these pivotal moments when we are struck dumb by the simple existence of a flowering tree, we detect faint echoes of an unknowable G____. A brief opening appears in the cloud of  ultimate ignorance under which we dwell. Yet the experience is so private, so idiosyncratic, that we don’t know how to talk about it. We stutter in an effort to put into words something that is ineffable.”

Another favorite line is “….we glimpsed the infinite in some finite disguise”. What he means is that sometimes, out of the blue, we see God, who is boundless and limitless, in the tiniest details of his creation. In a very fleeting moment He reveals something to us, communes with us and moves us in a way that others can’t understand. Now finally I get what William Blake meant in this poem that used to irritate me so much:

“To see a world in a grain of sand,

And heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

And Eternity in an hour.”

I have not finished this, but, for several more nights, it will definitely be on top of  the reading pile on my nightstand. I hope to find more gems in it.

One more day  and it’ll be October. The trees in our neighborhood have lost their glorious flowers. The crape myrtles, summer’s last holdouts, are fading fast. In  our neighbor ‘s yard, the pomegranate blooms have given way to heavy red fruits. The limes are looking tempting and within reach. I might need a few to marinate the tuna steaks that my mother gave me. The guavas seem to be late this year.

Doesn’t matter. I just want to see a eucalyptus.

We used to live in a big apartment complex that was planted with many eucalyptus trees. They must be starting to bloom by now. Back in 2009, I was seated at a playground bench when my daughter, who was just three years old at that time, ran to me with panic in her voice. She was happily playing, minding her own business, when a busy bee decided to join her on her favorite twisty slide. She took my hand and dragged me to see the unwanted playmate. “Talk to it, mom. Talk to it”, she urged me. Before I could give the winged creature a sound scolding, it flew away. We followed it until it went up and over the tall fence, straight to a row of eucalyptus trees in bloom. There it got lost among hundreds of its kind. They were having a bee fiesta! I heard several shrill bird calls. The red flowers attracted hummingbirds, too! I counted three of them darting among the leaves. That was the first time I learned that eucalyptus is a flowering tree.

What a treat! I thought that mother nature was winding down in preparation for winter. Just when I  concluded that she had nothing more to show, I saw something that made me think it was springtime all over again. It caught me off guard and filled me with delight.

I stood there, gazing upwards, hoping to catch another glimpse of those fascinating birds. The breeze was blowing towards me and I caught a whiff of…. What was that? Oil of Wintergreen? I breathed in an out for several minutes. Slowly. Deeply. Leisurely. It is not everyday that you get to enjoy refreshing, mentholated air in the city. “So this is what it’s like when the eucalyptus is in its full glory”, I thought.

“Mommy, mommy, talk to the bee”, my daughter cried impatiently as she tugged at my arm. “Hey, leave Tina alone”, I warned threateningly. She nodded in satisfaction and left me for the twisty slide. I went back to sniffing the perfumed air.

I wish I could do that again.

]]> http://chiquibaylon.net/2011/09/autumn-show/feed/ 2 http://chiquibaylon.net/2011/09/starting-kindergarten/ http://chiquibaylon.net/2011/09/starting-kindergarten/#comments Sun, 25 Sep 2011 11:35:07 +0000 Chiqui http://chiquibaylon.net/?p=2646

My daughter seems to be well-adjusted now. A month ago, she didn’t want to go to school. When we were out shopping for uniforms, she refused to try the ones I had picked out for her. She whined that she misses her bestfriend, Catalina. She wanted to stay in preschool with her friends and her beloved teacher, Ms. Ana. No amount of explanation could ease her anxiety.

I started to worry. I had thought that adjusting to kindergarten would be a breeze for her. Afterall, she’s used to the school setting. She’s comfortable with other kids. She’s mastered her alphabet, colors, and shapes. She can count up to 100, write her name, spell and recognize some words. I didn’t understand why, just a few days before the start of classes, she acted skittish whenever I mentioned anything related to kindergarten.

So I hunted all over the house for a book that I had bought two years ago. I didn’t think she’d need it anymore after I saw how excellent she was doing in preschool. How could I have forgotten that it is but natural for anybody to feel anxious whenever there’s a big change coming up? New place. New faces. New routines. I should have prepared her emotionally.

I called her to come sit beside me on the couch. Together we examined “The Night Before Kindergarten” by Julie Durrell and Natasha Wing. I read it aloud. Hmmmm. It rhymed and sounded like the poem “Twas the Night Before Christmas”. That’s a plus. My daughter is a little Dr. Seuss, fond of creating rhyming gibberish. With the help of the book I assured her that, in some ways, kindergarten is just like preschool. I pointed at the pictures that showed  what they might do and what she may see in the classroom. What caught her attention the most was the line “visions of school supplies danced in their heads”. One by one she identified them on the page. I seized that spark of interest and declared that we should start gathering the coolest stuff we could find for school. She ran to her pencil holder and pulled out some pink pencils. We sharpened them up until their tips felt like bee stings against our skin. She picked out a pineapple eraser from her eraser collection. She agonized over whether she should get her dad to buy her the sparkly pink backpack or the Disney Princesses one. The princesses won. We went on a trip to the dollar store to get her a pencil box. I kept reminding her that the small box will not hold all her crayons, markers, pencils, and colored pencils. While rummaging through the kitchen cabinets, she explained   that she needed to pack some snacks for recess.  After she found some crackers, she positioned her backpack the by door, just like in the book, all set for the first day of school.

]]> http://chiquibaylon.net/2011/09/starting-kindergarten/feed/ 6 http://chiquibaylon.net/2011/06/images-of-may/ http://chiquibaylon.net/2011/06/images-of-may/#comments Thu, 09 Jun 2011 14:19:39 +0000 Chiqui http://chiquibaylon.net/?p=2613

April and pink trees gone

Purple Jacarandas

Reign in May

snow in winter

warm sunshines

purple rain

Above is  one of the prettier pictures I took during an April trip to Descanso Gardens in Pasadena, CA. My friend, Gina, in a pink wide-brimmed hat, is seated on the grass, flashing a smile that’s as fragile as the pink double petals of the kwanzan cherry tree. She likes to visit and admire flower gardens every spring with that heavy camera of hers. Last year she convinced me and other friends to go to the Flower Fields in Carlsbad, San Diego. This year it’s Descanso. Next year she’s thinking of the wild poppy fields of Lancaster.  She lugs her cumbersome equipment everywhere she goes: the market, the church, the laundry, and her work. She’s starting to feel back pains. Her pictures are beautiful even though she doesn’t give a hoot about the technical workings of her gadget. She’s filled up her computer storage with photos and hasn’t earned a penny from all the effort. It’s never fun to be everybody’s official photographer. You’re always out of the picture. I had to push hard to get her to pose for me.

Rupert, my son, is busy clicking away. I lent him my old point-and-shoot camera for the day. My son and my husband share a trait that irritates me to the high heavens. They can’t seem to find the things they need. Then they come to me with that helpless tone in their voice and I’m supposed to understand that they want me to look for whatever it is that they can’t find for themselves. I’ve told my son again and again that if he keeps it up, he’s going to turn into a pineapple someday. There’s this Philippine legend about the origin of the pineapple. Once there was a girl who was too lazy to look for the stuff  she needed . She always asked her mother to do it for her. One day her mom got so mad that she blurted out: I wish you had a lot of eyes so you’ll always find whatever you’re searching for. The next day  the girl was gone and in her place was a pineapple, a fruit that was covered with “eyes”.  I don’t want my son to transform into a pineapple, but maybe he’ll get “more eyes” if he uses the camera more often. Maybe he’ll be more observant. That is my hope.

It was a nice warm spring day. These flowers made me think of  Magnolia Ube-Langka icecream.

The heat wasn’t so bad. Thanks to all the tall trees around. This is one of my favorite pictures, taken while I was riding the kiddie train. Wouldn’t it be nice to lay a blanket on the grass and have a picnic? Or just sleep? Or maybe read a book? Beautiful.

Sunny side up eggs! As flat and as tiny as quarters. These were just minor flowers. Noboby paid them much attention. I thought they were cute.

A friend kept telling me that I should have gone to her house if I just wanted to take pictures of camellias. I curbed my annoyance and went on with my business. Yes, a camellia is very common, but that doesn’t subtract from its beauty. When I had chosen  the most picture-perfect bloom, I couldn’t help showering it with praises. “You are so symmetrical!”  I said over and over, a line I borrowed from Adrian Monk.

At the Chaparral Trail. It’s a bunny! It’s a rabbit! No, it’s a hare! These kids were arguing about the brown furry creature darting in the underbrush.

This picture was taken by my son. Isn’t there an impressionist painting that looks like this? There’s something about a mommy duck swimming with her ducklings behind her that makes me smile. Sometimes a curious baby ducky  takes too much time exploring among the lily pads and gets left behind. When she raises her head, her mom and siblings are nowhere to be seen.  In a panic she paddles with all her might to catch up with them, but she’s just not fast enough. So she pulls her feet out of the water and runs fast as lightning on the surface of the pond. Amazing! Just like jesus.

They’re not as beautiful, not as perfect, and not as popular as the rose. They don’t inspire as much poetry, romance, and seduction, but I’d really rather be smelling the lilacs. Roses are too much, too heady for me. Lilac fragrance is subtle and delicate. You smell one bunch and you just want to keep on sniffing. Like a dog. My behaviour must have puzzled my daughter. And wanting to understand what i was doing, she also went from bush to bush, grabbing bunches of purple flowers, burying her head among them and  inhaling deeply. Notice that her eyes are closed. She must have been enjoying herself immensely.  I want to make another pilgrimage to Descanso next spring. I will get lost in the lilac garden and have myself an olfactory feast.

]]> http://chiquibaylon.net/2011/05/spring-pilgrimage/feed/ 0 http://chiquibaylon.net/2011/05/wild-parrots-in-my-neighborhood/ http://chiquibaylon.net/2011/05/wild-parrots-in-my-neighborhood/#comments Wed, 04 May 2011 12:36:30 +0000 Chiqui http://chiquibaylon.net/?p=2520

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Where could they possibly be? I catch myself asking that question whenever I see that tree in my neighbor’s yard. It must be around three stories high. I’m sure its branches offer a cool refuge from the  scorching San Gabriel Valley summers.  This spring, when it flaunted multitudes of pale purple flowers, I noticed their absence.

When I step out in the morning to check on my struggling sunflower seedlings, I always scan the skies hoping to see them. They used to come from the north, everyday at around 8-9 AM. They announced their presence with loud flapping wings and equally loud cries. A large flock of birds, numbering by the hundreds, would fly over our house and head straight to that big tree. There’d be no straggler lingering in nearby rooftops, not even in Jaime’s yard that boasts of  pomegranates, guavas, apples, and limes. They’d roost in the branches of that big tree and leave after a while. They’d come back in the evening, around 6-7 PM, flying in from the north, where the mountains are.

I saw one bird up close when I was going down Olive St. in Temple City. It was part of a flock that had the same loud squawks and flapping wings. It was yellow green with a tiny red dot at the bottom part of each wing. I remember a thick, curved beak. Parrots? No. Not in suburban Southern California. Parrots are tropical forest creatures! I searched the internet for information about these birds.  I came up with nothing. Finally, desperate for answers, I typed in my initial seemingly far-fetched suspicion: PARROTS IN SAN GABRIEL VALLEY, CALIFORNIA. I hit the jackpot. They were indeed parrots!

Urban legends have sprung up around their origins. Stories say there was once an aviary that caught fire and the owners released them in order to save them. Some say it was a really pet store that caught fire. Another website explained that many pet-owners discovered that parrots don’t make good pets so they were let go. It is said that there are as many as 10 species  living in the wild and that a breed has emmerged that’s found only  in California.  What’s really ironic is that these birds, that are endangered in their original home, are fast becoming a pest in Northern America. Interesting turn of events.

They fascinate me.  I know many  people complain about them, but that doesn’t bother me. I miss looking up when they descend from the skies. I miss that feeling of awe in my heart, that rare look of childlike wonder on my overworked husband’s face when he sees them, and  the excitement in my children’s voices when they point at them.

The pale purple flowers have turned even paler. They’ve started falling to the ground. The tree’s teeny tiny fruits, that taste like dates, are starting to shrivel up. The parrots have been away for two seasons. When are they coming back? It’ll be summer soon.

]]> http://chiquibaylon.net/2011/05/wild-parrots-in-my-neighborhood/feed/ 4 http://chiquibaylon.net/2011/04/the-bird-buffet/ http://chiquibaylon.net/2011/04/the-bird-buffet/#comments Thu, 21 Apr 2011 22:30:17 +0000 Chiqui http://chiquibaylon.net/?p=2467

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• Friday. Hung a feeder filled with bird seeds. Dragged Proserpina, my potted baby pomegranate, beside it. I think it is best for her to be acquainted with the creatures that would one day reside and sing among her branches. Proserpina is special. I raised her from the seed of a fruit that I ate.
• Monday. Feeder half empty. Avian visitors growing in numbers. There are eight of them gathered at one time. Two scarfing down seeds from the feeder perch. The rest forage among the grasses for seeds that have fallen.
• Wednesday. Time for a refill. Free food is definitely delicious. My regular customers are  House Sparrows and  House Finches. Just the garden variety types. I like the male house finch. It has a rust red coloring on the head and the breast area.
• Small but terrible. These common creatures don’t just sing happily. They fight, too. They push each other off the feeder perch, and away from the choicest forage spots. They wrestle in the air, their wings all stretched out, flapping wildly. Bird organizations consider them as pests and blame them for the decline of  the bluebird population.
• I just saw three European Starlings(another pest) hopping on the wall  directly above where the other birds were eating. Bigger than sparrows and finches, but smaller than pigeons. Black with tiny yellow spots on the back. Prominent long, yellow, pointed beaks. They didn’t quite know what to do. Maybe they’re not used to feeders so they left after a few minutes.
• Word must be spreading among those in the winged community. Hey, there’s a bird buffet at the Baylon residence. It’s open 24/7. And it’s free. Lets go, go, go!
• What a treat! A Gold Finch landed on top of the feeder and stayed for a few seconds trying to figure it out. Too bad. It was not as smart as the ordinary birds.It didn’t know what to do so off it flew.
• Thursday. My heart skipped a beat. A slim blue bird with white, grey, and black streaks on the back swooped down to investigate the goings on in my yard.  The regulars fled upon its arrival. I took out my binoculars from the kitchen cabinet and feasted my eyes on this rare beauty. Like the starlings, it didn’t know how to work the feeder.
• Researched the internet and found out that it was a Western Scrub Jay. Hope it comes back.
• Friday. Just came home from another job-hunting expedition. Slumped down on the couch and reached out for the paper. Scanned the classified ads section. Nothing for me. Went to the kitchen sink . While soaping up the dishes, I watched, through the window, my feathered guests enjoying the banquet I had laid out for them. It was fascinating to watch them root about for food, scatter seed, quarrel, push each other,  and sing. These birds didn’t have to work too hard because I had prepared their food for them.
• Then it hit me…. “Look at the birds in the air. They don’t stock grain and yet they feed. The father takes care of them. Aren’t you more valuable than they are?” This bible verse came at me so suddenly, like a punch to the gut. It jolted me out of my dark mood. A reassuring voice in a pitch-black cave.
• Left the sink and rummaged inside a drawer. I pulled out something that my daughter had done months ago, a tiny paper with the picture of a bird. Its caption was “My God will take care of all your needs”. Posted it on the fridge. Just to reinforce the message in my brain.

• Sunday. Light was fading. Saw a tiny creature hovering close to the hanging feeder. A hummingbird!
• Monday. 8 AM. It was back. Its color vivid in the sunlight. Iridescent green and black. I called my daughter excitedly. Together we watched it flap its wings 80 times/second, flying up and down, backward and forward.  Amazing creature!

• Went to the dollar store to get another feeder , nectar, and some artificial red flowers. We’re ready. The Baylon Bird Buffet is now serving hummingbirds. Welcome.

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I still have to see the big bucks that my brother, who makes his living off the internet, told me I could earn if I became a professional blogger. The last time I checked, my revenue from the ad clicks on my website only totalled $23 and several cents. Considering that I’ve been at it for more than two years, it’s not a very encouraging amount.

cherry blossoms-the park is lovely when they’re all out in spring

When I started blogging in 2008, I didn’t know what to write about. A housewife’s world is not that big and exciting. Desperate for topics to discuss, I took my tiny camera wherever I went. It was with me when I walked to pick up the kids at school, to buy stuff at the market, and just about anywhere. I photographed flowers in the park and outside apartments. I snapped pictures of insects, trees, buildings, and people. Oh, I was a paparazzi, with two assistants tagging along!

“Is it really worthwhile?”, I asked myself with a heavy sigh after learning about my latest blogging income.

studying the instructions on the container of ladybugs

My kids and I used to spend most of our time indoors. Watching TV, doing chores, reading, playing with toys, and hunting for nice things to buy at the mall. Blogging got us out of the house. It gave us a new way of looking at things. A new set of eyes. We became like eagles, constantly scanning every nook and cranny of our environment. We learned to prefer the park over the mall. Shopping ceased to be the highlight of our week. We took pleasure in the tiniest changes in nature. We noticed the different shades of green in the leaves of the bushes outside our apartment gate . Transfixed, we observed an inchworm weave a silky cocoon for itself. Like bees, we reveled in the beauty of springtime flowers . We started a small garden at our apartment patio. I am amused at how my daughter can now cradle an earthworm in the palm of her hand without screaming her lungs out. My son regularly monitors the leaves of my pepper plant to check for aphids. When he sees an infestation, he urges me to get some ladybugs at the garden store. Ladybugs can wipe out all your aphid problems overnight. They’re so good at it, it’s amazing! Sometimes my son gives me ideas. “Mom, there’s a hummingbird! Quick! Take a picture for your blog”, he would say, his voice filled with excitement.

My girl loves scenes like this. And I thought preschoolers only cared about cartoons!

All this looking up and  down and all around had a profound effect on my daughter. Back in 2009, when she was just three years old, I opened the window of her bedroom. It was sundown. “Mom, look! The sky is blue and pink and white and yellow and pink again. So pretty, mom!”, she exclaimed behind me. I nodded in agreement and asked her why it was like that. She answered that she’s a butterfly and that she painted those colors in the sky. “I fly up, up the sky and paint it, mom”, she added. I gave a her big smile and two thumbs up. She expressed a similar opinion weeks before. We were climbing up the stairs and upon reaching the fourth floor landing, she ran to the steel railings and called my attention. “Mom, the sky….look…it’s beetiful. Look the colors. It’s pink and blue. It’s beetiful, mom!”, she enthused. Then she looked down at the garden below. There was a bush abloom with pink rose-like flowers. Her nature observation was far from over.  She pointed at them, “Mom, look the flowers! They go up, up, up the sky and the color is pink like that.” It is true what they say in developmental psych books. Preschool is a time when kids’ imaginations go overdrive. “It’s beetiful, mom”, she concluded and walked toward our door. A three-year-old gushing about the color of sunsets? So strange for me. I was never like that even when I was in my teens.  She could hardly pronounce her words right and get her sentences straight, but she sees and appreciates things most people older than her take for granted. I felt blessed. Silently I thanked my God for this special little girl.

Twenty three dollars is a long way off from the million bucks I had dreamed of raking in as a professional blogger. What was I thinking? Will I even earn a hundred? That’s the big question. Moneywise, I have not gained anything much, but I realize now that I had cashed in my intangible profits just right after I started this venture. Were I to stand beside facebook billionaire, Mark Zuckerberg, I would remind myself not to feel small. I, too, am a very wealthy person afterall.