french connection

bonjour!

we are not learning french today, however, to some degree i feel a curious sense of being related to the french life and culture. maybe not related, but having something in common.

life and culture never cease to amaze me. my imaginary life, for example, is set in provence (south of france). where i will wake up when i want to, be forever clad only in bikinis and thin caftan. my waist-length hair flowing freely in the southern breeze and my skin always with a golden glow to it... meals of exquisite salads and steaks, tons of wine, fruits and unadulterated smooching. *impish grin*

there is no such thing as work. if i could do away with the internet, television and the telephone, there'd be none. but alas, even in this dream, i have to be practical. i have to have these mediums in order to connect with the rest of the globe, but only when i want to... i live in a vineyard. an apothecary on the side. *wink*

no neighbors.

aaah life... broad daylight dreaming ...

au revoir...

forever?

What does it mean when a guy says "forever " to you?

However sarcastic and jaded I seem to be, there is still a little girl waiting inside. A little girl hiding and waiting to be found, not necessarily by the proverbial knight in shining armor, perhaps just someone who will pick me up from where I've fallen and help me get up...

A part of me has always believed in love, always believed in it no matter how harsh my experiences have been, no matter how painful...

...the heart is incredibly strong and resilient, I once read. I found it to be true! No matter how torn apart and shattered it may seem, the heart always seems to mend right back and start beating again. Wonderful, isn't it? Living and loving are perhaps the two most wonderful experiences human existence has to offer.

I've always believed in starting a clean slate, whatever happened in the past can never be undone. There is no room in life for regrets, only lessons learned. The future holds much promise, and hope that it will be better, and it will be if you make it. The present is not always as wonderful as we want it to be but it's all we got and what's important is how we live it and make the most out of it. My present has been truly wonderfully unexpected. I am not talking about work here... *grin*

Forever... is there really such a thing? When it is there in front of you, will you take it? How will you know it's for real? All these questions in my head, going round and round. I want it to be true, I want this to be real. I want to have forever. Is that too much to ask? Could I really be in love this time? I'm afraid but I really want to know... forever...

Okay, okay, I’m NOT going to give up writing!

Okay, okay, I’m NOT going to give up writing! I was, you know, until ten minutes ago. I was never going to write again. I was about to retire. Throw in the pen. Turn my back on my muse.

I've had a lot of trouble writing. I can honestly say that other than the occasional ranting blog, I haven't done any real writing in months, but that all came to an end tonight. After missing for over a year I decided to start blogging again.

Much has changed. I am no longer a phone slave that takes zillion of phone calls in the evening. Finally I have a real job, that lets me have lunch at 12 noon.

Before anything else, there are 12 things I would do if I had to start my Blog again.

1. Domain name
First of all I would get myself a good Domain name. My current domain name (www.johntp.com) sounds more like a personal blog, but I have not blogged much about my personal life.

2. K2
I would use the best WordPress theme -K2 from the beginning and modify it to make my blog unique. I found K2 a bit late and could not use it from the beginning of this blog

3. Feedburner for comments
I have not been using FeedBurner from the beginning of this blog but was still able to track all the subscribers thanks to the Feedburner Plugin. What I regret is that I started using FeedBurner for my comments only recently and the Feedburner Plugin does not allow redirection for two FeedBurner addresses. So if I had to start my blog from the beginning I would use FeedBurner for my Comments from the beginning.

4. Google SiteMap Generator
If I had to start my blog again, I would make sure that I have activated the Google SiteMap Generator WordPress Plugin as soon as I start blogging.

5. Akismet
I started blocking spam with Akismet only about 3 months later after starting this blog. If I had to start my blog again, I would make sure that I have activated the Akismet WordPress Plugin to block all spam from the beginning.

6. Comment on other Blogs
Commenting on other blogs is one good way to get your blog noticed by other bloggers. I have not commented on other blogs much so far. So If I had to start my blog again, I would make sure that I comment on atleast popular blogs.

7. Submit Bog to Dmoz
I have not got this blog listed on Dmoz so far mainly because I did not submit it there. But if I had, my blog would have been listed on Google’s Directory and hundreds of other directories resulting in better Link Popularity and Search Engine Ranking. So If I had to start my blog again, I would make sure that I submit my blog to Dmoz and Yahoo’s Directory.

8. Submit Articles to Ezine Articles
Submiting your Articles to Ezine Articles will make it exposed to more readers meaning more links to your blog. Unfortunately I always forget to do so. So If I had to start my blog again, I would make sure that I submit my orginal Articles to EzineArticles.

9. Better About Page
An About Page should not only describe about you but also about the site. Unfortunately, I realised my mistake only a few months before. I will make sure I never make this mistake if I have to start my blog again.

10. Subcribe Buttons
I used to have my Subscribe buttons only on my homepage for many months. This prevented readers from easily subscribing to my blog. This is another of those mistakes I would not want to make if I have to start my blog again.

11. Unnecessary Meta Tags
After spending some time analysing my site, my friend who is good at SEO found that my site had different PageRanks for the domains- http://www.johntp.com and http://johntp.com because I used unnecessary Meta Tags. If I had to start my blog again I would make sure that I do not use these unnecessary Meta Tags again.

12. Link Exchange Services
A few months back I had registered with a Link Exchange Service who promised to get my blog 1000+ backlinks. Unfortunately, I came to know that the service was fake and was set up to get links for themselves. Also Search Engines consider these services as methods for artificial Link Popularity and may ban your site if they find you using it. So if I had to start my blog again, I would make sure that I never use these services

So what will you do if you had to start your Blog again?