Blogosphere Vs “Emailsphere”

There’s that blogosphere, the world of weblogs for you.

Not sure if “emailsphere”

is an acceptable word for the electronic world. Nevertheless,

you know what I mean.

So there I was for the past 10 over years emailing away

until a friend recommended that:

”Since you’re so fond of writing & good at it, you should start blogging.”

Thus on 21 May 2009, my auspicious birthday, I made my plunge.

After several postings, I began to feel like retreating,

until a friend, Ean, in Singapore, whom I have not met in person,

encouraged me to go on. The rest as they say is history – if the word

applies for such a relative short time span of about three months.

At the time of my writing this, I have posted 106 variety of articles

& have reached a readership of well over 3,800.

A big welcome to you if you haven’t been there at my site!

For years I have been writing and I love it. I wanted to share this great love to the world by getting my manuscripts published, but it was all futile & vain. Rejection slips, though polite, are all that I received. I still have two unpublished poetry manuscripts and one on golf entitled “Swap Work . . . Play Golf” – essentially on the creativity of the game, its joy & frustration and the challenges that golf presents. I’ve got some successes getting articles published in the local papers & magazines including a self-published work on motivation “How To Have Motivation Unlimited”.

At Murdoch University, Perth where I spent one year in the graduate law program in 1995, I had to learn the use of the computer for the purpose of doing law assignments. So I did. From that point onwards, I was introduced to the electronic mailing world.

What a pleasure it was! Emailing is so fantastic, speedy, efficient & cheap. It’s miles ahead of “snail mail” which you have to go to the post office, purchase the stamp to post it. I guess that was how you lose track of your friends because it was such a tedious way of keeping in touch. Most people generally don’t like putting pen to paper. With emailing it’s so very convenient – the feel of the keyboard is different and with just one click you can reach a multitude of friends. In fact, there’s absolutely no excuse for people not keeping in touch with friends these days. No place is too far, no day is too short . . . the electronic world transcends both distances & time.

When told of getting into the blogosphere, I had then only fear! What would I know anything about blogging? The word itself was never in my dictionary, nor have I any connotation of its significance. Who would teach me or willing to? As it’s said, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.

That was my initial reaction & really there’s nothing to fear except fear itself. I always believe in action rather reaction. To me, age is just a chronological number. To ward off any physical effects or defects, we have to actively & positively stimulate our mental ability & capacity. Be in it to benefit it.

In the beginning, I played around with “multiply.com”, “livejournal.com” and even Google’s Blogger. However, I didn’t get much interaction, excitement nor satisfaction, until my sister Annie told me of “Wordpress.com”. Ever since end of May this year, I have been electronically transferring all my thoughts & philosophy into this newly created blog of mine. A very warm welcome awaits you if you have not been there yet:

https://p21chong.wordpress.com

As I express, the Word presses on.

Therein I have all my messages in one place accessible by all globally. My blogosphere is my home where I store that which people can conveniently explore. Blogosphere is far more stimulating, inspiring, motivating & “sexciting” than the more traditional “emailsphere.” My blood runs to my brain & through all my veins! My perspective on life takes on a higher plane, rejuvenating life, generating sparks & fire! Life takes on a new meaning and puts you on a different level. Your boundaries are challenged beyond all limits. In sales, they would say “The sky’s the limit”.

Remember the time before Christopher Columbus when men thought that the world was flat. On the Eastern front, there was the Great Chinese naval adventurer, Zheng He. The much more publicised Columbus sailed to America in St. Maria (eighty-five feet) in 1492. Zheng He sailed from China to many places throughout South Pacific, Indian Ocean, Taiwan, Persian Gulf and distant Africa in seven epic voyages from 1405 to 1433, some 80 years before Columbus’s voyages. His 400ft. long ”treasure ship” was much larger than Columbus’s.

By the same token, “emailsphere” pails in significance when compared with blogosphere. To me, the crux of the matter is that I thoroughly enjoy being in a new sphere, making new friends on an international scale & enlarging my circle of friends globally. Not everybody, as usual, will interact with you, but those who do, I find them to be more genuine, sincere & interesting. They are taking the extra effort of interacting with you even as strangers. But a stranger is truly a friend you have not met.

In blogosphere, you are creating your treasure & asset digitally while creating new friends globally. It’s a world of virtual reality. There’s the prosperity transferable in posterity.

In this world, the question is not how many friends have you got – rather how many people are you a friend to?

Paul Chong

Wednesday, 26 August 2009 @ 4.28 am

A Chinese by Descent

An Australian by Consent