skysenshi.com

I’m starting 2011 with a new design. Last year’s artist of the year was Jano Vesina, who did the Skysenshi Valkyrie illustration for this blog. This year, I commissioned my sister‘s ultra talented boyfriend, my favorite brother-in-law, Paolo Lazatin, to do a pixel art version of the (laughably) rough sketch I sent him for my re-design plans. I’m not going to be represented by a cat girl this year (except at the Otaku Fridge). Needless to say, Pao is my Artist of the Year 2011, since he’s also responsible for the header illustration on Sarimanok.PH.

Click the image above to view the original resolution. Anyway, a few tinkering here and there resulted in this new layout:

This new, more maaliwalas layout symbolizes a promise of brighter things to come. I used to just wish for a better year. This time around, I’m determined to make it better. How?

Well, I have already started off with a few foundations. I began by pushing myself to be visible in the Pinoy Blogosphere…even though I had been online publishing since 1997 and a blogger since 2001. In the Pinoy Blogosphere, my status was a newbie of sorts. (My regret is that skysenshi.com has been around since 2002, and connected to Blogspot since 2005. Hence, I couldn’t even submit it to the Emerging Influential Bloggers Award. T.T)

Anyhoo, I had my share of ups and downs in 2010. So before I talk about my plans for 2011, lemme just pick my top 5 favorite memories of the past year. I consider these events as my foundation for the year ahead.

5. How To Maintain Naturally Curly Hair

2010 was the year I finally grew out my naturally curly hair (after nearly a decade of constantly undergoing chemical hair straightening). What I like best about this post is how many new visitors always find themselves here. Apparently, a lot of people share my hair woes. I feel happy knowing that I am able to help other women through this post.

4.  Raiders of the Lost ART: Deeper into Quiapo

Quiapo is one of my favorite places in 2010. I had never explored this old historical treasure as much as I had done this year. My PhD classmates and I took an even deeper trip for our Comm Behavior course, guided by Rod Rivera. The experience was simply amazing.

3. Birth of Sarimanok.PH

As multimedia artists with specializations in different disciplines, it was on May 27-28 that my BFF Cris and I decided to combine our creative talents. Sarimanok.PH is our Philippine arts & culture blogfolio, which also aims to promote other Pinoy artistic treasures and talents.

2. First Boracy Trip

I celebrated my birthday in Boracay. It was the first time I had ever stepped foot in Bora. Yez, I am a hermit that way. Though I wasn’t able to write an in-depth blog post about that wonderful experience, my short write-up about it won me a nice gift from Animetric‘s first anniversary.

1. My Otaku Fridge becoming a first-time finalist at the Philippine Blog Awards.

My oldest website, The Otaku Fridge (birthdate: May 18, 1997), had been converted into a blog in 2010. Though I had not won — my sister took home two trophies from the awards night — I still felt honored that I was among the 5 finalists for the Best Entertainment Blog category. I know the competition was tough, since we were competing with hundreds of other bloggers. I’m aiming for a more positive 2011. I just want to win something. Hehe.

As for Skysenshi.com. 
Well. I only have one goal for it this year. Though I don’t really have many sponsors, I really wish to make this site look less commercial. In the later half of 2010, it seems that the geek had been pretty quiet. Drowning in food and kikay posts. Skysenshi prides herself in being a kikay geek so the balance between being the kikay and the geek must be upheld.

Of all the people I hang out with, it seems that my cousins — the Senshi — share my passion in this endeavor. Which is why I also promise to make myself more available to them. I miss my kikay geeks. I hope we hang out more often this year so I can fill this up with posts related to our real hobbies and interests.

I also want this blog to be a chronicle of really personal experiences. That was how I started as an LJ blogger in 2001, anyway. Seeing 10 or more other bloggers post the same thing I’m writing about just makes things seem so…redundant. I love hanging out with the other bloggers, though. Can I just go to some events — just to make chika — but not post about these? (I promise to bring my own food and stuff.) Hahahahahahahahahahaha… *cough*… *ahem*…

So yeah…basically, if I had been picky about events last year (only 2 events per week), I will be extra picky this year. (Except for events handled by tried and tested organizers I’ve previously featured here.) I am a hermit, after all.