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The other day, a good friend sent me a text message saying that she saw me in the December issue of Cosmopolitan magazine. What shocked me about this text message was not so much that I’m apparently in Cosmopolitan, but that this friend actually reads Cosmo in the first place. You see, she’s a member of the NPA and well, I always stereotyped them to be…you know. NOT readers of Cosmopolitan magazine. I’m no socialist, but I’m iffy about the consumerist notion of the “good life” fed to us by mainstream media. I don’t buy magazines and I most certainly don’t read Cosmo, except when it’s lying there in the salon. Then I only look at the fashion section and wish I was earning more money so I could spend my life spending like an obedient consumer.

Rly?

After class today, I grabbed a copy of the December issue and thrust the magazine into my mom’s face, feeling rather proud of myself. Unfortunately I made the mistake of placing “The Virginity Diaries” article heading at her eye level. I sensed dread in her voice as she asked me about what kind of details about my sex/dating life I just revealed to the whole country. Kind of shows how little she knows about me, doesn’t it? I may have a blatant disregard for most societal norms, but I’d never share anything that private to a bunch of strangers. Not only do I find it rather inappropriate; nothing screams “I HAVE NO REAL SEX LIFE!” louder than people who brag about their sexcapades outside their close circle of friends.

So now you’re probably be wondering, “If Lauren isn’t in Cosmopolitan talking about how she gets herself some action, what then has she done that makes her deserve magazine space?” You see, at this point in my life I only have one claim to fame, and that’s being the “first Filipino blogger.”

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Until now I still find it strange when people treat me any differently because I was once a bored ten-year old with no friends and internet access. I’m not gonna lie – I think it’s kind of cool that I have a title attached to my name, however inaccurate it might be. Nothing’s more flattering than getting stopped on the street by a stranger who apparently enjoys reading my self-centered, socially-irrelevant blog posts. (Well okay, that happened to me around twice when I still had a day job. Both times it was outside the same 7-11. Weird.) On the other hand, being the first blogger is no real achievement. It doesn’t guarantee me success in life. It doesn’t make me some Blogosphere Mafia Princess. It doesn’t even mean that I’m the best writer on the intarwebz. It just means that I decided to become an exhibitionist of sorts at ten years old and kept it up for over a decade. And that’s all there is to it.

Still, I can’t deny that being Teh Furst has its perks. It’s not necessarily the hits, though that’s certainly most welcome too. (I never check how many people read my blog. Some things are best left unknown.) You know what the best part about having a well-known blog really is? It makes meeting people so much easier. And I’m not talking about the kind of people who introduce themselves so that maybe you guys could do a link-ex and fap off to each other on the intarwebz (Which, by the way, is such a huge turn-off. Talk to me because you want get to know me as a person, not because you’re trying to make me link you back.) Most , if not all of the friends I made after college are people I met through my blog or through the blogosphere. Hell, I haven’t known the TMB guys (and girls) six months yet and I love them to death already. I tried to pimp The Man Blog in the interview but the writer didn’t include what I said, which was:

I hang out with the writers of the Man Blog, both in their forums and in real life. Not only are they an group of excellent writers; they’re really great people. It’s funny…I used to be mere lurker in their blog and now I hang out with them almost every week. It feels surreal.

It’s almost Christmas. Shut up.

Ultimately, blogging is it’s own reward. Sure, there’s a lot of money to be made through blogs. If you put in enough effort, you could probably transform yourself into some sort of internet celebrity. Hell, it must be great to win first place at blog awards. For me, however, simply knowing that people read whatever I have out in here is already big enough of a deal. I don’t have any political opinions. I have no cause to fight for. I’m not out to change the world. I’m not even out here to entertain. I’m just a 21-year old girl trying to figure out what life is all about. I don’t know why the stuff I do or the things I’ve learned should be interesting to some people but apparently it is. So…thanks for reading. Seriously.

Kay I’m going to sign off before this gets any more sentimental.