May 31 2008
What Would You Do If Your Blog Went Pfffffft?
“Now Toe,” you bloggers out there are probably thinking, “why would you want to scare us like that? What a horrible nightmare!” Nothing frightens a blogger to death more than the thought of his or her blog disappearing into oblivion. But disasters do happen. It’s not that bad, actually. In fact, I did it not once. Not twice. But three. Whole. Times. It’s been occurring with alarming frequency that I’m actually getting used to it…if it’s possible for anyone to get used to a constant state of panic.
The first time I lost my blog, I was trying to upgrade my wordpress when without warning, “404 not found” screamed at me from the computer screen and if it’s possible, cyberically punched my gut. My stomach turned upside-down and I felt like throwing up. It was almost like losing a loved one. Thankfully, after days of excruciating waiting, Job, my bloghost recovered it.
The second time was in January when I forgot to renew my hosting (see this post). Again, the panic in my gut was so painful that it was physical. At that time, I was questioning the universe, if my blog is not there, where did it go? Hmm… more than two years of blogging and the concept of cyberspace still eludes me. Anyway, after I renewed my subscription, Job pulled me out from the throes of hell and recovered my blog, I don’t know where from, and it was up and running again.
The third time was last weekend. It’s really quite lucky that I lose my blog during weekends so not too many readers notice (not that I have that many readers and most certainly not that I want to lose my blog every weekend). Yes, as Snglguy rightfully admitted, it was partly his fault… having senior blogging moral authority over me, he was bullying me to upgrade my wordpress. And being an wishy-washy obedient person, I obeyed. And poof! went my blog. In its place, my old friend “404 not found” reappeared. In Snglguy’s defense though, he tried to console me by saying that it was good that I backed up my blog. The only problem was that I had no idea in hell how to recover the stupid back-up.
Actually, the third time didn’t hurt quite as much as the first two times. Perhaps, it’s because CNN was on the whole weekend and seeing Chinese victims of the earthquake and the Burmese victims of Cyclone Nargis all day made my loss seem so trivial. So instead of moping around and checking the Internet every other darned minute if my blog reappeared, I just listed down possible alternative hobbies in case I really lost my blog forever.
Perhaps, I thought, I could become a circus performer. I wonder what circus act I could do. I could juggle, I suppose, except that I’m such a klutz that I couldn’t even catch a ball if I tossed it up as high as a whole inch. Or maybe, I could be a sword swallower. I wonder how many calories a sword contains. Would it break my diet? Maybe I could substitute it with tiny less-fattening razor blades. Or perhaps, I could be a gecko trainer. Lots of geckos (known as tuko in the Philippines) here in Cambodia. There’s actually one in our apartment building somewhere. I could catch it and train it to jump over hoops.
Circus performance might be hard though. I’d need years of training and I have to start young… so I’m just a few years too late for that.
Maybe, I could become a tattoo artist instead. I could practice on Honey. I could tattoo food ingredients on his arm like tomatoes, avocados, jalapeno peppers, etc. If I mess it up, I could always say, that its guacamole dip. Better yet, I could tattoo on him I Heart Toe where the heart is in the shape of a heart and the toe is a drawing of my toe.
Another hobby I want to try is acting. Do you remember those Vilma Santos movies where in a fit of anger, she would throw things around in her room? My favorite is when with one swoosh of her arms, she would clear her dresser of all stuff – shattering make-up, perfume, jewelry, and others with a loud crash. I would so love to do that when I become an actor. Another thing I also want to try is to slap a co-actor. It seems like so much fun especially when it makes a sharp sound that goes plak! I hope that when I do venture into acting, Kris Aquino would be my co-actor. My line would go, “You are so maarte!” Plak! Plak! “Stop being so maarte!” Plak! Plak! Plak!
Wow, I could do that over and over again. In fact, I’ll make sure that I’d mess up so that I could have plenty of takes and plenty of plaks!
Anyway, before I even attempted to go out to buy either my tattoo needle or my juggling balls (I already had razor blades at home) or catch the apartment gecko or check if there is a Pinoy Big Brother, OFW version (the contestants there almost certainly get cheesy acting jobs)… tajan! My blog was back. Whew! Honey’s arm, the apartment gecko, and Kris Aquino’s face are all safe and sound.
What about you? Besides going into a shrieking fit, what would you do if your blog went pffft?
- Where Did My Blog Go?
- Happy Month-niversary to My Blog!
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- One More Chance
- The Trouble with Blogging
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Looks like you’re stuck to blogging, Toe. So forget about those other options. And FYI, I all those times your blog was lost somewhere in cyberspace, I did notice. =P
Tsk! Ang sakit talaga mawalan ng baby ano? In this case, the baby, being your blog… but I’m glad everything’s back to normal na… whew!
Anyways, forget the circus, we already have too much clowns running our country, yung acting na lang, at huwag lang si Kris dapat ang sasampalin mo, isama mo na rin sina Ruffa at Gretchen with a line that goes “Isa kang mukhang pera!!” ” “Ang dapat sa yo, mag-asawang sampal!” plak plak!… and more plak plak!
I’m glad you got your blog back…. for Kris Aguino’s sake. hehehe
If my blog disappeared…. hmmm…. I guess wala na. hehe. Hindo ko na kasi sinisave (is that a word?) sa hard drive e.
Scary, indeed. But if my blog permanently disappears, why, I’ll create a new blog. As easy as that. Hahaha.
But I’m glad you’re back, Toe, and blogging energetically as usual. Keep the fire burnin’….
Those options for hobbies are quite dangerous. Better stick to blogging Toe.
If my blog ever disappears, I would not blog anymore, I will just go come visit.
I upgraded to wordpres and what disaster that was. My post addresses shrunk as in what was once page 300 is now 230. Go figure!
waaah! i don’t know what i’ll do. my posts are all transferred to multiply (yun ang back-up ko), pero kahit na. waah!
at ang harsh mo. talagang blade eater ha. at ang favorite scenes sa movies ay yung sampalan. hahaha
we all need to make backups and not just rely on our hosting providers…i can’t imagine how will i react to that scenario
oh, how terrible… buti na you were able to recover … we don’t need another Kris Aquino clone
Oh my goodness, this post is so hilarious. I liked the plak effect. You should also say, “My brother is not a pig!” Plak! Plak! Plak!
Anyway, I guess that’s also the reason why I am staying in Google/Blogger. It’s a known company, and I have the assurance that my blog just won’t disappear like that. But who knows, something bad might happen, and all of my written entries would just disappear.
I need to know how to back up my blog…
Mukhang feel na feel ni Snglguy ang pag-sampal kina Ruffa at Gretchen sa comment niya sa taas. Hehe Anyway…..
I’m glad that your blog is back. If my blog went pffftt, I’d probably go back to being a comedian in front of kids. Sa kanila lang kasi bumebenta ang mga jokes ko eh.
bwhaha! nakakatawa ka talaga Toe! tawa ko nang tawa habang binabasa ko ang entry mo, sabay sabing: “bangag talaga ‘to si Toe!” haha. nwei, Monday ngayon so masarap magtawa.
what would i do if my blog went pffft? sa totoo lang? wala. walang back-up ang lahat ng entries ko, except yung mga photos na naka-save sa isang folder. ang rason ko naman, well like all other things that matter…everything will pass. haha. ang jaded ng reason eh no? wala lang, inevitable naman kase yun. so pagnag-create ako ng blog, ina-accept ko na rin yung possibility na maaari rin itong mawala…anytime! so pagnawala ang blog ko, yun na yun. either napagod na ako or tinamad na akong magsulat at mag-post.
LOL on the pagaartista and the sampalan scene with Kris. I actually wrote an essay about Kris a few years back (when she was still with Joey Marquez); Krip Yuson says its publishable – I just might do so, IF I get into blogging. Kelan kaya?
It was almost like losing a loved one>>> definitely. pinaghirapan din kasi talaga ang mga blog at ang iba memories. para ka na ring nasunugan ng album. lalo na sa blog mo toe. the articles here are really really good. i hope you keep soft copies of these in your hard drive and on other back up storage gadgets.
if that happens to me? uhhhh…. syoganai!
Gina, hehe… I’m back to blogging. But I wonder if I could still start tattooing. Kawawa naman braso ni Honey.
Snglguy, masakit talaga! But I’m getting used to it having so many closed calls.
I think that I really need soft copies of my posts… but what a tedious thing to do!
At aba… up to date ka pala sa showbiz ha… at ginawan pa ng eksena si Ruffa at Gretchen!
Wil, yes, I would use sinisave.
Hay naku… there really ought to be a simpler way to back-up blogs for personal bloggers like us.
Thanks Abaniko! Honga… the best thing to do is to get up on your feet and start again… don’t look back at those hundreds of posts and years of blogging.
Ano nga naman magagawa natin? 
Leah, I’d probably stop blogging too if I lost my blog because I’d also probably lose my energy.
Buti na lang, I don’t have to get into these alternative hobbies. 
Shoshana, oh your blog looks fine to me. Anyway, I was about to attempt another upgrade again.. but I think… teka lang muna.
Tin-Tin, ayokong manood ng sampalan… gusto ko, ako yung artista sa sampalan scene.
Oh, good idea to copy all your posts to Multiply. What about the comments?
Backpacking Philippines, yes, it’s a hard situation to get into. I guess I have to figure out how to recover my back-up.
Pining, hehe… don’t want to be her clone really… just want to be in a slapping scene.
LIW, hahaha… ang saya-saya ng mga sampalan lines.
Yes, I don’t think you’d have a problem losing your blog in Blogger. I encountered a lot of problems getting my own but it was a learning experience… ummm, I still don’t know how to back-up my blog though.
Panaderos, may mga showbiz tendencies talaga ‘yan si Snglguy.
LOL at you being stand-up comedian to your kids. 
You should have a video blog doing that. 
Rayts, naku, sana it won’t happen to you. But it’s good that you keep copies of your photos… mas importante ‘yan.
Bakweeet? Wala ka bang fantasy na sampalin si Kris? 
Subang, naku, it’s so easy to start a blog. Go get one now… just go to wordpress.com. I’d love to read your Kris essay.
Dong Ho, thanks so much! Naku, masama talaga sa loob ang mawalan ng blog. I really have to figure out this back-up and recovering back-up thing. We all have to… I do hope that there is an easier way.
hmm…the bit on kris aquino sounds promising….pwede pati si sharon na din? Hehehe…sorry mga sharonians..di ko talaga sya type
mabuwang siguro ako pag nawala blog ko…i kinda lost it once when i was tinkering with my template…i swear, the blood on my face kinda drained down to my toes…as in, i felt it talaga..hahaha
good to have you back!!
Toe,
i dont even want to think about that. i used to back up my old blog, not this new ones; well, i guess i would have to back up again.
What would I do if I lost my blog? Good question – I don’t know
Darn now I think I must do something ASAP about backing it up.
I wanted to have my own domain but after seeing you and Snglguy’s blog pull out a disappearing act I changed my mind haha
Now maybe I should try the export command and back up my blog to my hard disk so I can import it if the Wordpress database gets screwed up
I always backup my account that my web host has, if something goes wrong either they close up shop or get hacked then at least I have a copy of my content and can get it up on another server quickly.
i’m baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacckkk!!
I think that is a common problem of having a domain name. Kaya, I opted and want to stick to free blogging
! Anyway, hope that there will be no future technical problems (which is inevitable) if not, good luck and hope someone could help you resolve it!
Phew thankfully your blog is back.
Next time don’t listen to Snglguy, don’t forget to renew your subscription and stick to what you know best – the diplomatic corps hehehe Biro lang po
a few days ago i tried accessing your blog, and i could not, omg! i thought–is the title of your post speaking for itself?
now, i am able to access, and you made me think what to do? i really do not have an idea, i am just keeping my fingers crossed that it does not happen to me.
Toe, your blog is back, yes, but somehow it seems that it is you who went pffffft!
Ano na nga yung 3 or 4 stages? denial first. then anger, maybe self-blaming (josco, ba’t ako di nagback up, at bakit ako nakinig kay sngl?!) then grief — the “why me” stage. then gradual acceptance?
Sige, Toe, excuse me, while i begin to print my blogs. a hard copy is hard to beat — it can only be misplaced and burned.
ako, gagawa na lang ulit ng bago tapos subukan kong magpost ulit na katulad ng mga ipinost ko na sa nawalang blog, that would keep me busy for two days hehehe.
Kongkong622, ay naku! We’re exactly the same… it was actually a toss-up between Kris and Sharon… but I think Kris still gets the prize!
I can just imagine you going pale when you thought you lost your blog. It really is a dreadful scenario. 
Hi Ewok, I don’t think there’s any fear of losing your blog though if you’re using wordpress.com. But it wouldn’t hurt to back it up either.
Shucks! I wish I knew how to back up my blog. 
BW, oh do get your own domain na… what’s life without a little excitement?
JAB_au, more bloggers (myself included) really ought to follow your example and back up their blogs.
Hi Duke! Welcome back!
Haze, that’s very true… having one’s own domain has both advantages and disadvantages. But it does make blogging just a bit more exciting.
Daphne, ewan ko ba… I always listen to Snglguy.
Sexy Mom, at least you would have your kids to help you.
Myself, all I do is panic. 
LIW, I did go pfft, didn’t I? I didn’t even notice… was so busy with national day activities that I totally forgot about blogging.
Annamanila, gee, I don’t know about those stages… but I like that stage where I go blaming Snglguy.
Haha… you are right about those hard copies… but if you have a thousand posts, you might be guilty of clearing up an entire forest if you print all that. 
Zherwin, now why didn’t I think of that?
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