The World of Blogging
I don’t want anybody else to read my writings — perhaps, when I’m dead I’d allow it. But for now, I’m satisfied writing for my own eyes only.
I cannot overemphasize the value of writing in my life. It signifies a beginning of another journey, a start to change something about myself. Or, maybe, to promote a campaign that will make me so involved with it that I may develop my talents – if I really have one – without much hardships, and at the same time enjoying it.
Just like now, I am starting to blog to renew my commitment to writing: I want to incessantly develop and improve my skills so that when the day my prayers will be heard, I’ll be more prepared for the tasks that will be given to me.
Blogging is also another beginning, a fresh start to a journey in the world of learning. Not that I have not started that travel yet, it is just that, I want it to be written in the annals of my life’s history so that when one day that I would become as great as Rizal, or as popular as Helen Keller and Anne Frank, my blog may be useful in making my biography. But of course, that is the most ridiculous and impossible thing that can only happen in my dreams.
At present, I’m working at an Outsourcing Company located at Shaw Blvd, near Rizal Capitol, Philippines. I met a friend and officemate who has the same passion as mine – learning just about anything around us, no matter how unrelated it may be to our jobs.
Las Meninas
Let me begin my first blog article with the lesson this colleague of mine shared with me today. It’s about the painting Las Meninas, a Spanish term for The Maids of Honour. It was painted by Diego Velazquez (1599-1660), one of the greatest artists during the Spanish Golden Age. His Las Meninas, which was painted in 1656, is at present exhibited in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain.
Although paintings like Las Meninas can be best analyzed by looking at in person, we can still appreciate it through its photos posted on the Internet. Besides, if we don’t have sufficient bucks to travel all the way to Spain, we do not have much of a choice but to surf for it online.
When my officemate informed me about Las Meninas at wikipedia.org, he told me to look at the picture before reading the description of the site. And that’s what I did. I knew that that was simply the best way for me to appreciate Las Meninas.
By looking at it, I have realized how puzzling and intricate the painting’s composition were. Few of the things that I have noticed were:
1. The different directions where the subjects were looking at
2. The background mirror reflecting a couple (I learned later on that this couple was King Philip and Queen Mariana)
3. The oddly depicted man standing on the stairs at the background of the painting
Honestly, I do not know much about paintings. I just love looking at them for they give me a different kind of feeling that always makes me convinced that arts indeed “reveal more than they hide.”
The three points I have observed were simply products of a layman’s perspective who wants to learn what Las Meninas picture can offer. Nevertheless, I enjoyed looking at it.
