I wonder what I have achieved as a 5 yrs old blogger?

I know it is not February 14 yet. But on that day, no one will read blogs or surf the internet, isn’t it? People should be out there celebrating Chinese New Year or visiting friends who celebrate Chinese New Year.

So, I will declare that it is my 5th anniversary of the domain chanlilian.net. Five long years. I have changed a lot. I changed the friends. I changed the style. The only thing remains is my consistency in updating my blog. Not that I have much to update but when I don’t people tend to come by and ask, “Why no updates?” So it is more a habit than a desire to write something.

I started blogging sometime in Oct 2004 but I moved to my own domain on February 14, 2005. Compare to others, I am a lot smarter. Not that I am boasting. I learned html, php coding, SEO, make money and now video stories.

I have made a lot of USD through blogging. I never really count the total I made because after a while, money seems insignificant. Unless I really need them, I think we don’t have to work too hard to make money.

I am now more a ‘rely on God’ person. I don’t check my Adsense anymore. I merely take the numbers and go cash it every month. Other sources of income are passive income. I don’t need to write also get paid. There are still some paid posts here and there. Nuffnang has made good money for me too. I just got my cheque for RM5.3K yesterday. But that is a taxable income, need to declare if I made over RM30K per year. Now, we also have to declare our W3 tax forms in the US, so nothing is free anymore.

Through the years, I have more and more people I know who reads my blog. My family members, the junior relatives, yee-mah, kucheh, 3gu6poh from churches, corporate companies, embassies, special branch, politicians, Najib Tun Razak, Lim Guan Eng, Lim Kit Siang (hahaha, bluff one, names dropping nia).

So, blogging has become unnatural to me. If I so much as curse someone, I will see their friends or colleagues black faces the next day. What they didn’t know is I sometimes just want to test if those people know I am a blogger. Cos they never acknowledge it. So, I trick them by cursing someone they know. Next day, test and see if they can still smile at me. If they have that expression on their faces, I know they are constipated.

Blog is very powerful. But it is no longer a glamour thing. Now, every monkey, donkey except #yorais knows how to blog. It is a very competitive thing. What I don’t like is how some bloggers have morphed into too commercial facade. I hate that. They don’t show their real faces anymore. They are scared of turning potential clients away. I have turned many away because of my foul mouth, hitting on politicians they are afraid of and etc.

I have over 20 domains but this chanlilian.net is my only real, true colour. I have come a long way. Now, I am not only a blogger who writes. I am a person who can express things through video journalism. There are not many people like me around. I shoot a story, I tell the tale, I edit, and I publish. I am really one of a kind.

I think this video thing is a step forward for a blogger like me. I see another five years ahead in my blogging venture. Maybe by then, I will be writing about menopause or about ‘how to hook a younger man’ or ‘how to not to encourage 70 years old men to hit on you’. Bah!

Wish me lah! You think so easy for someone to blog for five long years and yet, have her adoring fans?

Gosh, five years is a long time, ok? I think some of you don’t even have hairs growing on yr pubes and ketiak.