neXtDRAFT Issue 13. Loopholes, Rainbows and Coconut Juice
Published: Tue, 01/23/18
Welcome to neXtDRAFT Issue 13. Thanks so much for taking the time to click and open my little zine. I hope you're having a great day.
This week began with my renewed commitment to make 2018 shine. No falling into the
same old excuses. Alibis. Loopholes. Oh aren't we humans amazing at falling straight into a loophole (also known as an excuse) when we don't quite measure up to our own expectations? I wrote a little poem though the week about just that (you'll find it a bit further down).
Dividing neXtDRAFT
My readers since the very first issue of neXtDRAFT will know I've been playing around with the format of the newsletter each week.
I have a diverse range of readers so I've been trying to settle into something that is a great read for all of you but can still be divided into interest areas. Here's what I've decided. neXtDRAFT is being cut right in two. The top half is all my personal stuff, poetry, photos, adopting Jerry, projects and activities with the kids. As you know I record what I see around me and try to create a clear picture of the contrast between Australia and the
Philippines.
The bottom half of neXtDRAFT is for my clients and business subscribers. Anyone needing quality advice about setting an online store, or writing text on their website, or how to get started blogging. I do love writing about this stuff and if I can help you out at the same time that's great.
Originally I was going to create
two different email lists but really that's overkill. So my dear readers, just skip to the bits you love and scroll past the bits you don't. Also if there's anything you'd like to see more of (or less of) please shoot my an email and let me know. I love mail.
Coconuts
Something I really love about the Philippines are the coconuts. They find their way into so much of the food and 'fresh buko' is a fundamental part of the culture.
Fresh, green coconuts, drinking sweet water from the nut, spilling it onto your cheeks and chin, scooping white flesh. Heavenly.
If I'm feeling tired, run down or just plain emotional, going to the market and paying 15-30 pesos (45-75c) for a whole fresh nut restores me almost immediately.
I like to put it in the ref (fridge) and chill to cold before walking across the road and asking my friend Em to get her husband's bola (a wide-bladed knife used in the fields to cut bananas and other crops) and hack off the top. Jerry is mortified if he arrives home from school to find an empty buko shell.
Now if you're wondering about
the weird photo below, it's a roadside coconut stall; connected to a motorbike, a driver and a livelihood.
[ The owners of these type of stalls sell a sweet 'buko' drink or shake: coconut water, milk, juice (sometimes jelly) and loads and loads and loads of sugar. It's yummy and Jerry goes crazy for it, but I can't have more than a few sips. ]
So I did laugh last week in the city watching this awkward contraption weave itself through heavy traffic and into an expensive petrol/gas station outside a fancy shopping mall.
The front of the old cart was packed to the brim with green coconuts and the motorbike dragging it behind was overloaded with driver and piles of plastic
bags. The bags (full of I don't know what) layered over the handle-bars dripping down onto the legs of the driver.
Trotting along behind was another man (on foot) piloting a popcorn stall (attached to the back of the coconut stall via an old rope). Somehow they managed to get that thing up over the gutter and butted next to the petrol/gasoline bowsers.
I grabbed a quick snap (more for my own memory more than anything else) and hope you enjoy the description as much as I chuckled watching it manoeuvre by.
the little 'buko' cart, driver and popcorn pilot
FREE CEBUANA LESSON: from this sign outside a public toilets in the Cebu City, can you guess what ihi and libang mean?
Gratitude Prayer
I think it's nice to close with a prayer. And if you're needing a subject for a gratitude prayer this week, how about public toilets? A
rather yucky subject I admit.
Perhaps you could say thanks for not having to decide if you are going to wee or poo BEFORE entering the cubicle or even being able to do it for free (see photo above).
You might even say thank you that excreting bodily fluids (etc al) is exempt from tax in countries like Australia (see photo
below).
Maybe a quick thank you for the men, women and children this world over who clean public toilets and most especially for the running water that flushes it all away.
Till next week ...
Melxx
My Little Monster
Jerry was sick with fever again through the week. Keeping him confined to that bedspace was no easy task. But we both survived it.
Sometimes when I'm working Jerry will get the red cell-phone you see in the photo and quietly watch a Disney movie, lying on the floor next to my work chair with his head resting on my foot.
Other times he is like a wild animal that can't be contained, asking me 1 million irritating questions and interrupting me every few minutes to watch him jumping, dancing, climbing, playing ....
As much as I love the little monster can you imagine having a fiesty 9 year old at your feet the whole work day?
No more excuses, this is the year I find myself a real office space.
#aroomofherown #mywritingspace
Falling (part II)
into each loophole fell i
fleeing then finding
my alibi
"oh i wish i knew … "
"i’m so sorry but i … "
into each loophole fell
i
---
into the loopholes rushed i
always so easy
leaving behind
accountability
duty declined
into the loopholes rushed i
Three Sodden Weeks
(passing) green stretched rice fields
the tiny hut
twinned rainbow of T-shirts
---
Riding the bus through the first full day of sunlight in weeks inspired this little haiku poem. I wish I’d asked the driver to stop as the sight of week of washing against an entire rice farm was striking.
This space is for my clients and anyone wanting to learn more about maximising their online presence. Every week I offer my best advice for selling online, improving website metrics, and how to blog strategically. I also
showcase one of my clients each week as a way of saying thank you for the business. This section is new and will develop based on your feedback. Email me for any topics you'd like me to cover.
Linkedin Article: 3 Important Steps to Online Selling
Get started in online selling without spending any money, subscribing to any newsletters/services or learning any new skills.
Recently I've seen a lot of posts in business groups that go something like this ... "Help, my eCommerce website has been live for 9 months and I haven't made a single sale". So many people make the mistake of spending their
entire marketing budget before making their first online sale. The 'if you build it they will come' approach to online selling just doesn't work in 2018.
Just imagine that every website in the whole world was a actually a heap of papers clipped inside a manila folder. Now all those files are stored in a massive filing cabinet the size of a planet. How are you going to find the not just the file you need, but the single
page?
Google and the other search engines are really just an index for all those files.
The search engines can only base their index about you by what's on your website. They use the text you write, the images and video you post, and the people who who link to your site, to decide who you are and what you do.
Imagine you're a carpenter and your website says "Hi, I'm Alex and I love making stuff, that's why I do what I do. I love my customers and strive to serve them better every time. Get in touch today, let's work together". Do you think google will rank Alex as a carpenter?
Search Engines are businesses just like you and me and they make their
own rules about how they index stuff. They make money by attracting people to use their search tools and then sell advertising space above and below the search bar.
Naturally everyone wants their website or blog to be right at the top if someone searches for a product or service they sell. Manipulating your website to impress Google, Bing and Yahoo et al is called Search Engine Optimisation or SEO.
I'm sure you've heard of it. SEO is a bit like the lost city of Atlantis: everybody's heard of it and have a vague idea of what it is (and a few crazies spend their whole life searching for it). But in reality (unless the search Gods decide to make their algorithm's public) we can never really know how to completely prime our websites, our best guess is all that's available.
So your takeaway is this: make sure the text on your website describes who you are so a robot can understand it and, don't believe ANYONE who tells you they can guarantee SEO results.
Client Profile: Vindurance Sports Foods
This week I'm featuring a new innovative sports food manufactured in Australia. Vindurance Kick Gels. Each of these nifty little sachets of high energy sports foods, packs a nutritional punch for endurance athletes and extreme sports enthusiasts. They're also great for bushwalkers and remote campers who want a lightweight snack that tastes great.
The cool thing about these energy gels is that they are
natural and made from Australian wine grapes. So they actually taste amazing and like real food. My clients were kind enough to send me some sample packs to try, and Jerry and I have given them the thumbs up!
Like all my clients, the people who designed and now manufacture Vindurance Kick Gels are great people. I love working with people who are ethical and down-to-earth, and also deliver a product that creates real value in the
world.
Please spread the word about Vindurance to your sports fiend friends, relatives and colleagues. Visit their website today.
A lot of my readers won't know I worked for years as a venue manager and HR professional in the Australian hospitality for almost 16 years. During that time I screened, interviewed and hired lot of candidates. And I saw a lot of really bad resumes. I suppose that's why I completely love writing resumes, CVs and Linkedin profiles for people, and helping them really showcase their skills and abilities well. I really felt for a lot of
the candidates who just didn't know how to present themselves well. Check my website for more details if you need a resume or know of anyone who does.
