Last year, I begged Jun Asis for an extra ticket so I can bring my wife to the 2007 Philippine Blog Awards. He was nice enough to pull some strings, and bend a few rules to accommodate a stranger’s request. This year, I won a special BlogBank award. Noemi says (via Plurk) that it’s a cute award and that it suits my personality. Thanks for the vote of confidence, Noemi. If you want to see a complete list of winners, click here.

The next blogger I met after Jun was another Jun: Juned, that is. At that time, the “prayer controversy” was burning the online forums and everyone seemed to have a point. Nostalgia Manila was complaining about his representative being mistreated, though I think it was all a misunderstanding. They sorted it out just as quickly as tempers flared. ‘Ah, so this is how the blogger egos collide!’, I said to myself. So I wondered if I would behave that way when I “join the majors”? A little more than a year after starting my blog (and $17 dollars in total adsense earnings since then), I still haven’t figured out how to put Google Analytics to my blog. How could I even dream of “playing with the big boys (and girls)” of the Philippine Blogosphere? However, this award has given me the opportunity to learn from them and they made me realize how much more there is to know about blogging.

This year, I have met some of the most brilliant bloggers who are out to change the Blogosphere as we know it. There are haters and lovers, but best of all, there will be change. Like a rabid fan, I watch the Blogosphere evolve constantly with every event, with every product launch, and with every award. The rules for next year’s awards will change and the standards will be redefined. Today’s trash could be next year’s treasure and vice-versa, but that’s a little too far off to worry about. No matter what people say, I will hang my plaque on my wall and smile my biggest smile each time I look at it. I hope to give this award next year to someone who is more popular, but with a more obscure blog. It’s all up for grabs, dear bloggers and readers. But for now, it stays with me.

Thank you very much to everyone at BlogBank and the 2008 Philippine Blog Awards! Good night.