My mother has been reading mine. My blogs aren't private, after all, and anyone with working knowledge of search engines will find my blogs if they really wanted to.

My mom has been reading my blogs. I don't know for how long. But that she--

1. suddenly competently talks about "blogging" and
2. gives me details about the life I've been hiding from my family

--means that this is a relatively recent development. Entire life histories can be read in one sitting if one has the time and the patience-- and with her children, Mom has all the time and all the patience. And an insatiable desire to know what we're about.

I can lay this sudden spurt of internet-savvy in part on the recent brouhaha involving a local media person who practically insulted the whole Philippine overseas worker community. When she got flamed, it made the news. I saw a talk show discussing that on 1 September.

I'm not angry that she's found them and is reading them. She'll always be a snoop--comes with being a woman and being in government. And while I'm stuck here preparing for my business to start, I can only surrender to the inevitable. I can make a new blog but she'll ferret it out sooner or later with her new-found ability to use a search engine. She can bypass the privacy filters by reading my blog over my shoulder when I pass out in front of my terminal. I really don't have the energy or the money to make the effort to blog outside the home: that time has long passed.

I put up my blogs so that other people can have a window into my thoughts, so that I can continue studying myself, so that when I shuffle off the mortal coil there will be something around to testify that I was alive. If those "other people" include my mom and the Evil Marketing Man, then so be it.

It's kind of a relief when you think about it. If this means that it will be easier for Mom and me to understand each other, then this situation may have its merits after all. It's going to be inconvenient, but I won't be running from it if there is a chance that we will still our acerbic tongues, or have a better mother-son relationship.

I'll admit, the chance is slim. But if it ain't zero, I'll take it any day. I've lost too many friends already.

* * *

I generally don't ask people I hold in high regard for their blogs' URLs. I generally don't look for them. I'd like these people to have a space on the web that is all their own, inviolate. One that doesn't have me breathing in it. I want to be sure they won't have to edit or heavily restrict these blogs just to keep me out.