Hi, guys! Here's my short 'getting you to know me'.
I am Yvonne Novela. I hail from the southern province of Bicol. I am a true and blue blooded Bicolana and my hometown is Sorsogon City.
Our place is famous and known nationwide for its PILI NUTS. Mind you, I'm not a NUT! Hard headed? Maybe. LOL!
My main purpose of joining Steemit is just to "tease" and kid around with my Filipino blogger friends 
Kidding aside, I really gave it some thought if I were to reveal my true identity to you guys. I also read the Steemit FAQ that said concealing your identity ISN'T mandatory.
For me, it is NOT for money that I blog. I don't care if I earn something or not. I also don't adhere to the 30-minute curation window. Talking about the 25% curation rewards, I would not mind to donate half of the reward to the author as long as I can cast my vote at anytime. I am a generous fellow you know. I would be more extremely delighted to give rather than to receive. LOL!
Some time November last year was when I received my first Steemit REWARDS. I didn't really give it serious thoughts. I surmised 50% SBD and 50% SP rewards are individually multiplied to the current price. Hahaha! It was only when 
My thinking and understanding then was the other way around. LOL! Gosh guys, I wasn't the great "mathematician" I thought I was after all. LOL! I remember my grade school years where I was dubbed as the "class mathematician". I even over shadowed our class valedictorian when it came to Math.
As a newbie, I always draw my inspiration from our top earners, whose wallets make me drool. LOL! Not with envy though, but for me to fish for ideas and techniques on how they successfully manage their Steem Dollar (SBD), Steem Power (SP) and Steem.
~ HOBBIES ~
Enough of "business" talk, guys. Let's shift gear to HOBBIES. Filipinos are generally fond reading pocket books, writing poetry, stamp and coin collecting, sketching and painting, sports, beach bumming, karaoke singing, music in all its entirety, malling, food tripping, bar hopping and of course today's in thing - mixing it in with Tweeting, Facebooking and online buying and selling.
I am sure there are others more I may have missed. Well for me, I loved playing my guitar and singing when I was in high school. But not anymore. With no more practice, my vocal chords are no longer tuned for karaoke singing. But who knows someday and with much practice, I'd give you a sample of my singing prowess. I am sure you guys would LIKE my singing (...but not necessarily LOVE it). Hahaha!
Poetry and Sketching aren't my cup of tea.
Whenever I am told to draw say, a person or animal, oh my gosh... the end result would be an absolute disaster! My subjects would look like pathetic, crippled and disfigured aliens from outer space. LOL! However, during my elementary school days, the better side of me in DRAWING was when I got fond of sketching all sorts of fish. I guess it's because of my passionate love for all kinds of fish cuisine and delicacies.
POETRY? For me, those who are exceptional in writing poetry are mostly (not all) quite emotional and sentimental individuals. Poetry is the expressive outlet of their inner feelings and perceptions as they see it. I sure love to read poetry a lot and sometimes I even get carried away. But to write, I don't think I am cut-out for that.
Laughter is the best medicine.
One of the hobbies I like best is reading and telling wholesome JOKES of all sorts. I also like sarcastic jokes or high IQ or intelligent jokes. I throw them at smart alecs, ego trippers and especially to men who think they are God's gift to women. Hahaha! In a group, I can't stand and cope with serious talk. The livelier the group the better for me to crack jokes. Guys, always remember this - "LAUGHTER IS THE BEST MEDICINE"! Hahaha!
Another hobby of mine is SEWING. I was introduced by my mom to a sewing machine and its usage at a tender age of 5 years old. I quickly grasped how it operates just by intently observing my mom everytime she's at work on the machine. And when she's away from home, I would patiently probe the machine until I felt confident to go "hands-on".
One day when mom went to market, I took the chance to "conquer" the sewing machine. I got one of my old jeans and cut it into shorts. Then I got to work on the machine for the finishing touches. And voila - my new pair of shorts! Up to this very day, sewing has been and will always be my worthwhile hobby.
At around the same age I started my sewing hobby, I also got hooked into another new hobby - SWIMMING. Yes, I love to swim a lot too! This favorite hobby of mine keeps my body figure in tip-top shape. Swimming is said to be the most ideal sport or exercise. Every inch of muscle is at work.
I was born a beach bum as our home is a stones-throw away from a pristine coastal sea shore. I learned the basic rudiments of swimming by myself (take note: BY MYSELF), as a little girl of 5.
I still vividly remember swallowing perhaps a ton of sea water while still learning to float. Hahaha! And mind you, the shallowest part of the water was more than 6 feet deep. After sometime, I mastered the water and was swimming like a little mermaid. Guys, above are some pictures of "my seashore" just to give you an idea.
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHY is another hobby of mine that I find simple, enjoyable and the EASIEST. Just go click click click and capture the subject of your desire on film or video. Initially, I used my digital camera when filming, but now, I am content just using my trusty and handy iPhone camera.
With finger's crossed, I hope to make it big someday with Steem/SBD. Then, I'd reward myself with the best DSLR, Drone and Sealife Cameras that my hands can lay on. LOL!
BLOGGING is a hobby that provides me with the greatest challenge of all. It's all about writing and ironically, I really disliked essay writing in both the Filipino and English languages during my school days. Despite that, I still manage to get passing grades for my essays and theme writings.
When I first started office work, I would first make drafts of office correspondence and e-mails to customers and present them to my superiors for review and finalization prior submission to our clientle. I have to make sure all my outgoing communications must be factual, accurate and grammatically correct.
Working for an AVIATION company, most of our clients and customers belong to the highest echelons of commerce and industry. Mediocre communications are a big no-no.
Luckily, I worked for a company that treated its employees as ONE BIG FAMILY. We were closely knit and practiced excellent teamwork. Our bosses and superiors were very approachable and were always ready to give a helping hand. Because of their guidance and mentoring, I was able to hone my skills in writing and communications. I really learned a lot. So, after several years of office work, I decided to go on my own.
Enter my BLOGGING "career". I started blogging with FanBox (now Empowr) in 2012. During that time, plagiarism was an accepted norm in blogging. So, I just kept on plagiarizing for about a year. Thereafter, I lost interest and I just gave up and deleted my account. LOL! Then, I switched to the now defunct Bubblews. It was here where I blogged on my own, sans plagiarism. I had to write no less than 400 CHARACTERS. Wow! That I really found hard! LOL!
It wasn't long and I hopped to PostAnyArticle, which is also currently defunct so I went to PersonaPaper (they stopped paying) prior to my joining other sites like bitLanders, BlogJob (they suspended their rewards program) and LiteracyBase (This particular site was the WORST of the bunch for me. So bad that I deleted my account with them in less than 24 hours from joining. LOL!).
My marked improvement in blogging was with bitLanders. Aside from submitting written articles, I had to support them with videos and images for their review in order for me to increase my earnings. Moreso, the bitLanders content reviewer is one whom I consider a "terror" when it comes to meticulously checking my blogs. Hahaha! But because of this quality control measure, I took my blogging to the next level. I felt even more challenged to produce sensible, appealing and interesting blogs with all the bells and whistles to go with it.
I invite you to visit my blogs past and present. Just go to www.yvesplanetalk.com and https://yvonnenovela.wordpress.com
So there you have it, guys. I've said quite enough of myself. Hope to read from you too.
Happy Steeming!
Images are my own