WordCamp 2008

….was a success! The Philippine leg of the much-awaited WordCamp 2008 by all bloggers around the country was held yesterday at CSB. It felt like I was back to school cause during the Breakaway sessions, we went to 3 different classrooms to listen to the guest speakers on their topics. My favorite breakaway session would be the ‘Organizing & Optimizing Your WordPress Blog’. 😉 The other sessions we went to were the ‘Creating WordPress Themes & CSS Power’ and ‘WordPress as a CME/CMS‘. I wished I also went to ‘Video Blogging with WordPress’ and ‘Blogging & Journalism’ sessions, some of my friends got to watch those.

It felt like we (my friends) were the only ‘teenagers’ on yesterday’s WordCamp. I didn’t see anyone around our age, though there were some 18-year old’s (like me) when I saw a list but still, majority of the bloggers are ‘adults’. I had fun and I learned new things about WordPress! That was the point of going to that show, besides spending quality time with my classmates/bloggers and meeting my hostee and meeting Utakgago (okay I only realized right now that HE’s ‘Utakgago’, rofl). A lot of people brought their laptops with them, and have I mentioned that it was FUN looking at their laptops because most of them were at their Plurk sites? 😛 I saw one laptop with the Twilight layout on it, lololol. Food was yummy, Chowking! 😊

Matt Mullenweg and I

Meeting Matt Mullenweg was surreal, felt like I met a celebrity. 😛 During Matt’s ‘The Future of WordPress’ talk, starting with a presentation called ‘State of the Word’ (COOL!), and on the Future proper, he gave us a preview of what WordPress 2.7 is going to look like. It still looks the same (in terms of COLOR, haha) but there are new features, I like how every WP function can be easily accessed. 😀 After the show, Campers got to have a photo-op with Matt Mullenweg and each camper got the chance to have a one-on-one talk with him. I was not supposed to have a photo with him, but my friends almost pushed me infront of him, I’m just lucky I had something to say and it was the truth! 😛

Me: Hi, Matt! I’m Anna of so-stellar.org
Matt: Hi 😊
Me: I’ve been using WordPress for 4 years now (well it IS true, when I started So Stellar I was using WP already.)
Matt: Oh! Really! *says something I can’t remember :(*
Me: Can I have a a photo with you?

And poof, about 2 cameras were infront of us… HAHAHA. After that, I said thanks (of couse) and gave others a chance with the photo op. After 1 guy, I seem to still be infront of him.. my friends were still holding the camera and making gestures that I should have another shot with him and he asked me if I want to have another photo and I’m like ‘sure sure, yes’. The 2nd photo turned out better than the first one, phew! 😀 I heard him say during the ‘Powwow’ segment to tag his photos that we took using our cameras with his name on it.. how do you do that? Is that even possible? Hahahaha..

It was a very nice experience that I never thought would be even possible. Just thinking that I… got to meet the person who made WordPress! *nerdy moment* I didn’t go the afterparty because it’s too late and I was carrying a lot of stuff already it made me feel tired. I won an umbrella during the raffles. One of my friends won a Google goody bag and I think Utakgago won a domain from .ph! NIIIICEEE!

Some photos from the event. I took a hundred photos, but most of them are just my friends.. who wants to see them except for us right? They’re on my Multiply, lol. It’s time consuming to post photos here the pretty way, haha I have to make thumbnails for each photo. Oh well.

I’m back to school tomorrow! 2nd term of my soph year. After Monday I have 2 days of no classes, haha. I sure hope tomorrow will be fun. My birthday is so so so near, but I don’t know how to celebrate it.. I don’t even have plans of treating anyone. :hmph: Not that I’m selfish or anything, but I don’t want to stress myself .. hehe. Later days!