I woke up this morning, grabbed my morning coffee and was sitting down to let the caffeine wake up my sleeping brain neurons when my dad told me he had accidentally opened an envelope meant for me and passed me the mail. I thought it was just another bank statement when I noticed the distinctive green cheque like printing on the back.
My sleepy brain neurons started to reactivate gradually without the aid of the hot steaming cup of java. I looked at the figure and was immediately jolted awake. Jesus Christ, Buddha and (cannot say the other deity in Malaysia)!
Yahweh eh, er…I mean wahlau eh, I didn’t know I had Google AdSense running!
Well, I did for a while back in the good old days of sixthseal.com before a group of “concerned bloggers” launched a concerted campaign of hell raising in Mountain View, CA for allegedly “endorsing” a drug site. I think they were just jealous coz my traffic back then was very high and I got a cheque just after 14 days of putting AdSense on. 😉
Anyway, I took the ads down from sixthseal.com and…put it elsewhere. Little did that group of bloggers know that the sixthseal.com empire was like The Roman Empire back then. All roads leads to sixthseal.com and all that. 😉 Okay, let limpeh tell you a story from the good old days of blogging:
Well, back in early 2003, when most of you weren’t born yet, if you think of a Malaysian blog, you think sixthseal.com. It’s the brand recognition factor (like Nescafe, Panadol etc) – it was really popular back then and sixthseal.com was on a very aggressive conquest, er…I mean expansion program. I had a forum, a website for helping people write assignments, a dedicated drug blog (the now defunct castitas.com) and many other development projects.
I didn’t even know how many sites I had! Honestly, I had so many domains that I couldn’t keep track of the various development projects I was involved in. I helped a couple of bloggers start up their careers and was one of the PPS core founding members. I had other sites which were “cleaner” than sixthseal.com and thus more acceptable for AdSense. sixthseal.com was always meant to be my outlet of expression.
Thus, I put the AdSense code into my other websites and it did what it does best (making money). However, just like the Roman Empire, the rise and fall of civilizations is a constant in every single endeavor. My readership declined in direct correlation with my escalating drug use and my posts were getting more and more erratic (not in frequency, I always post at least once a day, but in content – it was more and more about drugs).
Thus, the Persians invaded, the Mongols took over, etc etc and fast forward to a year later, I was sent to drug rehab and sixthseal.com was completely taken down (since I can’t renew my hosting from rehab, with them not having Internet access and all). However, the other sites remained online and was actually making money for me while I was in rehab.
My mom told me that there were several other cheques like this that came in during my time in rehab but they threw it away coz it was only about USD 100 or USD 200. WTF! Their justification is that our bank charges for foreign cheques makes it quite useless anyway, but oi, RM 300 or 600 is still quite a lot of money okay?
This cheque had much more and I am still trying to identify which one of my sites is generating this kind of income. Back to the Roman Empire analogy, I will only offer this quote from The Sopranos:
Jewish guy: You ever heard of the Masada? For two years, 900 Jews held their own against 15,000 Roman soldiers. They chose death before enslavement. The Romans? Where are they now? (spits)
Tony Soprano: You’re looking at them, asshole.
I was so excited by this unexpected windfall that I accidentally wore my trainers to work instead of my dress shoes. 😉
Hey ya, congrats of getting the cash =)
Time to belanja your readers? =P
Anyway what you said is true, you were certainly one of the pioneers in Malaysian blogosphere.
Keep it up!
Ha ha reading your blog remind me of the movie 300. The empire strike back huh. Do tell us the site that earn you money, so curious to know.
thank god you wore ur trainers to work! Now that’s interesting.
LOL! i removed mine long time ago. alto my friends do tell me, how they were paid by ads.. i was more like looking at its USD and so forth. i mean not USD is not good. abuthen then whenever i check my ad acc. it was as low as the most after 6 mth there. i only have 70cents. so might as well remove lor 😀 i didn’t know u existed back then. back then only five pioneers from msia i knew off happened to be some friends of mine. Kenny joined in later was a friend of a friend.
The bank charges is not that high. I have gotten cheques for US20 – US30 and I managed to get a substantial amount back after cashing in!
Huaaaaa…makannnnnn!!! 🙂
so did your boss buy your excuse? 😛
Holy fuck! Few hundred USD cheques thrown away just like that, so sayang lah. I cashed some of those cheques before, takes 1 month to clear but the charges are less than RM10 or so, at max also RM50 only. Damn boiiiiiiii…….
Have been following your site for years. Areas of interest in this blog put aside, I’ve always found your site fascinating for various reasons, especially because you’re the pioneer at that time. I know, you know, you are 😉
Never comment here throughout those years but now is the time to say this…
YOU ARE UNDER-RATED
🙁
Windfall?! Wow ~ how much?
ahh congratulations! u know what! i just took out my adsense yday after i checked it has hardly make anything since i put it in.. i guess my traffic is jsut not good enough..
congratulations! adsense really makes money it seems.. uknow what.. i just removed my adsense yday coz i tot its not making any money.
i think my traffic is just too low.
Dude, yes you were, and still are the king of Blog. Excellent writing, plots with a twist that attracts readership from all over the world, from all walks of life, students, businessmen/women, doctors, lawyers, engineers and university professors…you have the charm and mind to start a cult like Ron Hubbard did. Hail to the King!
Arghh! Throwing away cheques?? I fail to see the logic there… Anyways, congrats on your windfall and spend it wisely 🙂
congrats man… 🙂
not bad man quite a nice surprise I might say but your parents throwing them away smh not a good look lol 😛
one of this m’sian blogger was kind enought to put an ad for me when i was still using blogspot. i had it for few days and i didnt like it. it messed up the template. thou i moved to a new one, i still think i need a ‘cleaner’ design. i never had an ad ever since. G, i didnt know those ads can make so much money. if i ever knew..if lah! i probably dont need to study so hard and deal with so many bugs out there!
p/s: ok, i lie. i like my ‘drugs’ 😉
Did you remember you had a domain at limteh.com?
Coincidentally, a year or so before you bought it, me and a fellow blogger had it. Was meant to make it a forum/bulletin board, but in the end didn’t materialized.
And there goes limteh.com.
btw, congrats on your adsense cheque man 🙂
LOL Sound funny how you use Lim Peh. Poh Lim Peh, chia me makan with your extra income. 😉
Yeah man, I started reading your blog when you started in 2003. You Da Man!!!
No one came close. You are still the best.
Finally, sixthseal.com is back! Great to have you back in the blogospher. You are the legend.
Finally, sixthseal.com is back! Great to have you back in the blogosphere. You are the legend.
Finally, sixthseal.com is back! Great to have you back in the blogosphere. You are the legend.
So…when’s dinner? We’ve yet to have the Sheraton Fish Head curry, remember?…Wait till I come back from Kedah!…Next weekend perhaps? LOL!!!
Huai Bin, you can try to email Google adsense about the non-cashing checks you received months ago, they might look up your payment history and resend the new check. Money from adsense is great!
Congrats….HB
Congrats man! Now let’s go and have some good beers 😛
“I didn’t even know how many sites I had! Honestly, I had so many domains that I couldn’t keep track of the various development projects I was involved in”
LOL dude, you never accidentally stumble to your own site and leave any comment heh? 😛 That would be funny!
Wait, Suituapui is right! We yet to have the Sheraton Fish Head!
Huh?? Wahlau weh!! Now HB is thinking to eat grand Oyster, no more thinking to eat the humble Lokans anymore. Hue hue hue… *wink
Hi! Always wanted to comment on your blogs but never did. Procrastinator, that’s me. Anyway, used to visit your old site to read on your “experiments”. Personally, prefer your the *new* you. U also look much better than your Hy**g** days cos’ back then I thought you were errmmmm… (how do I put it..) had preference for similar counterparts? Heeee… *blushing apologetically*
Keep up the superb blogs!
Huai Bin
Am truly happy that things are working out fine for you.
Glad to know that you’re also living the ‘clean’ lifestyle
Any chance of catching up?
Richard ( Green Pastures ) remember…????
congrats! windfall indeed 😀
damn you would have been richer if the checks were not thrown away….lol
YingYang: Hmm…you’ve given me an idea. Wait till the check clears first and I will post along that line. 🙂
Thanks for reading, my friend. Cheers!
Roland: It’s not a blog, the site is not tied to sixthseal.com in any way. It’s more like an information portal of sorts. I don’t even update it anymore.
Sisyphus: Trainers to work are actually quite noticable and incongruent with proper office attire. It’s a good thing the adidas trainers were black so it’s not too obvious. 🙂
(=’.’=): AdSense is good if you have a site with a lot of international visitors and high traffic. It’s perhaps not very suitable for blogs, which is why I’m only running Nuffnang on sixthseal.com. 🙂
Yeah, I was blogging way back in April 2002. I only know of a couple of bloggers then – Jasmine, Stephanie (of Absolutely Fuzzy) and a couple of others.
xes: Yeah, I checked – it’s 0.1% for most banks or something like that. They told me they threw it away coz I was supposed to be in rehab for two years and cheques expire in six months and they didn’t have my bank account details anyway. Oh well.
Which bank do you use?
p-t: Haha! 🙂
suanie: Eh, my boss reads my blog now, my dear Suanie. I cannot answer that question, except through more private channels of communication…like email or IM. 😉
Vince: Yeah, but my dad told me it’s gonna expire anyway so might as well get rid of them and see if can get them to re-send when I’m out of rehab. Which bank are you using for max RM 50 charges?
bert: Heh! Thanks buddy, appreciate the kind comments. 🙂
Thanks for reading, and yeah, I kinda like to be underrated in a sense. Being underrated is better than being overrated any day. 😉
Pixie: Not much, really. It’s nowhere near five figures. 🙂
It’s above 999 and below 10,000. I don’t think you’re supposed to disclose AdSense earnings. That’s the range anyway.
cbenc12: Thanks buddy. Well, AdSense works well for some sites, but not for others. I won’t put it on sixthseal.com since it’ll just clutter the blog up, I’m exclusive Nuffnang for the blog. It’s better to get a local blog oriented advertiser for bloggers.
e: Thanks Ed! That really made my day, cheers for that! 🙂
Reminds me of the ending of Army of Darkness:
Ash: [voiceover] Sure, I could have stayed in the past. I could have even been king. But in my own way, I *am* king.
[Ash grabs girl close]
Ash: Hail to the king, baby.
[Ash kisses the girl]
Cheers buddy!
Julian: I found out that it’s due to cheques apparently expiring in six months. Thanks mate!
annant: Thanks, buddy! 🙂
MI!: Yeah, it was quite a good thing. God’s Providence or something like that. 😉 I really needed that money this month.
cynthia: Yeah, some of the ads doesn’t look really good and clutters up the blog. Hey, you can try Nuffnang, the ads contract (disappear) automatically if there’s no rotating ads, so it doesn’t clutter up your space. But you’re in Australia and I’m not sure if they do that. Hmm…
You still need your day job. I still need mine. 😉
alexallied: Yeah, I remember that! I think it expired and now belongs to someone else. I had it for a couple of years and used it as a forum with a protected area for sharing my more intimate drug posts which had moderaters and all that. However, I couldn’t manage to maintain it, it took too much time, even with the moderators helping out.
It expired while I was in rehab and now someone else is sitting on the domain as well as one of the other ones I had that I REALLY liked but expired during my time in rehab as well. Someone else snapped that one up and it’s for sale now. Jesus, I can’t believe I have to buy it back at a jacked up price.
Thanks buddy. Anyway, I was getting limteh.com and bid for hailat.com for RM 2,000 from Alma (who owns the domain) but she won’t sell it. I’m looking at another domain now, but the asking price is too much.
fish fish: Sure, no problem, anytime when you’re in Sibu. 🙂
TL: Thanks for reading, my friend. I started blogging in April 2002 but switched to Movable Type sometime at the end of 2002 and it really took off it 2003. You’re an old skool reader. 🙂
Thanks for the kind comments, my friend. Cheers!
Elaine Chung: Thanks Elaine! I appreciate the kind comments! 🙂
suituapui: You always not free one la. Okay, we see if next weekend works. 🙂
Justin: Thanks for the advice mate, I shall do just that. Cheers! 🙂
sylvia: Thanks sylvia! 🙂
bongkersz: Heh! Sure, anytime you’re in Sibu. 🙂
Nope, that never happened. None of the other sites were blogs, except the now defunct castitas.com (and fireelement.com). I remember only ever having 3 blogs and found out that I can only concentrate on 1. 😉
Cokelatrawkz: We still eat lokan! Here at sixthseal.com, we never forget our roots! =D
Cheekybear: Hello there! Glad to hear from you. Thanks for the feedback, I didn’t even notice I looked a little bit on the gay side when I was on meth. 😉
Thanks for the kind comments, my friend and thanks for reading! Cheers! 🙂
Richard Goh: Jesus Christ! I don’t mean to use the Lord’s name in vain, but I never expected to see you here. I still remember you. Green Pastures, the second rehab I went to!
Yeah, I remember, shall email you. It’s good to hear from you mate.
xin: Thanks! 🙂
Yeah, I’m gonna ask if they are willing to resend the cheques. 🙂
Maybank in Miri charges RM50, vs. Public Bank in KL RM7 or so. But the last time I did this was circa 1999-2002, so things have probably improved, or worsened 🙂
Vince: I think they’re doing 0.1% or something like that now. But then the cheques have to be cleared twice coz the issuing company is different from the bank and the other bank could levy charges. Thanks for the info! 🙂
You should have used channels for your ads, create a channel for each unit on each domain then you’ll know exactly where the income is coming from.
That’s what I do, it’s the only way to know where the effort is worth putting in.
Charges for clearing US cheques differe greatly from bank to bank, Maybank is about the worst I think and CIMB currently the best.
Minimum will be at least about $20USD though to clear any amount.
ShaolinTiger: Thanks for the tip ST! I’m gonna set that up tonight. Channels. I haven’t even logged on to my AdSense account for a very long time.
OMG! Maybank charges the highest? That’s the main bank I use now, and the one I banked the AdSense cheque in. I wish I had gone PB, at least I know the rates for that but the PB outlet over here is too far away for a lunch break visit.
USD 20 for clearing a cheque. Jesus Christ.
Anyway, thanks for the tip, buddy!
wtf
bank processing fee is abt rm25-30 only mar. basically, still free money what. hahahahahhaaa
ur parents quite too much.
naeboo: Yeah, their rational was that I was going to be in rehab for 2 years and cheques have an expiry date and they don’t have my bank account details. I actually got out sooner than 2 years coz it’s like prison – they actually deduct weekends and public holidays for your sentence and you can get early release for good behavior. 🙂
Each time I visit this website there’s something totally new and improved should study from. Haha I’ve experienced your source code many times to understand how you’re doing some things to put them on my site. Thanks! I am able to show you about ways to make money online and.
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