I made one of those “O-M-G” mistakes today, actually, just a few minutes ago. You see, the adventurous and software-tinker that I am, I have decided to move our family website MarmolOnline.com from Freewebs.com to another self-hosted WordPress blog. My webhost’s 1.5GB of space allocation is barely used at only 3.26MB for the website and only 1.26MB for my logs. So I thought, I’d better transfer the family website to my paid host. I initially wanted to make a photoblog but changed my mind. Everything was going well, including the changing of nameservers since the MarmolOnline.com domain is registered at HostPapi, and my webhost is StartLogic so I had to manage my domain from within my webhost. Shortly after verifying that the new domain control is working, I installed WordPress under the MarmolOnline.com adapted domain. I of course want to install it at the root directory. The installation prompted me to check if I was certain since the same application is already installed ( the one used by ADayInTheLifeOfRJ.com ). I didn’t know what came upon me that prompted me to tick on “Confirm installation on existing directory”. I ticked the darn thing without second thoughts. It must be sheer stupidity or maybe I wasn’t myself that time. After doing that, I immediately felt that “oops..oh dear! shoot me!” moment. I checked my ADayInTheLifeOfRJ.com url and lo and behold! — it’s gone! gone with the wind! gone forever! I sat in front of the screen like a stone.. what the %^%&^%*???!!! How incredibly and unbelievably stupid can I get?? What was I thinking? Or was I even thinking?? Oh my dear Lord.. all those stupid podcasts, all those junk entries..no matter how insignificant it might be to other people, those to me are freakin’ priceless.. I have been spending hours trying to fix that darn site’s layout and now, all for nothing? “This can’t possibly be happening!” I thought, there has to be a way to undo this stupid mistake. And oh, what a relief when I remembered that I incidentally signed-up for a “site restore” feature / add-on service at StartLogic. Never have I ever been so thankful for paying extra for such a feature that until this day, I thought I didn’t need and shouldn’t have paid for in the first place. One click of a button and presto! My site is back like nothing horrifying ever happened. Whew! That was the closest I got to total freak-out. I almost gave up blogging, all because of that incident. Seriously, if I didn’t have it fixed, I was swearing not to blog anymore lest I end up nuking all posts that took me months to write in only a fraction of a second.. Today, I learned a lesson, and learned it the hard way. Never, in my wildest dreams will I ever tick on a “confirm installation on an existing directory” again unless I am 101% sure. Thank God it’s over. And thank God for “restore”.
● About Me
I’m RJ Marmol — writer, musician, and independent creator based in Manila.
I write songs, essays, and books about the messy overlap between money, overwhelm, creativity, identity, and rebuilding. Much of my work circles around what happens when life stops feeling manageable — and how we try to think clearly, make decisions, and keep moving anyway.
I’m also the author of Rebuilding Under Debt: Thinking Clearly When Everything Is a Blur, a nonfiction book published under Steady Hand Press. The paperback edition is listed under my full publishing name, Cecilia Regina Aquino Blanquera.
On the music side, I release work as HeyRJ. On the writing side, this site is where I gather my books, essays, notes, and whatever I’m building next.
Music
HeyRJ is my sonic soul project. I create raw, minimalist-style and deeply personal music interpretations that feel like a late-night conversation with your truest self.
By blending lo-fi acoustic textures with poetic honesty, my work explores love, loss, grief, healing, and the quiet in-betweens of life. Each song is a letter — a journal entry — a gentle companion for when the world feels too loud or too quiet.
While my catalogue began with intimate cover renditions, my work is increasingly being shaped by original writing, drawing from years of poems, lived questions, and emotional survival.
“Stuck Home Syndrome” released on March 20, 2026 is my first original 20-track album written during a period when time felt compressed and days began to blur into each other. The songs came from sitting with thoughts that had nowhere else to go — unfiltered, repetitive, and sometimes uncomfortable. It’s a concept album that isn’t built around singles or polish. It’s closer to a continuous inner monologue, recorded with minimal production and very little ornamentation and meant to be listened to as one cohesive body of work. The goal wasn’t to resolve anything, only to document how it felt while it was happening.
On May 29, 2026 I released new original singles – “Rapturous”, “Uh Huh”, “Look At You”, “All That” and “Blew Print”. I continue to release both original and cover songs and intend to so for as long as I can so check back every once in a while — you might. just find something you’ll like.
For business inquiries relating to music, email me at: heyrjmusic[at]gmail[dot]com or my personal email at: rjmarmol[at]gmail[dot]com.
Books
Rebuilding Under Debt: Thinking Clearly When Everything Is a Blur
A nonfiction book about what debt does to the mind — and how to begin functioning again when financial stress has made everything feel blurred, urgent, and overwhelming.
Rather than treating debt only as a financial math problem, the book explores the emotional and cognitive realities of financial distress: shame, decision fatigue, avoidance, panic, relationship strain, and the difficulty of making sound decisions while mentally depleted.
Published under Steady Hand Press. It’s available worldwide in ebook and paperback formats on Amazon. Bookstores and libraries can also be order it wholesale via Ingram.
Contact
For book-related inquiries, media requests, bookstore questions, or discussion-group invitations, you can reach me through the contact page on this site or send me an email to rjmarmol[at]gmail[dot]com or hello[at]steadyhandpress.com
RJMarmol.com - Since 2008. 