Mental Debugs

Now this question is for me more than anyone else. It’s been three months since I resigned from call center work in Makati in the hope of sitting in for the May NPTE. As I have heard of the application only in the latter part of November and as the pertinent documents required and fees to submit took time to process and to come by, I was not able to file on time. Now I am jobless. Being one may have been an eight-to-five employees dream: eat, drink, be a couch potato. Sure it sounds great, especially if you have your parents or someone else to support you, but if you’re on your own, that’s when being a bum takes its toll. You’ll have to worry about things you need on a daily basis, the things you need to pay, the countless bills that make its way into your mailbox, bills that have something to do with your credit card, your electricity and water consumption. Aside from that, you begin to worry about the most important of all, food.

Well, three months now and I am still alive and kicking, thankfully. It’s been tough really but I get by. One friend of mine was astounded when I said that I will be resigning and I haven’t saved for the rainy days. He said I would have needed about eight months’ worth of savings to not worry about the financial hurdles that unemployment entails. He is a financial consultant so I see where he was coming from. He was also proud in a way that I will be undertaking something head-on foolishly, something he added he wouldn’t do having calculated the risks. But I took the risks; I am still alive, although with bills towering and neverending.

I have reasons as to why I prefer working at home and part-time, and during the past months I have listed jobs I think I am capable of doing and actually do a fine job out of:

1. Writing – I love writing. Although I haven’t studied the art or technicalities involved in dishing out a masterful work of the Muse, I believe I am still able to convey my thoughts in written form.
2. Editing – This is one job I am looking to do in the long run, even when I have my eight-to-five job. I’ve done editorial work way back college years and held an editorial position for a US-based transcription and captioning company. I loved the job that I worked there for three years.
3. Transcription – I held an entertainment transcriptionist position for a few months prior to getting the promotion as an editor. I believe my being in the allied medical profession and one who is familiar with medical jargon is a plus if the job is for the medical transcription.
4. Online English Teachers – Teaching English to Japanese, Koreans, and the Chinese are lucrative home-based jobs being offered by ESL companies online. I am not bad with spoken English and I had a three-day PT review class back in Zamboanga so I could give being a virtual teacher a try.

Well I scoured the worldwide web to no avail. Working at home entails connections with the right people. There are websites that cater to  jobseekers who bid for home-based jobs like Odesk or Freelancer. But again, you need to be in the field, or be a member for quite some time and/or have already built a reputation, for you to be shortlisted by virtual employers. There is Craigslist too. I’ve tried there. But rumors of scam abound and I am distracted by their “personals” section. Ha! What am I left to do? Strengthen my resolve to get THE job asap or bum some more. What’s no food on the table?!

No not me! How I wish one day I could say that with conviction. Buying a house and lot is one of those really important things a person could want or dream of in a lifetime, including that of the stable and fulfilling job or that successful business of your own and the car to die for. Getting these involve intense hard work and perseverance (especially if you were not born into an affluent family), not to mention time and money, lots of it. I don’t see myself getting any of these as of yet, although a lucrative job is at the offing, but to a friend who is just a year younger than me (I am still in my 20s if you’re wondering), it is now within his hands’ reach. To see him get a place for himself from the fruits of his labor is something someone like me could look upon with pride and brotherly envy, and it is a motivational thrust not just for me but for everyone to aspire for something of the same magnitude as well. One afternoon we were driving around town when he decided to drop off some paperwork for and introduce me to his soon-to-be sweet abode. Like earlier said, his brand new house and lot is just within hands’ reach he can move in as early as two weeks.

His newly acquired property doesn’t cost cheap though. It’s to the tune of P750,000, and he will be paying for it in monthly installments for the next 20 years. Of course, he has the option of paying for it in lump if the finances permit. A commitment of 20 years will probably scare the hell out of anyone and it will take a steady and fairly-paying job to successfully materialize an investment like this, an investment no easy feat, even for someone as young but brave as my friend. I for one dreams of having a house not for myself but for my mom as the place we called home in Zamboanga City was brazen to the ground in the early 2000s. Lately I have been talking with my mom on investing in something tangible and long-term. I feel the urgency in her voice as I have seen how hard life became for us, especially on her, after that incident.  I have come to think of it time and again, as I have the capability, in the long run, of getting a house and lot of my own from a prospective job in the United States. In the mean time, I saw the simple yet beautiful house aground a lot both of which my friend calls his own. I looked at the joy that glows from his face. Imagine, a house and lot at 27. The joy was infectious.