I was on my way home from picking up my brother from school when my phone rings,

"Hello, good afternoon. Is this [insert my full name here]?"

"Yes, who is this?"

"Hello, this is [insert his name here] from [insert company name here]. We would like to know if you're interested in pursuing a career with us."

(mind whirrs with the possibility of employment... but lags)

"I'm sorry, but what company did you say again?"

"[insert company name here]"

(can NOT, for all teh shit, remember that name)

"...Ms. [insert my surname here]"?

"I'm sorry, but I can't seem to recall when I submitted my resumé to your company."

"Oh, we received it last January 16th through jobstreet.ph."

(long pause)

"...Ms. [insert my surname here]"?

"I'm sorry. I'm on the road right now. Can I call you in about 30 minutes?"

"Of course. We'll call you again in a while."
( Read more... )

Photo collage credits: MorgueFile.com & IStockPhoto.com.

"To follow without halt, one aim; there is the secret of success. And success? What is it? I do not find it in the applause of the theater; it lies rather in the satisfaction of accomplishment." ––Anna Pavlova

“The secret of success is constancy of purpose.” ––Benjamin Disraeli

"The best motivating is self-motivating.The guy says,"I wish someone would come by and turn me on."What if they don't show up?You've got to have a better plan for your life." ––Jim Rohn

"Oh, shut up already." ––Me

That's what happens in my head whenever I try to think about my future. It doesn't really get anywhere. At the end of it, I find myself depressed. Then I raid the refrigerator. Then I whine when I see how many inches I gained.

I like to blame things like money, time or education as to why I can't get to my dream job. Mostly money though. I talk it out with others and they nod their heads in agreement. Then we hit the nearest fast food joint. Then we whine when we see how many inches we gained.

Late at night, while waiting to fall asleep, conversations like the one above play in my head. And I tell them to shut up because I'm still trying to think of what my dream job is. Then I give up, get up from bed, and raid the pantry. Then I whine when I see how many inches I gained.


*I get the oddest ideas as I'm trying to fall asleep. Last night I convinced myself that I should write an entry every single day, or at least until the end of summer. I figured that I haven't been doing any real writing since I entered university (not that writing for the high school paper was anything "real", but at least it was published) and that if I don't start writing more often, whatever little skill I had will deteriorate. It could have been the heat talking, but at least I'll be more productive.

I think I'm still suffering from post-job fair rush because I practically squealed when I saw this:

"The M++CARD is a Business card which includes memory storage on the rear side of the card. The back of the card is laminated so as to hold a memory card (like Sony M2 Card). Two slits on the card make it possible to snap on a USB adopter, through which this card can be accessed. As per your needs, related data can be stored on this card. Thus, M++CARD can become truly business card, company info card, website card, product info card, portfolio card and so on." (SOURCE)

By simply giving someone your business card you can just as easily give them a copy of your resume, portfolio, company products, etc. I think this will be VERY handy, noh? The article is dated December 2007 so maybe that's why the product isn't as popular as I expected yet, but I'm betting this will almost surely be a hot-ticket item :D

I took P&G's exam yesterday. It was scheduled for the afternoon, so I was planning to drop by a photo place before that to get myself some recent 1x1s and 2x2s.

I woke up around 11am. I had more than an hour to spare for the photos--especially with the 10-minute rush photo technology all these places seem to have--but I didn't. I just arrived for the test much, much too early.

After the exam a friend of mine asked why I hadn't taken my photo yet. After all, I had the time.

"I didn't want to risk it."

"Risk what?"

"Murphy's law."

"...?"

"I didn't want to be late for the exam just in case."

At this he looked at me incredulously and asked, "Why? What is Murphy's law?"

I gave him back the look. I mean really, who hasn't heard of Murphy's Law?

"If anything can go wrong, it will."


Turns out that there's a whole website dedicated to Murphy's. Murphy's Laws Site has the origin and the different applications of said laws. I just found two things in the site that irked me though:

1."Murphy's Law of Thermodynamics: Things get worse under pressure." (LINK)

Like, doi. The second law of thermodynamics already pretty much states this, only without the pressure factor. I think one of my chemistry teachers in high school said it best: "The second law of thermodynamics... is that the universe is headed towards chaos!"

2. There's no mention of this guy.

As most of you may know, I have a lot of material wants.

As all of you know, these wants need money.

As some of you may know, one of my greatest fears is bankruptcy.

As very few of you may know, money is used for blackmail in my household.

So OK, that last one is an exaggeration, but it doesn't come without basis. You see, I have been bugging my parents for the longest time to let me have a part-time job. Not because I actually want to work (hell, as if the workload in chemical engineering wasn't enough), but because there are things I want to buy, things that aren't really needed, things that need money.

And, most unfortunately, things that are difficult to ask money for.

The middle child is said to have a "middle child syndrome", characterized by the feeling of being ignored. The youngest is said to be spoiled, which is cute as a kid, but bad when it can turn into dependence and manipulativeness. The eldest? The eldest is, but not usually said, to be guilt-tripped. Every time the eldest is about to buy something for his/herself, his/her conscience comes into play (usually brought on by early childhood nagging care of parents) and decides against it, and uses the money for his/her siblings instead.

It's not just me. It's for any older brother/sister who recognizes his/her family positions well.

What am I going on about?

Well, in short, I need money. Money for frivolous purposes. And the only way I can spend that kind of money without feeling the guilt demon? Use my OWN money, not my parents', knowing very well that my parents have to spend on my other siblings too.

So what do you do when your parents absolutely refuse to let you take on a part-time job? That, they actually considered increasing your allowance instead?
[--screeching halt--]
Yes, they offered. But if you've been in this house long enough, you'd know that comes with strings attached. Bigger blackmail in a way. Every time we'll come into an argument they'll bring that into the picture and use it against me. Its. Not. Worth. It.

Well, I've considered sneaking around. Internet content writing, as Mocha so kindly enlightened me about, is a decent-paying part-time job. Plus there's an offline payment option so my parents will never have to know (I can't opt for online since that deals with bank accounts, mine of which is a surrogate of my mom's, so every single damn purchase I make passes through her hands first). The sad part? There's a big deduction for the transfer. Anywhere from 5%-15% depending on the distance, and that's not even counting my own fare to get to the cash transfer place.

I've brought this up with my mom, and that's when they set up the offer of increasing my allowance instead. Instead of receiving my weekly allowance, I tell them how much I actually need per month, they'll marginalize it, and it'll be up to me to decide on what to do with the margin.

Dandy, right? WRONG. My mom had used P5k as an example, but quickly adding in that she won't give me THAT much (i.e., when pigs fly), so that would leave about say P2k for savings. P2k??? Fuck. I can get that whole P5k by myself IF THEY'D JUST LET ME GET MY FREAKIN' JOB.

On that note, I've already received my first offer, and am having qualms about it. It's 50 texts, each a different topic, 2000 characters each without spaces, about 1 week's work, instant P5000. My ish? That if I decide to accept it while still sneaking around behind my parents' backs, I'll have to give up a huge percentage for transfer fees, and that I'll only get my pay after the client receives all 50 texts.

Should I take it? I need to reply soon--after all, its a one-time job, although the client has implied a "long time cooperation" depending on my performance. Comments please :(

(Oh, & because some people don't seem to understand English, here are the issues at hand):
1) HINDI ACAD LOAD. given na yun na hindi ko toh prinoproblem kasi nga hindi ako maghahanap ng trabaho kung hindi ako willing ito icompromise.
2) SNEAKING BEHIND MY PARENTS BACK. including the western union issue, kasi magtataka sila bakit ako dumadaan dun lagi. note that i truly do believe that all secrets are bound to be found out, and that its only a matter of time.
3) MAY BAWAS YUNG BAYAD KO DAHIL OFFLINE SIYA.
3.1) MAY PAMASAHE/GASOLINA PANG EXTRA. PUPUNTA NGA KASI AKONG WESTERN UNION EACH TIME E. (though, if what their website says is true, i can find a way to work around this.)
4) I DON'T KNOW HOW MONEY TRANSFER SERVICES SUCH AS WESTERN UNION WORK. (could be easily solved, so this doesn't count much as an issue. i just wanted to reach #5.)
5) ITS A ONE-TIME OFFER, WITH A JOB AVAILABILITY FOR ONLY ONE PERSON.

So really, #s 2 and 5 are the ones I really have to deal with :(