Back to school?

September 8, 2011 by · 2 Comments

I was very studious back then. Something my mother always tells to her friends’ children. Like I’m some kind of a model student. It’s embarrassing because it’s been 7 years since I got my degree and until today, it’s the same old story that she tells neighbors and relatives. LOL. She’s a proud mama. Now, this is not to say that I’m the brainy kind of student. As a matter of fact, it’s the opposite. I needed to study harder to cope up with lessons and other school requirements.

After college, I wanted to enroll in PNU (Philippine Normal University) for further studies. At the time, I felt teaching was my calling. But maybe it wasn’t because I always had reasons to postpone my plans of getting a certification in TEFL. I was busy and I couldn’t leave my job. Then I learned about Online Degree Programs that offer plenty of courses including teaching English as a foreign language. I planned to save for those expensive online schools. But before I was able to save half the price of the tuition fee, I lost interest.

Today, I am no longer interested in becoming a teacher. I just have an inkling that it’s not for me and that my two-years stint in teaching preschoolers is enough. I had a “taste” of it and I enjoyed it a lot so that should be enough. What interest me now is designing web pages. The problem is I don’t have the required skills in Photoshop and coding. I am confused if I should enroll in a real school or in online degree programs in art. I saw a $29-worth e-book that promises to teach everything about PHP, graphics and web customization.

I want that e-book! Although there are tons and tons of tutorials in the internet, I’m so tired of searching for the right solutions to my coding problems. Aside from searching is tiring, it’s also time-consuming. You see, between photoshop and coding, the latter is very difficult. At least, for me. Maybe for you it’s a piece of cake but for me it’s really “brain-crashing.”

Anyway, I saw this link hours ago: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/. The headline says “Get help paying for college.” It made me wonder if such offers are available for non-US citizens? Because I want to send my application. LOL. I wish there was a way to learn web customization without fees and charges. But it seems that I will have to pay for everything including templates, pdf tutorials, graphical elements, etc. Sigh.

Filed Under: a career booger?, a discontented booger, blogging career, buying things i really don't need, Consider This, exploring the world, future plans, in the name of money, money desperate, money well spent, products and services ·

New blog, not again

July 16, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

I have been planning to buy a new domain from a web hosting company. I’m too busy but I want another blog that will chronicle my income from freelancing. Although my basic rate as article writer / virtual assistant / SEO specialist / blogger is not that much (just enough to eat 3 times a day :) ), I think I have to keep a journal where I can track my online earnings.

To tell you frankly, since the beginning until today, I have no idea how much I’ve already earned from the internet. It was something I didn’t consider important. At the back of my mind, it’s okay as long as I’m not hitting below $100 per week. What matters is that I am surviving in freelance. It’s just recently that I realized the importance of knowing how much I’m able to make in a daily basis.

I don’t know if I need to pay for another managed hosting service from my current provider. And I also have not decided yet what domain name to buy. I’m choosing among these domains: (1) www.freelanceearnings.com, (2) www.freelancebread.com, or (3) www.daily20dollars.com. I think option number 1 is brilliant. But I also like number 2 and number 3 sounds special because there is a numeral character in it.

I have until next week to make a decision. After that, I will probably forget about it. As I’ve said I’m so busy. I don’t even have time to update all my existing blogs except for sterndal because obviously, this is my favorite. My webhost is offering me a colocation service but I can’t understand why it’s necessary. Everything seems to be working fine and I’m also avoiding additional fees. Haha.

If you think you need this type of service, check out Superb.net, specially if your website is intended for small to medium businesses. They can help you find a good domain name, host it for you, and they also have a colocation service if you need power, space and connectivity.

Going back to creating a new blog AGAIN, I’m not sure if I still have time to manage another one but I really want. I already have 4 blogs but I don’t have a niche blog yet. So Freelance Earnings or Freelance Bread will be my first, if ever. That is, if these are still available until I make up my mind. Please don’t buy it.

Filed Under: a career booger?, blogging career, Consider This, future plans, in the name of money, money desperate, money well spent, Portfolio, products and services ·

The best decision

July 5, 2011 by · 1 Comment

Looking back, I would say that starting a blog in Blogxi is one of the best decisions I’ve ever made since birth. I could have started in Blogspot or WordPress but I’m glad that I didn’t know yet about those websites in 2008. If I knew, things would have turned out quite differently. I might not be blogging today, not freelancing, and still stuck in a tiny office desk doing clerical jobs. Not that I’m bragging or belittling clerks, I’m just glad that I’m on my own now. No direct bosses. No … secret ;)

Going back to Blogxi, I was sad when the fairy blog mother closed the website. I felt that the friends I met there are not just virtual people but real friends. Good thing, I was already moving to a self-hosted domain during that time. So that cheered me up. There are a lot of web hosts to choose from and Bluehost is one of the most popular and most reputed name in the business. Bluehost is the trusted company of the biggest corporate blogs and websites in the internet. They offer the best in terms of storage capacity, bandwidth, fast connection, technical support, etc., so you won’t have to worry about pages not loading up. Put simply, they have the most reliable servers so your website would run smoothly, without the unnecessary hassles.

Having a self-hosted blog is my best decision ever. It didn’t made me rich. You’d be surprised that most of the things I appreciate in being a freelance writer are not money-related. Like today, it’s raining. It’s cool because I don’t need to go outside, wait in line for a bus ride, and explain to anyone why I’m late again. I just have to sit in front of my laptop, type, write and then wait for Wednesdays to cash out my earnings. Life is simpler. Unlike before when salary is paid every 2 weeks. Weekly payday is fantastic. It makes budgeting much easier. Now that’s money-related. But I’m still not rich :) Just love the idea of work-at-home and not needing to go to office everyday.

Filed Under: a career booger?, blogging career, in the name of money, money well spent ·

A taste of wine – a taste of success

January 10, 2011 by · 4 Comments

Can’t sleep tonight. It’s already 3:57 AM as of this writing and I’m still wide awake. I’m thinking of money. Where will I get money in a way that is not illegal and is not against His will? And yes, in a way that will not force me to work hard. I’m too lazy.

Based on what I have read from the Daily Bread this afternoon, if I asked for something according to His will, He will definitely hear it. And I asked for money. I was inspired by Bo Sanchez, a writer and a great speaker. He said he wants to be a billionaire (yeah, so freaking bad) because he wants to help the poor people of the Lord by building houses for them and by feeding them. I’ve a different purpose though. But kinda similar. I want to a build a free school for the little children here in the squatter’s area where I live. A school that will focus only in the English subject. Why English? Because I know that being fluent in that language will take them to good places. They’ll have better opportunities in life, chances which I never had because my English is soo barok.

Then I checked my email a few hours ago and saw that my employer is offering me xxx pesos per hour for writing articles for him. Considering that I’m just an amateur writer, that’s actually too much. Or, perhaps it’s just fair because the topic that he wants me to write is highly technical and will require a lot of researching and thinking. So, xxx pesos per hour is just fair. Is it time to celebrate then? I’ve never tasted wine since birth but now I want to drink a whole bottle because of happiness. Maybe I need a wine advisor to know what kind of wine tastes best?

So anyway, I am happy and bothered at the same time. More bothered than happy, actually. Bothered because I can’t possibly build a school! The thought that He gave me this job to accomplish my aim of establishing a free English school is frightening me. Maybe I’ll just donate some of my income in charity works and convinced them to build an English school. But I can’t build a school. And I’m also bothered because I’m not sure if I can keep up with my employer’s expectations.

But wait …

Whatever you read from my blog, don’t take it seriously. Writers are a bunch of crazy of people who write at wee hours of the morning talking about nonsensical things that matter. Thank goodness, I’m not a writer.

Filed Under: Consider This, future plans, in the name of money, money desperate, money well spent, personal thoughts ·

I’m going to be a writer

December 18, 2010 by · Leave a Comment

My dream of becoming a full-time freelance writer is going to materialize soon. As much as I am very happy and excited about this once in a lifetime opportunity, I’m also apprehensive about my skills and what I can give back to my employer. I know I got this job out of luck and not because I’m good or whatever. Certainly, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of excellent writers out there who are just waiting for something like this to happen so this makes me unsure if I can really meet my employer’s expectations even if I give my best. I mean, of course, I’d really give my best but the question is “will it be enough?’

Anyway, his basic requirements are quite simple. First, I need a cellphone because we need to communicate once every two weeks to discuss the progress of the job. If you’ve been following my blog, I’ve mentioned in the past that I don’t own a phone. But since I need it, and this is something I consider as an investment, I purchased a pre-owned phone a few hours ago. Nokia 1100. So, simple phone, check! Second, I need a stable internet connection. I guess everybody knows, as in EVERYBODY KNOWS, that Smart Broadband is such a crap, good as garbage. So, the next thing I have to look at is the best internet connection in my area. I’ve plans to try out PLDT MyDSL or Sky broadband but whichever, they all suck anyway.

Now, if musicians have music business cards, writers have portfolios. Sadly, I am still on the process of building up my portfolio so I couldn’t present one. Good thing, he said it’s not required :) What he wants me to consider is to have another computer which will be used for this project. My laptop will be used for writing and the other for testing and research. I will be writing about dot dot dot and I will need a linux-operated computer to be able to experience first hand the things that I will be writing about. This is the scariest part because I’m not a very “techie” person. I’m not a software engineer for heaven’s sake! LOL.

Surely, some things are private and I just can’t announce in my journal. I just wanted to share what has been happening to the person behind this blog but I do not intend to boast or make you envious haha. I feel like I owe it to those few people who’ve been following my blog, so that’s like 3 or 5 persons, not really sure how few but this is my way of saying thank you, by sharing the details of my life.

Here is the problem: I’m extremely busy reading about Cisco, Asterisk, Linux, PBX, Telephony, etc. that I no longer have the time to update my other blogs. Like now, I’m itching to update Love is Paris, but I’m busy writing this super difficult topic. Another problem, before I meet my employer in person, that’s on Tuesday, I need to finish two articles which I am currently doing. And there are other things that are brewing on my mind right now. Somehow, I feel lost :( So, it’s really a mixture of emotions.

Filed Under: a career booger?, a discontented booger, blogging career, Consider This, exploring the world, future plans, in the name of money, money well spent, personal thoughts, talking booger ·
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