Saving for the future

July 19, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

To say that I own my time just because I do freelance is foolish. I now realized that for freelancers, time is very important. When I was still working as an employee, I was just waiting for the hours to pass. Please don’t get me wrong. I was working hard but at the back of my mind I couldn’t wait for the clock to hit 5PM, then go home and just forget about paper works.

In freelance, there are no weekends, there are no holidays, there are no days off. There are no Mondays to hate and no Fridays to look forward to. There are no vacation and service incentive leave. But to say that we don’t care about hours and days is just plain idiotic. You know how people tell you not to bring your problems from work to home and vice versa? Well, tell me how am I going to apply that with the nature of my present job :)

Anyway as I’ve said, I don’t have time. I’ve been in the writing business for 2 months already and I would like to start saving at least 10% of my income in the coming months. Earnings are good but I’m still on a phase where I just want to enjoy and keep things “light.” But I do have some plans of depositing modest amount of money to my Savings Account soon. I’m just in the adjustment phase. Maybe reading savings and financing articles from http://banktime.com/ will inspire me.

I keep on telling myself that now it’s just me. There is no company that would give me a fixed salary every pay day. My salary now is based on how many articles I finished and how many hours I spent for SEO campaigns. No finished article means no food on the table, no chocolate chips, no zesto, no cheese cake … haha! Gradually, I would increase my working hours in Odesk from 20 to 40.

You see, I’m not working much. Last week, I only rendered 22 hours. I earned $101.75 from odesk plus $55 from my blogs. I bought something from the internet for $5, so my income less expense is $151.75 (for July 11-17, 2011). Starting this week I will try my best to render at least 40 hours. I have enough tasks, it’s my laziness that’s getting in the way. Help me Lord :)

PS. I really need a new blog. I’ve toyed with the idea of buying www[dot]freelanceearnings[dot]com but I don’t want to subtract another $10.99 dollars from my last week’s income. But it’s going to be an investment. Sigh. Why is it so hard to shell out money these days?

Filed Under: a career booger?, a discontented booger, blogging career, buying things i really don't need, future plans, in the name of money, link-building, money desperate, talking booger ·

Amaya – The Filipino Epic Story

July 5, 2011 by · 7 Comments

Caution: I only watch shows in GMA 7 and QTV 11 so for the purpose of not sparking World War III, don’t read this if you’re a Channel 2 fan :)

First, I really think that the team behind this soap opera is brilliant. I loved Encantadia, Mulawin, and Dyesebel. Those TV programs are the best. And now I am currently hooked with Amaya. Not only me but the whole family and the entire neighborhood as well. Yup. Even my neighbors are watching Amaya.

  • Story – definitely not boring. The writers are really creative. From princess to slave to a great warrior. There are a lot of scenes to look forward to. We feel bad every time there are commercial breaks but we do understand that the show needs advertisements. Hehe. The twin-snake makes the show more intriguing.
  • Dialogue – I appreciate that the characters converse in traditional/old Tagalog with bits of Visaya and Muslim. Actually, I don’t know what kind of dialect they are speaking but it’s interesting to hear again the words which I’ve almost forgotten now. Like tagna for prophesy, balay for house and many other words which are pure Tagalog. I also learned new words such as bai for princess, uripon for slave, etc.

Credits: pep

  • Cast – if I’m not mistaken, a lot of them are theatrical actors and actresses. I’m quite sure I’ve seen them in Sarzuelas and theater shows before. Anyway, Marian Rivera is very pretty. She’s half Spanish, so not exactly a Filipina beauty. But her acting is more than okay. She’s perfect for the role. It’s disappointing that Raymond Bagatsing’s role was short. He has a superb talent in acting. Same with Gardo Versoza and Gina Alajar. I also like Sheena Halili. She’s so cute.
  • Costume – amazing, fantastic, excellent. Need I say more? Haha! I read somewhere that the bahag attire is an insult to the Filipino people. The writer said it would be humiliating for other countries to watch Amaya and see us wearing almost nothing. That made me laugh. From what school are you from? Filipinos really wore that outfit hundreds of years ago. For me, the costumes that they are wearing in Amaya are beautiful. Not only the clothes are colorful, they also represent our culture. This is how our ancestors dressed in the past and there is nothing shameful about that.
  • Parental guidance – I’m not sure if Amaya is recommendable to grade school kids. The show is a reflection of the Filipino culture but it contains violent scenes so I don’t know. It’s up to the parents if they would allow their child to see it or not.

To wrap things up, Amaya is one of the best Filipino soap operas in this genre. It’s 100% Pinoy. It’s already tiring to see dramas which are influenced by the western culture. So Amaya is like a breath of fresh air to me.

Filed Under: Consider This, family matters, movies and flicks, talking booger ·

Pay or Die

May 29, 2011 by · 4 Comments

Don’t even think about it. You will have to pay my $110 on June 1st or else I’m going to pester you FOREVER until you concede and pay the money which I’ve worked hard for. Or better yet, I’m going to delete all the links in the sponsored posts which I wrote for you. And every time I will find the time to blog, I will always blog about how you scammed me and why other bloggers shouldn’t trust your company. I know it’s not due date yet but what the f*! My instinct is telling me that you are planning to scam me. Plus the things I read about you from the net is kinda confirming my suspicions. I hope I am wrong. I hope that what they say about you is not true. I hope that this is just me getting paranoid. I still hope that you’re going to send the full payment on the first week of June. But until June 1, I have no right to reveal your name. Or maybe until the second week of June. You actually remind me of Sally (that’s her real name). She always tells me that she’s going to pay her debt on this day or on that day but after more than a year of false promises, she still hasn’t paid the money which she owes me. That’s the reason why I revealed her true name. She’s a shameless b*tch who doesn’t know how to pay back. I will understand if she still can’t afford to pay her debts. But she’s really a heartless byotch. One time she told me her nephew is in the hospital so the money which she was supposed to pay me went to the medicines, bills, and I don’t know … she’s a liar. Anyway, I told her that I understand and that I am willing to wait until next payday. Thing is, a few days after our conversation, I just saw her wearing a new pair of sandals which she bought from one of our officemates. The total price of the sandals is P700 for two pairs. GRRR 2 pairs and I cannot even afford one. P350 each. To think that I even suggested installment basis, P100 every 5th and 20th. Now, if she has some plans of paying me back, she could have just gotten a pair then given me P100. Her debt is not that much. Just P1400. Yes, it’s not much but it’s something. I’m not rich! But wait, there’s more! That’s not the only incident. On other occasions, she told me she’s going to pay TOMORROW and I was so stupid to be all excited and happy only to realize that tomorrow is SATURDAY! No work =( Truth is, I’ve already forgotten the other incidents when she intentionally lied to me. So, yeah. Sally’s face is so thick she deserves a big exposure in my blog. Going back to my $110, YOU, yes you! Send me the full amount on June 1 or I’m going to give you plenty of exposures in all of my 4 blogs. All you people who don’t know how to pay, why can’t you just die, huh? Sally thinks she outsmart me. People also say that I’m stupid. But here is what I know: I’m working hard as in really hard to sustain myself. I don’t need to scam other people to earn money. They say I’m stupid because I cannot force Sally to pay her debt. But I will never be ashamed to face any of them because it is SALLY who should be ashamed.

Filed Under: poor spirited, talking booger, what they have to say ·

Brave but not stupid

May 6, 2011 by · 2 Comments

As I’ve said in my other blog, many things are happening in my life right now. Still no love life, though I’m crushing on someone, but I’m still very happy. Life’s almost perfect if not for the wound on my left leg. Eczema :( I can’t believe I’m going to have scars at this age. Yay!

So anyway, it’s raining opportunities, literally. Somehow, I’m already confused on which among these offers to grab. First off, I’ve come to realize that there is really no “asenso” in being an employee. Specially in my case: always best in tardiness, never the employee of the quarter. Haha!
What I’m trying to say is that if I can’t be a role model office staff, then maybe I can be something else. Like a full-time freelancer, maybe?

Since last month, I’ve been sending my resume to companies and offices in Makati. I never intended to work in that place because they said that the people there speak in fluent English and that they are really “sosyal” and all. Not that I’m intimidated. I just feel like I don’t belong there. Joke. Drama! Nothing. In fact, I think Makati is not that glamorous, contrary to popular beliefs. My dream working place is Paris! So, Makati is “so-so” for me. LOL.

Kidding aside, I was invited to 8 job interviews for the position of Copy Writer | Web Content Writer | Content Writer | Online Marketing Writer. Basically, I want to work as a writer in a big company that pays me a minimum of 36K a month. Am I asking for too much? That is the amount that I can earn in a month if I’m going to work full-time in my online jobs. So, if I’m going to work in a company in a full-time basis, they should be able to exceed that amount, right?

Out of those 8 invitations, I went to just one and the rest, well, I was tied up with lots of writing commitments, I wasn’t able to attend anymore. Funny, when the employer asked about my expected salary, I said 18K. LOL. I was too shy to say my real expectation. I was scheduled for another interview this morning but I have writing assignments in Odesk, so I decided not to go.

I am thinking, why do I need to apply for jobs in Makati when I already have a lot of writing gigs online? And I can have more if I wanted to. If I really really wanted to. If I had more time. If I had no full-time job to think about. If only HMO, SSS, PAGIBIG, etc., were not important to me, I would have given up my office job long ago. Freelancers don’t have such benefits. That’s the main problem.

I’m confused. Which is better? To work at home or to work in a company? Hmmmm … I’m single. I have very few responsibilities. I’m renting a small place. My electric and water bills do not cost that much because I’m alone. I eat a lot but I’m happy with Jollibee meals, I mean no fancy restaurants for me. In other words, I only need P500 or $12 a day in order to survive. That’s all I NEED. But I WANT more money for my caprices. Hehe.

I’m currently looking at my options. I can work full-time in my office job and be a part-time freelancer. Or, quit my office job and work full-time in freelance writing, where I truly belong. If I could earn $50 dollars a day, then I’m going to resign now! Haha! But I’m going to work really hard for that huge amount and definitely, it’s not going to come from only one source or just one contract. I’ll need at least 3 long-term contracts in Odesk.

As of now, I have 2 fixed-priced assignments, both employers told me that if my performance passed their standards, they’re going to give me more projects ;) I also have 4 hourly-based contracts and they’re not giving me much tasks but I’m not complaining. I’m able to earn $75 a week for a few hours of writing and editing. Okay, they said there are tons of work to do and that we need to discuss it via Skype. Problem is, I’m online when they’re offline and vice versa. Apparently, the Phillippines and the US have a 12 or 13 hours time difference.

So, do you think it’s possible? Or should I wait for things to be stable first? I can earn 12 dollars a day and more than that. But I doubt if $50 dollars daily is feasible. Haha! My plan is to stay in my full-time job while I’m doing freelance jobs. But holy smokes, I can’t serve two masters at the same time. Eventually, I will have to choose and that time is now. I have to make a decision.

Presently, my target is just $50 a week but if I’m going to work full-time in this online industry, I can raise my target income to $100, that’s $400 a month. What do you think? Well, I think that it’s too small for an amount. Haha! I’m really ambitious. I want to earn $1000 a month. That’s $250 a week. That’s $50 a day. Question is where will I get that $50? I have ideas but I’m going to kill myself writing and blogging. Maybe I should be contented with $100 a week and that’s just 20 hours of writing :)

one more thing, if I’m going to work full-time in Odesk, then maybe I should start accepting very low job offers like this one?

Or maybe I should still accept a full-time home-based job! How about this one?

It’s one my most wonderful job offers. They asked me to submit a sample and until now I haven’t written it yet because after office hours I still need to meet the deadlines in my writing gigs :( Sayang. But I’d still submit my sample article about Korean festivals even if it’s already late. Just so they wouldn’t think that I disregarded them. And then I’ll ask if there is a part-time position as well. Hehe.

Filed Under: a career booger?, a discontented booger, Amour-finding adventures, blogging career, Consider This, exploring the world, future plans, health and body, I'm Just a Human, in the name of money, living life!, money desperate, personal thoughts, talking booger ·

My stand

April 26, 2011 by · Leave a Comment

I used to ignore the RH Bill or republic health bill which made me a useless citizen. Since I’m single, things such as using of contraceptive pills and methods that stop a woman from becoming pregnant don’t interest me. I mean, if only it’s possible to conceive without a husband, I would have given birth to a boy or a girl years ago. Yes, I know it’s possible but becoming a single mother is definitely not one of my many dreams! LOL.

Anyway, I went to my favorite church last week and found some flyers that say “No to RH Bill.” Apparently, the Catholic Church is against it and being a Catholic Christian, the church’s teachings and doctrines influence me a big deal. The Church doesn’t just influence me. I believe that the Church has authority! So now, I am against the RH Bill too.

I’ve heard horrible stories about women dying while giving birth. I really think that the government ought to do something to achieve a zero-death rate during pregnancies. Some women may take drugs without even knowing its harmful side effects to their babies. Like in western countries, zoloft lawsuits are being filed by thousands of mothers. Zoloft is a drug that can result to manic behavior, depression, trouble in sleeping, and suicidal tendencies.

What I’m trying to say is that education will help solve such problems. But I still think that sex education in secondary school is not a brilliant idea. After all, experience is the best teacher. Kidding! I mean it’s a sensitive topic and I agree that only the parents are capable of discussing the subject with their teens ;)

Filed Under: I'm Just a Human, personal thoughts, talking booger ·
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