Here I am, a graduate. I finally have a degree earned. I thought the day would never come. It wasn’t too long ago that I was cramming for exams and banging my head against the wall to come up with a conclusion for my thesis. And yet I survived. I really wanted to graduate. I wanted to earn money and help my family in financial matters. My mom was just diagnosed with breast cancer last year so it has been tough. But now that I am a graduate, I finally gained the opportunity to help. Then how come I don’t have the slightest clue as to what to do next? My school days have ended. Where do I start from here?
I am a graduate of Bachelor of Arts in English with a major in Literature. What do I with it? Honestly, I’m not quite sure even until now. All I know is that I love literature. My university had an on campus job fair. To get some direction in finding a job, I applied to several companies. I passed the initial exams and I survived several interviews. Although I was itching to get a job and provide for myself (supposedly like a grown up should), with the jobs I applied for, nothing seemed right. I just didn’t feel like it is what I’m supposed to do. I backed out when it came to the contract signing. A call center agent? A medical or sales representative? A flight attendant? A teacher? It suddenly hit me. How could I possibly fill in such positions when I was already scared of the thought of them? I didn’t want to take a job just to be called a professional either. Ahah! The P word finally came up - professional. Although I valued those learning experiences of job hunting, taking exams, and being grilled by interviewers (I even went to Cebu to find a job that would suit me), I felt utterly lost. I honestly had no idea what I was doing. I just thought it was what a graduate is supposed to do. Well, maybe it is, but it wasn’t for me. I was on uncharted waters.
And so time passed. I took part-time tutorial jobs which was really frustrating. I was tutoring some second language learners of English from different Asian countries, or so I thought. I found myself doing the homework for some of them instead of actually teaching them English. I claim to be no expert on the English language, but my tutees were absolutely bad at it. And it was because of their unwillingness to learn.
And there I was, on my PC, surfing the net, being a bum in my free time (lots of free time). Tell you what, I was good at it. Bumming should be a profession. I was just lying, eating, and watching TV. I also hang out with my friends, a couple of bums too. :lol: From my high school batch of friends, we, the non-nursing students are the ones with nothing to do. We had a lot of spare time. We had movie marathons, went shopping (I only mean window shopping), and slumber parties. Then my friend who just came home from Manila mentioned about how she applied as a freelance writer for Essays.ph. Sounds interesting, right? She said I should give it a try because it was a good way to earn some extra cash. My dad just had the internet installed at our new house, so I thought, “Why not? I had time.”
I applied for the position of home-based writer. And being the nervous wreck that I can be, it took me such a long time to fill out the questions. I was actually scared for some unknown reason. Maybe it was out of habit. I became a Gray Team writer. I couldn’t take an assignment for a couple of months because I had the flu and my tutees were demanding more than what they should have. When I attempted to accomplish my first assignment about relationships, I failed. I wasn’t able to meet the deadline. And I felt really awkward, not because it was my first topic, but because of the topic itself. I had to research how to win back an ex boyfriend.:P Anyway, I felt bad getting a warning. I had a week to think it through. But it was all cool.
For my second attempt, I took another assignment with the same general topic. I wrote about it and submitted it on time. It was posted that a writer could take another assignment even if his/her previous one hasn’t been reviewed. But I didn’t want to take another assignment until I found out what happened to the one I just submitted. I posted about it and it’s probably still there at the Gray Team chat room. And so I waited for days. One morning when I logged into my account, I could not access the Gray Team chat room or the entire Gray Team Section. It was 6 in the morning and I wasn’t really thinking clearly yet. I was just checking if maybe I had to rewrite the articles or something. I found myself at a new site. I was getting frustrated with the network. It took me some time to realize I was actually a red team member already. It really made my day. :P I explored all the forums I was originally not able to view. And then days after I receive 300 points! I was so excited.
Anyway, it has been over a month since I’ve been active as a writer. I don’t have much to share yet, but I hope and will try my best that there would be more to come. This whole thing with Essays.ph made me forget about my dilemmas. I don’t have to classify myself or belong to a select group of professionals. I’m finally doing something I want plus I’ve put to use some things I’ve learned in literature. I am overwhelmed with relief, and I owe it all to Essays.ph. You could call it a blessing. I never thought I’d be a writer of any sort. But here I am, and it’s a new chapter in my life. There would be more to unravel, and I think I’ll be fine sticking with Essays.ph for awhile. I may not have a blueprint for my future, but this is a good start.
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