FIRED!

I learned some distressing news today…my son had been fired from his job at NKTI. He had been working there since 2008, more than two years already so it’s a bit depressing that he had to be fired…yup that’s the correct term, I guess his ‘ninong’ (the one who hired him there in the first place) got fed up with his shenanigans and could not anymore cover up for him so he had to be let go… So I guess it’s back to job-hunting once again for him…or maybe he wants to return to school again, who knows what the future would bring. I knew I just had to be here for him and support whatever decision he may choose to take…

TRANSITIONS

We're in the midst of numerous changes... we have a new president...and since I work for a government office, it is expected that we would also have a new boss. This has led to some organizational changes and quite unexpectedly... our unit was dissolved. It seems our new boss had no love lost for the media and doesn't fancy himself being interviewed incessantly unlike the previous boss so he deemed it unnecessary. At first we were apprehensive, wondering if together with the dissolution of our unit (comprised of 3 personnel and a unit head), we would also be retrenched. But thankfully, we were not and instead just transferred to other units. What's bad though is that we all weren't together anymore. I'd surely miss the people I have been with these past four years. I would also miss the job of handling media events, a job which I was trained to do in college and which I have been doing for the most of my working life...I also miss reading my newspapers every single day; and always being on the lookout for important news 24 hours of my existence (be it on TV or radio). For a time, I thought I have reached my saturation point of breathing and living on nothing but news...but now that it's gone... I realize I missed it. But I knew I have to accept this... who knows, there just may be something better in store for me.

LOOKING FOR A SECOND JOB

For the past month, I got busy searching for a second job…I searched websites to try part-time work for online tutors, medical transcriptionists, editors, blog-writers and I found a few possibilities. In fact, I went so far as to send out my resumes to some of them but only a few of them replied back. And those that did I did not find so desirable pa…either the place was too far for me to make the commute or the time slot they had available did not fit my schedule because it would interfere with my work here at the office. But why do you think I need another job when I am already doing well in my job here and in fact, I just got regularized (at last!) after three years here at my new office and fourteen years in the government service! Imagine that… I wasted so much time! Six years from now I could be eligible na sana for early retirement! But as it is now, I have to wait until 2029 – I’ll be about 58 years old by then! Oh no! But that would be fine…I guess, I am just glad that I got to be regularized after all and I have to thank my new bosses for that! You see the reason why I need another job is because the finances lately have not been meeting up. Well, I have been used for quite some time that the hubby’s salary is almost always used up in loans for the kids’ education or maybe some other things/renovations for the house. But for me…it’s a different story… I have always been used to having ‘other’ sources of income like in my old job at the PNP I used to work as a writer, co-editor, and what-have-yous for the organization journal/magazine. Then, there was a time that I worked as media officer for an NGO of legislators so I had two jobs then so I figured I could still wing it this time. But I guess the circumstances are different – I am a bit older now and most of the companies particularly the tutorial jobs for Koreans were looking for younger applicants, especially those that just graduated. I even went for an interview for two companies that did decide to call me…and both times, the Filipino manager accepted me but said they hoped I won’t look my age when I get interviewed by the Korean bosses. They even lied for me and said I was just thirty-five but then too bad that they never called me back so I guess I wasn’t believable enough for the Korean boss huh? Meanwhile, the writing jobs are too difficult because it would require me to write a certain number of articles per day and I don’t think I can do that anymore because there may be times when I have a full workload at the office and thus I may not be able to fulfill my obligations… So, I guess I will just have to keep looking elsewhere…weekend jobs na lang sana para I won’t be so tired every night. Meanwhile, I’ll have to make a few budgetary adjustments na lang muna to make ends meet…I will have to make the kids (and the hubby too!) realize that our money isn’t like it used to be and so some penny pinching efforts have to be made collectively. I just hope this works…Good luck to me!

Myk at NKTI

At long last it seems that my first-born son finally grew some sense and would soon be having a job!!! Instead of just staying home playing the computer all day --- well, technically, he’d still be staring at a computer all day but this time it’s for a reason --- he’d be a CCTV operator and the computers he would be staring at would help a lot in maintaining the safety and security of patients at the NKTI. At least this time his time spent facing a computer monitor would now be a productive endeavor! Maybe this would make him realize the importance of studying college since he’d see how so routinary his task would be if he stays at the lowest rung of the corporate ladder. Because that’s what would happen to him if he refuses to get a degree, he would just stare at the CCTV screen all day and all night! But with a degree, he may be assigned to a real office doing something analytical that would work his brains out! Or maybe, it would push him to study in the PMA…who knows?!? But I’m jumping the gun here, I would just take each day as it comes and first hope that he passes the initial interview (which I know he will, since Irwin is a dear friend of mine as well as Mama’s) What I just hope is that he’d do well in this job so that he would be able to earn some money for his needs – which I also hope he would not just splurge on gimmicks with friends or worse…girlfriends! I’ll just pray and keep my fingers crossed…