Re-learning After Bout With Covid

Thank you God that I was able to survive these three weeks with Covid. I am now much stronger than when I first got diagnosed with the virus. I was able to do quite a bit of cleaning of my living quarters. Now I just need to wait for my second client to message me in June and for my current client to approve further work on my screenplay. And my animals have been cooperating so far.

Thank you also God for understanding why I need that second job. It's purely for survival since all those things that could go wrong did go wrong, even today. But now I'm convinced that the second job will really help me get out of bankruptcy and to repay all my creditors, which includes my friends and family. I hope the second client will pay me bi-monthly so that I can catch up with repaying those creditors. My screenplay writing payment will then help me buy what I need to buy, including my insurance plans.

Money is NOT life. Rather, money is a way of building a reputable financial background towards a stable and profitable future.

Anticipating the Supertyphoon

It's been a tiring couple of days as I live in isolation here at my mom's house. Tiring because I am trying to get my living quarters cleaned and disinfected after my extended bout of covid. Tiring also because of the covid's side effect of fatigue and breathlessness. But my mom has given me some money to buy food and groceries with so it's just a matter of ordering from Waltermart Sucat on COD basis. That helps.

Now my friend Volt has told me that the supertyphoon Mawar is headed for the Philippines. That explains the onset of heavy rains and overcast skies. I was hoping for warm weather as I continue to launder all my clothes but I guess that gets put on hold for now as the supertyphoon passes. Fortunately, I can now iron my clothes so that will kill any virus remnants thriving in my clean clothing. So I guess I have to fit that in somehow.

Almost all my friends (all five of them haha) have been hit by covid at some point this year. So they confirmed that they too had to deal with fatigue and breathlessness after they recovered. My doctor is a bit alarmed by the breathlessness and advised me to use a pulse oximeter to check my oxygen readings. Mine was normal so apparently I don't have pneumonia. It's probably just some scarring in the lung tissue due to the covid so that would explain why I feel breathless. Either that or I'm just titilated by someone's presence that takes my breath away. Haha.

Seriously though, a supertyphoon will be very destructive for sure. I'm anticipating flooding here in our village as the storm hits. So obviously I should have prepared well but how prepared can you be for any supertyphoon? Let's pray that the supertyphoon will swerve and avoid the Philippines.

Covid Retained; Writing Job Retained

I just found out some minutes ago that my RT PCR test shows presence of covid up to now. At first, I was in shock, because I thought I'm covid-free already. But apparently not. I will double check tomorrow when I get the hard copy of the test results from the lab. Meanwhile, I will focus on the client's screenplay which I'm supposed to be writing as of yesterday. Yes, I did do some writing just to get back into the groove but since I only have 20 more days to write a total of 170 pages I better focus.

This means my mother will be paying for my survival for the next 14 days. But that's not a new procedure because she's been paying for the past 14 days. It does mean my debt to her will increase. It also means I will still be communicating with friends and relatives via Messenger for the duration of this second round of confinement. Which isn't unusual either, considering I never socialize with anyone.

What I would like to do is return to my preferred carinderia tomorrow and buy some food again after I've gotten the hard copy of my test results. I don't have enough ingredients to experiment with in cooking my meals so that's the cheaper option. And if my mom gives me money I can order my groceries from Waltermart via COD payment.

Thank you God that I still have covid. Now I have a good excuse not to go out of my living quarters at all. At least, for the next 14 days. And that means I have enough cognitive and physical reserve for the onboarding with that second client in June. Exciting!

God Rescued Me Again

 I don't know how to express this the right way but it seems God has smiled at me again. And He has blessed me which is not something I expected.

While I was reviewing my Data Analytics lessons, the recruiter of the screenplay writing client suddenly messaged me online via Skype. He was offering to return to me the project that had been assigned to the alternative writer after I let it go due to covid. The conditions were that I have to finish the project within three weeks (starting today) since I've already read the material before and am familiar with the storyline. Apparently, the alternative writer also got sick suddenly so the client was left panicking as to whom to assign the project (considering the deadline was already looming before them). The client knew I was ready to work on the project because I had messaged him soliciting work. So they asked me to return to the team! That was the first blessing.

Then later in the afternoon I messaged the recruiter of another client whom I had contacted purely on the off-chance that they could hire me. She said that yes, she had received instructions to inform me that they are hiring me. She clarified that she will contact me again in June. So I said yes, sure, of course I wanted to join their team too.

So that's two clients in one day. I now have a full plate. I don't know how to explain what these two miracles mean to me, only that I am very grateful. God knows that I was agonizing over my options just yesterday because I didn't know where I would apply just to get a job. Now, all of a sudden, I have two jobs? Unreal!

Thank you God for blessing me this way. I know I'm not the best of people and that I sin too but these miracles you sent my way are very much appreciated by me. What this means is that I will have income in June so that I can repay my creditors in full. That will be a major worry off my mind! Once I have repaid the creditors, I will pay Ate Rosie her back wages as street sweeper. Then, I can start hoarding the money in my bank account for an emergency fund. Life is going to become more difficult, I know, but it's better now that I will have resources coming in. And for that I will be eternally grateful to God Almighty. Again, thank you God.

Covid Be Damned, I Will Go Back to Work!

My strongly-worded title really sums up for me everything that I wanted to say to the coronavirus. Because covid really loused up May 2023 for me.

I had it all planned out - I would receive my first screenplay writing paycheck and divide it carefully among the different categories of responsible expenses plus have a bit extra for savings. And that's what I did. I was even able to pay the back wages of the old street sweeper whom I hired to sweep the street in front of my family's house.

But then came covid. I wasn't able to finish the screenplay I was working on since I felt terrible so I had to inform my client that they had to find another writer for it. I had to go to the laboratory nearby so that I could get my RT PCR test (which cost 2800 pesos, money I had to borrow from my mother since I didn't have enough savings to cover it) which showed I tested positive for covid. And I've been in confinement for around 11 days now which is no fun. 

The only bright spot in my confinement was that I had Internet. So I could talk to my friends and tell them all about My Covid Adventure. But it wasn't really an adventure, I just couldn't think of an upbeat way of telling the world about what I was going through. It's been hell dealing with this damned coronavirus infection and the funny thing is I even got vaxxed four times over the past two years. Apparently, the virus mutated into a new form so that my body failed to spot the infection right away.

How can I describe being hit by covid? It's like a terrible case of the flu. I got intense headaches, muscle pains, and joint pains. My appetite diminished. My immune system weakened so I developed a phlegmy cough and runny nose. I couldn't move very fast nor could I do chores. I lost my sense of humor (no, I think that was just something funny I could tell you about) because there wasn't anyone I could talk to face to face. My mom and her husband live in the same house as me but they live on the second floor and I am confined to my bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom on the first floor. We don't talk except via email to play it safe. So, aside from the physical symptoms, there will come a time when you feel isolated from the world and none of your friends understand what is happening to you because they've never had covid.

I had plenty of time to review my insurance licensure manuals because I thought "well, after I've emerged from quarantine I can get a job online again, this time as an insurance advisor." But my mom advised against the insurance job because she said I would be risking lawsuits in this field. So I lost that job opportunity as well.

What I find unusual is that no one seems to want to hire me online. I've been job hunting even in LinkedIn Jobs and in Facebook freelancer groups. No one seems to want to answer my queries about the jobs they advertised. I took some writing tests for prospective employers but they didn't reply anymore after that. I guess I flunked the writing tests. And here I am now writing on my blog after years and months of silence.

What do I want? I want a nice job that pays great compensation, one that will last me until end of 2023 at minimum. I want the freedom to be able to go out of the house and go to the supermarket and drug store to buy what I need. I want my savings to grow and I want to repay all my creditors. I want to be able to invest in investments that make sense to me to have. And I want to be able to place an order with Waltermart so they'll resume deliveries of my groceries to my home every week.

Right now, I got nothing. But I am hoping, praying, and working towards my goal of steady employment. The screenplay writing client did say they're putting me in the waitlist so that if a project comes they can assign it to me. So that's one positive. And I'm thinking maybe no one is replying to my job hunting because it's the weekend and lots of companies don't work on weekends. Keeping my fingers crossed about that one too. Damn you covid. I will still be able to get that job I need, even with you and your co-viruses roaming around and biding your time. Just you wait!