Jul
Writer, I Am.
Filed Under (Blogger, I Am, Worker Bee) by iris on 01-07-2008
I remember my last year of high school. While everyone else talked nonstop about the courses they were going to take and the universities they were going to attend, I did nothing. Oh, it wasn’t because I was a lazy slacker who couldn’t care less if I ended up selling my body on the streets. It was mostly because, short of becoming a porn star (seriously), I didn’t know what I wanted to be.
So I ended up heeding my mum’s advice and taking up accountancy, the same degree that she has. I lasted a full year before I conceded that I didn’t have a head for numbers. Because I needed a good excuse to transfer to my best friend’s university, I chose a course that was only offered there – journalism. I transferred too late, however, so I ended up taking a few unimportant minor subjects that first semester.
By the time the second semester rolled in, my family had already convinced me that I couldn’t possibly have a future in journalism. The future was in computers, they told me; hence, why I ended up taking up IT. Three very long and very excruciating years later, I finished the course and couldn’t be bothered to turn up for my graduation. I was just relieved to be rid of school forever.
Off to the job market I went, and because I spoke English with a passable American accent, I ended up working for a call center. This was the start of my love/hate affair with call centers. For 3 years, I ended up working for 2 of the big centers in my city and one ‘publishing’ company that refused to be dubbed as such – a call center, that is. I also worked in a bank, at some point. The pay was crap and the work bored me to tears, so I eventually ended up taking calls again. I dabbled in technical support, sales, and customer service. Eventually, I worked myself up to quality assurance.
Somewhere along the way, I got it into my head that I wanted to be a teacher. I applied for various training jobs, but always got turned down. I even went back to school for a spell to get a teaching degree, but ended up quitting in the middle of the term because juggling work and school was too exhausting for me. I eventually ended up in Thailand in some obscure coordinator job, and eventually to teach English where I was unceremoniously fired after my first week.
So where does writing fit in all this? I would say it was when I started blogging, but looking back, I think it was far longer than that. I kept diaries as a teenager. Eventually, the diaries became blogs. Back in high school, my best friends and I started an underground newspaper that everyone loved – everyone except our English teacher who promptly outlawed it. We also wrote a bunch of silly 'novels' to rival the Sweet Valley series in grubby, old notebooks that are now gathering dust under my best friend's bed.
For the longest time, I’ve been having my love affair with words, and I just didn’t know about it because, to me, it was always just a hobby, something that came as naturally as breathing, and it was never really nurtured or encouraged. I didn’t even think that I was actually a good writer until a blogger friend of mine, who I was (and am) a huge fan of and who I respect most, told me that she enjoyed my writing. It was only then that I even considered writing freelance for a living. And even then, I could only do it part-time because I, like all and sundry, didn’t think it was a real job.
If I never left the security of the call centers, if I never had delusions of being a teacher, if I never got fired from a job that I hated every single day that I was doing it, I wouldn’t have had the courage to pursue what I love most. I wouldn’t be writing for a living, and I probably wouldn’t be happy. Indeed, I probably wouldn’t know who – and what - I really am.
Somewhere along the way I took a wrong turn that kept me from my ultimate destiny. But I found my way back, and I’m here now. I'm now where I'm supposed to be, something that a lot of people can't say about themselves. And really, I’m not going anywhere. I'm here to stay.
I’ll have to get you something nice for Christmas now. Tsk, tsk. =)
On a more serious note, you forgot to add that while it was the writing that I enjoyed, it’s the person I came to like even more. Strange how quickly I “took” to you when I could count with one hand the times we’ve physically met.
You know what I like so much about you, though? You’re the girl in every female grownup. You’re brave, and headstrong, and irrepressible, and intelligent, and you get into the most interesting scrapes - some entirely of your doing and choosing, others completely by accident. No matter what happens, though, you get up and continue making interesting choices.
Way binuang. You remind me of L.M Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, only she has red hair and freckles, and didn’t have your curves. =)
Chins last blog post..1:06 Brown
And because of you, I now have a blog! Though I am not telling where and what lol
I took up Accountancy and it bored me to tears, too. Unfortunately, I was a very obedient daughter then, so I just finished the damn thing. My mother must have regretted forcing me because I slashed both wrists (7 times on each side, yikes) in Manila while I was reviewing for the board exams LOL Good thing most of the scars are faded, though four lines remain clearly visible =(
Can I put that in my blog? I am scarred and I write. With your permission, of course =)
@Chin: Drat! You weren’t serious about my Christmas present??? LOL!
Your list of my qualities is so much better than my grandma’s, which, by the way, includes immoral, lazy, and ungrateful. But I’d rather take your word for it because I like you so much better.
@Mahal: Oh, dear. That bad, huh? I probably would’ve done the same if I pursued the damn thing.
I want your link! Pretty please? And do use that line, if you wish. I actually got it from someone else, as well, though she’s changed it since.
Hmmm… If I remember correctly, Chin also took up accountancy (correct me if I’m wrong, Chin). Why do writers want to be accountants at some point? Strange.
Because it’s as far away from numbers as you can get, and is sure to be a torture? As you pointed out, writers thrive on drama. There’s very little drama in doing something you’re already very good at.
And yes, I took up Accountancy, and to this day, I’m still stuck with doing the books, in between management and editing tasks. Could’av been worse, though. Could’av been out in Walking Street, instead, gyrating. =)
Chins last blog post..1:06 Brown
hey hey hey. about those so called “silly novels”. i beg to disagree. ours was really really good, albeit amusing. its like riding a rollercoaster when reading them! (commented one reader). now the only novel you can probably call silly is kaye’s infamous “the turkey death”. total crap if you ask me.
@Aileen: You have to admit that it was a very original concept. Do you still have them? Maybe we should publish them! LOL. Then again, maybe not.
That’s great that you’re following your dream and what you love to do. I think blogging is a great outlet for aspiring writers, myself included. I also think it’s hilarious that you worked at a call center. I do IT Support but for our clients, it’s not a large call center. Still I can probably sympathize with a lot of your woes with that job. We can compare stories of idiotic users.
Thanks for the blogroll ad, I added you as well. Take care!
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