Here they are:

If your set of words is as marvelous as Korina Sanchez's (I'm not kidding, Korina is one freakin' writing machine) plus a stroke of luck, then financial affluence is within reach.  It's a package and if you miss one, then mere choice of words wouldn't be as much "mammoth of sorts" as you usually think it is.  Just take me as an example.  Wahahaha joke joke.  Now let's get serious.

My freelance writing job doesn't pay that handsome.  Even if I go full-time, I think I'd still be classified as a minimum wager.  You might think that I've been reaping gains from the foreign currency fluctuations since my clients are all foreigners.  Well, think deeply 'cause the truth is, I've never enjoyed those lucrative gains.  There are Filipino middlemen who serve as administrators and they're basically the ones who assign the clients' orders to their pool of writers.  And I guess there are also above them (the entrepreneurs) plus, of course the editors who gurantee quality.  In other words, every single page I've worked on has been cut by a huge chunk, providing a margin for their shares.  I can't do anything about it, it's a f*ckin' business reality.  But it doesn't mean that there is no other way, does it?

One night I thought that if I can directly sell the papers I've completed to those who are in need across the globe, then it'd be certainly feasible that I may be paid eightfold.  That was just grand.  Of course, there's one glaring obstruction for this delusion hehe.  Just how can I be paid?  Through PayPal?  Well unfortunately, PayPal has not yet rendered its complete package of services to a third world country like ours.  And an internet marketing strategist/friend confirmed that sad fact.  Well think about how PayPal, for one, can tap the diverse talents of the Filipino e-lancers.  Internet is not just for pornography as pervs put it.  It is also a great opportunity for businesses considering its boundless character.  It's not only limited to writers, it could also be for web developers among others.  Sure, you may categorize some businesses powered by it under the informal sector, just like street peddling.  The differences I think that separate e-lancers from street peddlers are the knowledge it takes to get the hang of the web and the relatively big profit one can reap from it.

Can I do anything about it, like urging PayPal to render its full-blown services for us, Filipinos?  Definitely, that's way beyond what I can do as of now.  But then again, it doesn't mean that there is no other way, does it?    

PS: Update your links to a cooler: rcdarang.tabulas.com. Thank you. 

Note: Conversations not in English.  Unless stated.

Conversation #1 on the stairway:
Me: Since you've been teasing me about this girl, I came up with a song-response for you.
Friend1: What?
Me: *sings Sean Kingston's Beautiful Girls and adjusts the lyrics to fit my real response at the moment which ridiculously goes something like this: She's way too beautiful, boy/that's why it'll never work/you'll have me suicidal, suicidal/so cut the crap over*
Me & Friend1: *Continue to goof around*

Conversation #2 at the copier:
Me: Damn, we really need to study doubly hard.  Peter and Allen were once our colleagues now they've been running away out of our league.
Friend2: Yeah, but it's not about them.  It's all about us and we have to deal with this problem on our own squarely.
Me: Yeah, but it's just inevitable to compare, man.  It actually acts as a damn alarm for us to know that something has already gone wrong.
Friend2: Yeah, I guess you're right.
*silence and I was trying to come up with clever words to boost our double-declining morale in English and then I spoke softly*
Me: 'Cause sometimes, it'd just take one disheartening event for us to say, "Ok, that was it!  I've seen enough."
Me and Friend2: *Bursted out laughing after I had seriously looked into his eyes*  

Now, try to talk to me during days when I'm hyper and I'll just throw in non-sensical pieces of wit like the ones above.  Must've been the greatest liempo I've ever tasted lately at lunch.

As the old saying goes: "Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly."  I think it was Lorena, a classmate, who related this analogy to our dramatic fate when we, as a section, failed one big subject and the bullies (you probably know who I mean hehe) put our graduation on hold.  And Jesus knows we could've graduated on time if they (the bullies) had allowed us to.  But then again, thank you (this really is not sarcastic) for giving us the chance to prove that we are all capable of making it to the CPA board, next year hopefully hehe.  I still have a single point for my Advac prelim grade to loot.  I got 64, just one point away from the passing mark to untangle the profundity in that previous sentence.  So I still have a long way to run, to my perspective at least.  As I was saying about that squirming caterpillar, I really thought that my world was over and I'm done for when I did fail.  At that gloomy moment when the world seems like brushing its dirty feet on me, I began considering to take a job starting with the word "call" in the job title.  Not the freakin' call center agent.  But rather a call boy.  Ok I made that up hehe.  Now, we, as a section, became butterflies perfectly molded by a cocoon of experience.  But why did I even bring that analogy of a caterpillar up and bringing up that gloomy past once again at the same time?  In the first place, past is past.  As cliched as it seems, nothing can be done to change it.  As another old saying goes, nothing else exists, we are only ever in the present.  Lingering on the past is just like crying over a dog shit, not moving even a toe to sweep it up.  Yet I just thought of bringing this up again 'cause my batchmates, around the third week of October, will take the greatest battle perhaps of their lives and I just want to say goodluck.  And I will not throw in an inspirational-Dr. Phil talk 'cause I know, just like me, you're all sick of those sh*ts.  Just work hard to reach that dream and for Mahatma Gandhi's sake, you're all Tomasians and that dream is not that unreacheable.  But I will definitely reserve the tennis court here in our subdivision to throw in a grand party for you when you hurdle the board.  Ok, I'm kidding.  That would be a huge expense on my part and the social-climbing daddies will perhaps play tennis on that day.   I'M COMPLETELY DIGRESSING hehe. 

I actually brought that squirming caterpillar up because roughly three weeks ago if you can remember, I wrote an entry in which I showed my mild disappointment at PayPal for not rendering its complete package of services here in the Philippines.  And guess what, PayPal 'Receive Functionality' has now become available here in our country since two days ago.  I can't really believe my hooting ass the moment I read that good news.  Was it a clear-cut sign?  I guess, yes?  Imagine just three weeks ago, I talked about how PayPal rendered an incomplete service to the Filipino netizens and now, it's complete like Centrum!  To expand some details of what I was hooting about in that entry, PayPal Philippines had only provided a 'send function.'  And now there's already a 'receive function.'  In other words, e-lancers can now receive payments from abroad with no hassle in terms of cost or any hiccups since PayPal is widely used across the globe.  Moreover, one cannot only receive payments from abroad but also withdraw!  What's the catch?  Actually, I could hardly see any catch (as far as efficiency in transactions is concerned) as of this moment but there's definitely a hard part.  There's nothing harder than starting up in building your own business.  Even the planning stage is a boil in the ass.  I calculated last night the feasibility of my business scheme and damn I found out that even in few months' time, I can buy a brand-new Powerbook G4 (my dream notebook computer).  I can't describe my excitement last night that I even disturbed my Pops while he was reading and almost peed on my shorts.  But again, I only calculated the feasibility of my business scheme slowly materializing as objective as possible primarily basing on what I'm currently earning from my freelance writing job.  I didn't calculate my 'chances' since I didn't mind not listening to my Math teacher then discussing probabilities and all those sh*ts hehe.  After all, there's no hundred percent assurance that a business would  fly.  But there are always opportunities presenting themselves and for this matter, this particular opportunity is a clear-cut sign to me.  Three weeks ago, I almost gave up my humble business plan but just like a squirming Caterpillar, no innocent child would have thought it would literally fly   God's majestic design called nature is indeed a good boy hehe.  True, it could be a bad ass at times but it would snap back to its original and non-violent design in time.