Summer Sunshine, My Weakness...

It was finally summer. The shittiest season in the Philippines. I've been working as an online journalist for a large company whose sole purpose is to post the latest hourly news updates all across Southeast Asia on their website. And they pay 17,000-25,000 pesos per month. If it wasn't already a great deal in itself, I would still apply because I didn't care about the money.

I am only passionate about my work, but it turns out I need to earn as much as my hard work equally. To be honest, the only job where you don't have to lie and everything is real is the media, the news, and all that good stuff. Hah, see what I did there?

Usually, the rest of the jobs anyone would take takes too much lying, but the news is always the truth. "GMA NEWS! SERBISYONG TOTOO!" or in English, "GMA NEWS! OUR SERVICE IS TRUE!" where they add a bit with, "WALANG KASINULINGAN!" or in English, "NO LIES!".

Those people who make up conspiracy theories that say the government paid the media to make up COVID-19 deserves to get COVID because they spread their little pestilence without wearing masks and cause trouble, like that one time there was traffic because of a protest rally purposely pissing off drivers who are vaccinated by lying down onto the road, hundreds of them.

Because only vaccinated people can ride public transportation nowadays. And the anti-vaxxers are really pissing me off. Calling us sheep and all that bull crap. If I was the President, then indeed, a conspiracy like that would happen. Still, I'd plan something worse because I've been an edgy, calculated psychopath.

Everything in the media is the truth. Unless the government tried to cover something up, the media would lie. And yes, that happens daily. So it's very contradictory. Like that one time, a mass shooter showed their face on his Livestream on Facebook, telling us to subscribe to PewDiePie who believed in White Supremacy bringing all black guns tattooed in white chalk as he shot down a Muslim Mosque massacring everyone praying inside.

And what happened was the guy was caught to be put to prison, but they were not the same person portrayed in the media. The guy was skin headed and very skinny. While the media showed a person on the court, a hairy man with a slightly chubby body structure.

It happens, but I don't buy into that "Bush Did 9/11" bull crap. I only wanted to play along with the memes because I'm a Filipino who didn't pay attention much to the international media until COVID-19 happened.

And that one time I got interested in CNN when this one poor sick little girl killed her friend so she could go to Slenderman's mansion. I don't know if she's mentally insane or just being edgy and just took it a bit too far. Because it's hard to tell nowadays, ever since the quiet kid trope had been a real thing.

I wrote my resume one time before I got hired. This is what I wrote.

"Hello

I'm James Klei R. [REDACTED]

[REDACTED]

Betis Guagua, Pampanga

[REDACTED]

[True Secret?]

Skills

Creative Writing, Proofreading, and Manuscript Editing.

Experience

July 2017 - PRESENT

Amazon Kindle & Google Play Books - Novelist/Published Author

January 2020 - PRESENT

Fiverr, Discord, other social medias - Freelance Writer

Education

June 2012 - MONTH 2014

[REDACTED] Academy Guagua - Stopped Studying

June 2003 - June 2011

Saint [REDACTED] Academy - Elementary Graduate

Awards

Gold Chess Medallist, Saint [REDACTED]'s Loyalty Award, 1st Place in Writing Contest (2012-2013)

Then, they asked me to write an introduction, 3 paragraphs. Instead of making something original, I just wrote an entire JoJo's Bizarre Adventures reference because it fits me, and the 3 paragraphed requirements.

Introduction

I am James, currently 22 years old. My house is in the northeast section of San Juan Nepomuceno, where the villas are. And I am not married. I work as a freelance writer and a novelist or a published author. And I get home every day by 8 PM at the latest. I don't drink, but I occasionally smoke. I'm in bed by 11 PM, at the latest.

I always make sure I get eight hours of sleep, no matter what. After having a warm mug of home-ice brewed espresso and doing twenty-minute stretches before going to bed, I usually have no problem sleeping until morning. Like a baby, I wake up without fatigue or stress in the morning. I was told there were no issues since my last checkup.

I'm trying to explain that I am a person who wishes to live a quiet life. I take care not to trouble myself with any enemies, like winning and losing, that would cause me to lose sleep at night. That is how I deal with society. And I know what brings me happiness. Although if I were to fight, I wouldn't lose to anyone."

***

I submitted my form with my portfolios. Then the following day, they emailed me. I was accepted for the job, and they gave me my username and password for their website. I've been working here for so long, and it's a full-time permanent job. And this was my first job my whole life, an actual employed job and not just some freelance or self-employed job.

This is better than being commissioned to ghostwrite some original ideas that I can make up for me and produce. This had been a step stone for my ultimate success as a writer. Because ever since, I've been writing these articles for the daily news. I've been promoted within just a week and had so much hope for my author's career.

I then started experimenting with different writing styles and became better in my grammar that I didn't need Grammarly anymore. This step stone for my author career helped me get the recognition I got more than I deserved. It was all thanks to my employer. I felt so happy about it, too. But then, Sakura messaged me in my direct messages.

She wanted to date again. I keep telling her that we will be on my day off, Sunday. Nah, I'm messing with you. There is no day off. Being a journalist is a full-time commitment. You have to observe everyone everywhere around you—the people, the events, and everything happening 24/7. As in 24/7, find something exciting, find something rare, find something wild to write about and make it into an inspiration to write about the same things that had happened today.

No matter how pointless or useless, it's the writing skill that matters in how you make your readers engaged. That's how I wrote this stupid book right now (sorry for breaking the 4th wall) and made it enjoyable, anyway. To be honest with you, this book has no actual plot or any good storyline to begin with. The characters are dull and vague. The main character is too self-centred and narcissistic because I don't care what people think. I love myself, and so should you.

This book boosts my self-confidence and is a coping mechanism for depression. I don't want to write something people want. I want to write what I want and make people adjust to my taste. I can't change for people, but people must adjust to me if they want me to stay instead of forcing me to be someone I'm not.

That is the power of friendship, my friends. True friendship, rainbows, ponies, puppies, cupcakes, and baloney all around!

It's like that one quote where disgusting 30-year-old 4chan users love to watch. It's that one cartoon where the power of friendship destroys evil. NO, NOT ONE PIECE OR NARUTO! It's the one with the ponies and magic. "My Tiny Pony" or whatever, god dammit, just forget it. You get the point!

But anyway, I always go far off-topic, so let's proceed.