What Do You Do?

When I was younger and still in school, I used to see myself working in a top corporation on a nine to five shift, going home to my mom every night in a house that I built where we’d have sumptuous dinner over happy talks.

But that was before I realized  what my potentials are, and how I would not be able to work under pressure and under a set of rules.

I was in college when my female cousin encouraged me to try fiction writing. She saw my potentials as I used to write in the high school paper and I love reading a lot.  I tried it and got my first fiction published without any hassles. I stayed at writing for a while but I didn’t have a contract so I had all my time, which means I could write just whenever I felt like it. And handling your own time has its cons.

Perhaps I would have persevered more if I did it for a living. But I didn’t even do it for a living. I did it just for fun so I really didn’t have to force myself to write.  I regret it now, though. I was so young then, that had I persevered, I could have been popular by now. There had been plans to go back to writing but it never happened. The drive is lost.

Now, as I write this post, I realize that my writing inspirations had really been my professors, and the stories that they made me read. I remember how amazed I was when my language teacher Mr. Villanueva made us go to the Palanca library to read a Palanca-awarded story – Sa Dulo ng Bahaghari. I ended up reading not only that story. And the analogies left me in awe.

It was a great change, a great shift, for someone who grew up reading The Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew mystery stories and later on the Sweet Valley series and Mills and Boon romances.

I was inspired.

I got tired of writing, though, after a few years of draining my brain. It’s also something I could not tell my friends that I do. Tagalog romances were so “not in” for my pack. So as I was writing romances, I made it a point to have a short story or two published in some reputable magazines. And the magazines, I showed to my friends.

A few years after, I went into business. Pirated VHS and VCDs. It was fun at first, but I eventually hated it. Stock updates were so often and I had to get myself updated even on the type of movies that I hated. It was a short-lived one.

Then Counter Strike became a fad. I got addicted. And I put up a gaming shop so I could play for free, all day, and all night if I wanted to. With it came the addiction to other games as well, and I found myself engrossed in the business.

I still keep the shop up to now. Computer gaming has been continually  in-demand. Thanks to online games. The business is already seven years old this year, and it’s still going strong despite the competitions.

I also do other small jobs on the side just to keep myself diverted. Because honestly, I don’t wanna get tired of this one. It’s almost as if I’m only playing, but earning money as well. It gives me lots of time for myself and my mom, not to mention I meet lots of people – mostly kids – that I become friends with.

It’s fun. And being among the young crowd delays my aging. LOL!