"I hate Mondays."
Jane was washing the dishes when she heard that familiar line from a movie. She can tell it was Puss in Boots from the movie Shrek 2. After eating lunch, her siblings had a Shrek marathon in their living room. They kept on watching the same old movie almost everyday that she could almost memorize all the lines of the characters. It was a Sunday, in the middle of summer. The kids had a lot of time to spend before classes would start.
Of all the lines that she could remember, that particular line got stuck in her head. She never thought a simple line from a movie could mean a lot to her. She realized that people tend to anticipate Monday differently as they grow up. Everyone feels differently when the first day of the week finally arrives.
When Jane was in grade school and high school, she remembered how she was motivated all the time when Monday approaches. She was always excited to meet her friends, to see her crush, and of course, to receive her baon. She used to love Mondays because it brought happiness and freedom to her.
However, as she grew up, Monday sounded indifferent to her. Especially when she entered college, she started to hate Mondays because it became tiring to her. And when she finally landed on her first job, she always felt tired even before the week had started.
But now that she is currently unemployed because her last contract wasn't renewed, there was nothing to expect more on Mondays. She only had repetitive Mondays of unemployment, job application and rejection, and vice-versa.
She finished washing the dishes and went straight to her room. She rummaged for her journal to write something about today. She entitled her journal "Unemployment Blues" because majority of her entries were rants about her life being an unemployed individual. She crossed one word from her list of applied jobs after she received an email awhile ago. The email, as usual, started with a sentence of "We regret to inform you..."
She checked the calendar on her journal. Tomorrow will be Monday again. There was nothing to anticipate. She flipped the pages of her journal and tried to skim some of her previous entries before she decided to write a new one.
***
Day 49 of being unemployed
A lot of things already happened and there's just too much inside my head. I wanted to write something but I can't focus into writing. I never thought that after my contract ended, life would be this depressing.
***
Day 53 of being unemployed
Applied again for another job. Expecting to be not rejected again. *cross fingers*
Note: Got rejected again.
***
Day 100 of being unemployed
Do I really have to get sick? I'm not even doing anything aside from being unemployed.
***
Day 127
It's already November and still unemployed. Maybe this year is not a lucky year for me.
Why did I even believed that feng shui expert that I will be lucky this year?
***
Day 142
Welcome again to another episode of my marvelous unemployment misadventures. I just got rejected from applying in an agency months ago but they suddenly texted me today that I am qualified for an interview. How on earth am I going to prepare?
I think I'm just going to accept my failed interview on Monday.
****
Day 145
The intended schedule for my interview was at 2:30 PM. But I ended up being interviewed on 10 PM instead!
I was really ready to give up because of waiting for hours. I thought they would extend the interview the next day. They had to finish it today because they need to consider the other interviewees that came from far municipalities.
Majority of the questions asked were in English. I don't even have any idea if I did well on the interview because I had to switch to 4 languages depending on their question.
It's already 11:30 PM, but I feel not sleepy yet. I feel like I had experienced a hangover after the interview.
Somehow, a particular thought popped inside my head that I think I need to express.
They said, time is gold. But as time passes by, I feel like I've been also wasting the opportunity to earn money.
I watched a K-drama series entitled "Waikiki" a week ago, and it gave me a bit of motivation as I heard these lines:
Applying for a job is a matter of a trial-and-error method. If error happens on your first try, there are still other trials that you can use until you find the right job for you.
That K-drama series was pure comedy, but I still find it relatable in a funny way. In life, we can still find humour despite facing struggles. Though I did not want to experience a series of misfortunes just like how the protagonists experienced in that drama. Especially Lee Jun Ki.
His iconic lines, "Gwaenchana, gwaenchana" cracks me everytime. It just simply means, "It's okay, it's okay" but the words bring a more positive vibe in a funny way when he says it.
I can even hear his voice with the funny soundtrack just by imagining it!
I have been rejected many times. I feel hopeless right now, but a tiny ray of hope is still clinging unto me. Gwaenchana, gwaenchana.
May it not be an error this time.
***
Day 151
***
It's been a week since the interview. And Jane received no news. It was no longer new to her to be rejected. She did not have the drive to write something on her lousy journal. The time was 1:15 PM, and she decided to take a siesta instead.
When she woke up, she received 5 missed calls from an unknown number. She panicked who could it be and tried to read her inbox. Her heart was pounding hard as she read one new message.
"Congrats, you're hired! You will be assigned to our research center. Kindly report to our HR office tomorrow, Monday. Tysm.
-Cheryl"
Jane was speechless for a moment. She reread the text before she ended up screaming. Everyone was alarmed at her. They got interrupted from watching the movie. She break the news to her family and they were glad for her. Her other relatives were also there and they also congratulated her. Finally, she can contribute something to her family's expenses rather than just free-riding.
At last, she was excited to meet Monday again.
However before she could continue to celebrate, she received another text. Her smile suddenly turned into a frown.
"Sorry, wrong send. But we will keep your application for future references. Sorry for the inconvenience.
-Cheryl"
She screamed again out of shock. Everyone looked at her again and asked if she received another good news. However, she ended up responding instead,
"I hate Mondays!"
She can suddenly hear Lee Jun Ki's lines from Waikiki at the back of her head.
Gwaenchana, gwaenchana.