Jimmy Chronicles: Happy Mother's Day!
Almost two years ago, when I was about to leave the Cebu port on my way to my hometown, I said to my self, "I will never come back here." I could barely keep my sanity after the terrible experience back then. It was during the heights of the COVID-19 lockdown. I couldn't go home due to the border restrictions. I got laid off from work. But the worst of them all is I got the most painful betrayal in my life. I got cheated on.
I was stuck in Cebu City for six months. I had no job. I was left alone in my room. I was scared. What if I won't make it home alive? What if I die alone because of the virus? What if I run out of resources?
I would have gone mad hadn't I talked to Mama about my problems. I cried everything out to her over the phone. I shared all my frustrations and regrets. But I never heard any answer from her that would make me feel worse. She consoled me. She reminded me that I could always have a brand new start. She told me that those bad things happened for me to learn lessons in life.
When I finally got home, I told her that I need a break and do something that will make me forget everything. So I decided to follow my passion in music, and I had her full support. I wasn't earning much by singing at the local bars, but she didn't mind. Our family isn't financially stable, so I was really grateful that she understood my situation.
At some point, I realised that I've been Idle for too long, and that I need to make it up to Mama. She's getting old, and I want to give her a better life. So I applied for a job. I was initially hired as a work-at-home employee, but unfortunate things happen as always that I got sent here in Cebu City once again.
I've been away from home for almost three months now. I miss my home. I miss Mama. Right now I think I'm about to dive into another mistake, but I haven't shared anything to her so far because I dont want to disappoint her any further.
Today is Mother's Day, and I wish nothing but the best for Mama. I couldn't personally tell her how thankful I am to have her as my mom, so I decided to just write my thoughts for her today.
I'm literally in tears right now. I want to go home even just for a day to see her and the rest of my family but my work schedule won't allow me and I'm on a tight budget right now.
I know it's almost impossible, but I wish someone here in read.cash could deliver my message to Mama.
I'll end it here. See you in the next article everyone!
Jimmy Chronicles: Out of School Adult
Hello folks! Have you ever been to a situation where you want to make a change but you feel good by being stagnant? Did you feel sorry for wasting your life away? Or did you not mind because you had a long rewarding rest anyway?
I was 13 years old when I lost my father in a car accident. After his passing, life just suddenly turned upside down. We were poor to begin with; and with my father gone, the struggle just worsened for us.
My mother worked hard to earn a living and to send my siblings and I to school in my late father's place. God was so merciful. Not only did I graduate from high school, I also managed to go to college.
But after years, I eventually had to stop going to school. My mother got really sick, and no one else could take over her at the market. We used to sell anchovies there back. Many people would make fun of our source of income, but I never minded. I can never be prouder of my mother for singlehandedly sending me and my 3 younger siblings to school.
After few months, my mother decided to go back to work, so I tried to look for a job to help her earn somehow and to let my younger siblings keep going to school. I applied as a loan collector, and thankfully I was hired. The job was actually fun because I drive 2 hours back and forth everyday. Clients would tell me to go back to school or to find another job, worrying about me getting targeted by robbers on the road. It didn't change my mind, until a client offered to help me pay off my balance at school and pay for my 1 semester's worth of tuition fee. I know it was God's work, so I accepted her offer.
Because of that, I got my college degree, and I even got my professional license! But sadly, I realised that teaching isn't really for me, and I transitioned to the BPO industry.
Nevertheless, I am eternally grateful to God for all the blessing He gave me, and for sending me those helpful people as His instruments. Life wasn't easy back then, but I learned lots of lessons along the way.
My dear friends, if you are in a bind or in a difficult situation and you feel thay you can't handle it anymore, just pray. Ask Him to give you wisdom to find a way out of your dilemma. He may not answer your prayers right away, but He will surely listen to you.
Until we meet in my next article! Bye for now 😇
Jimmy Chronicles: Overcoming Self-indulgence
Hey there, my dear friends! How's it going? It's the 2nd day of May, and while I still have fresh ideas to share, I'm now going to share my 2nd article.
As I have mentioned in my first article, videogaming is one of my hobbies. From the beginning of my high school years up to the end of my college years, I had beed playing DOTA. Because of my addiction to the game, my life had been turned and flipped many times over. I was initially studious and diligent at school, but at some point I got easily influenced by my peers.
I started cutting classes. And since my mother would only give me 30php everyday, I had to get some extra from dad's pants hanging on the wall. I became a delinquent.
Realizations came to me only when I had failing grades in Chemistry when I was in 3rd year high school. I was counseled by my homeroom teacher, and she told me that if I didn't take my studies seriously the following year, I would lose my chance to enroll at the state university.
Since then, I tried to change my habits. I started going to school early. I did not miss any class. But I couldn't really fully give up on playing DOTA. So I would then stay at the gaming cafe only during weekends. Thankfully, When I graduated in high school, my average grade managed to reach the minimum requirement for the BSEd course.
I was supposed to take BS-Civil Engineering, but I came to the school for the screening a day later than the scheduled screening date for the course.
In my first year in college, my first subject was at 7AM-8AM, and the next one is at 4PM-5PM. Because of the long vacant hours in between, my stupidity once again got ahead of me. I wasted my money at the internet cafe.
My mother sold anchovies at the wet market when I was in college. We didn't have serious financial problems until the price of the fish at the market became super cheap at some point and it lasted for months. My mother had to stop selling anchovies because no one would buy them anymore. I had to stop going to school.
I was filled with regret. I could have saved all the money that I've wasted. I was so careless for not thinking that that kind of situation was going to come. But it was too late for that. So I made up my mind. I applied as a loan collector. My salary was only 200 a day but I didn't mind.
Before the following school year started, I made up my mind. I wanted to finish college. So I applied for the tertiary education subsidy and luckily, I was one of the students who wer chosen as grantees. Because of that, I managed to graduate.
My dear friends, the message that I want to impart upon telling you my story is that our life choices play a big part in achieving our dreams. Privileges are there for us to utilise well, not to waste. We never know what's waiting for us along the way, so it is wise to take advantage of what we have in a good way and be prepared for the challenges that awaits us ahead. Our needs come first; our wants may follow afterwards.
Jimmy Chronicles: The Beginning
Hello everyone! I am very excited to explore the fun in this community! This is my first time writing an article in this kind of platform and I look forward to share my interesting ideas with you as well as learn from yours!
My name is Jame. If you're not sure about how my name is pronounced, just think of the name 'James' and remove the /-s/. My family and most of my friends call me Jim, while my videogame friends call me Jimmy.
I am a licensed professional teacher, but I opted not to work as one. I have several reasons, but the highlight is that I don't like bringing stress from work all the way home. Some people attribute it as part of my laziness, but I believe that my personal time should be spent for myself. After all, we are only paid for the hours that we render at work.
I could say that my talent is singing, but my voice isn't really as awesome as most of the the singers out there. I also watch anime and Kdrama so I can sing few Japanese and Korean songs.
When I was still in high school, my barkadas (classmates) and I formed a band. We performed during school programs, did jamming sessions during lunch breaks, and practice during weekends. It wasn't really a grand experience, and we didn't seek for recognition and exposure. We just wanted to try to know how it feels like to perform on stage in front of many people. We absolutely had fun.
My barkadas and I had to part ways during our college years since we were going to different universities. Since then, I transitioned from rock to ballad. I joined few contests at school, and won some of them. I think my best performance was during the university organizational week in 2017. It was a vocal duet with a classmate, and we sang Alicia Keys' song 'If I Ain't Got You'. She really has an excellent and dynamic voice, and I think it was the reason that we won.
Right after my graduation, I worked as a call center agent in Cebu City in 2019. Because of some unfortunate circumstances during the lockdown, I had to go home to Bohol in 2020.
In 2021, my then high school classmate and band guitarist also went home from Manila. Since we were basically both jobless at that time, we agreed to do busking in the town of Panglao, particularly at Alona Beach where people come to party and hangout. Shortly after, we met a new friend who turned out to be a drummer. We grouped together and performed at some restobars. We also got the opportunity to play at a local radio station. However, our stint only lasted for around six months because of the ever-changing curfew restrictions. Some bars stopped hiring bands and performers.
Now here I am again in Cebu City. I have to earn money, so I'm now working as a call center agent once again. I miss spending my time way back home by the beach, but I'm actually enjoying my stay here in Cebu City right now. I have new awesome friends (including weird ones), and I enjoy hanging out with them so much.
I'll share the other things to you guys next time around, and I look forward to reading your stories too! I'll tend to my dishes and my laundry for now. See y'all!
@RagingPapaya