Friday, June 16, 2006
Friday Five, money

Borrowed from James.

1. What's the most embarrassing thing/job you'’ve had to do to earn money?

Being raised in a household with a combination of good 'ol Confucian + Protestant work ethnic, I was taught pretty much that all work is honorable.

That being said, probably the worst job I've ever worked was during a summer during college where I worked for a temp agency that would dispatch me to lots of random odd jobs - this particular job that worked for a couple of weeks was for a medical company that made specialized beds for outpatient care / the elderly. I drove around with this middle aged Hispanic guy (who was cool) and we had to pick up beds from the homes of people who didn't need the beds anymore, usually because they had DIED. Not only did the beds often smell funny (like medicine, puke, piss, or worst, excrement), the fact that I was visiting houses where families were still in mourning..Itit was more than a bit of a downer to be carrying off a heavy ass bed that grandpapa died on while his teary eyed family watches.

I guess that doesn't qualify exactly as embarassing, but I sure didn't enjoy doing it...


2. What'’s the easiest and quickest way you have earned a buck?

During some temp work at a convention center during Christmas time as a college student, I got to do coat check a couple of times. You just sit there and watch TV until people want their coat... tips were pretty sweet too.


3. If you could set your own salary, according to your skills and worth, how much would you earn?

It'd be nice to make 6 digits. I'd be very happy with that, and I'm very sure that I could do a lot with it, both for the people I love and my community (/self-rationalization).


4. Are you a good saver?

Yeah, when I'm actually in a save-friendly environment with a steady income.. when I lived in Japan, I managed to save almost half my salary. Then I came home and it demolished by bills and other expenses... *sob*


5. What's the most expensive and useless thing you have ever bought?

Maybe this isn't the most expensive thing... but it certainly was pretty useless.

While I was in junior high (I think), I got it my mind that I wanted to try silk screening my own designs onto t-shirts and sweatshirts after seeing it demonstrated by a guy at my church. I persuaded my Mom to let me spend my hard-earned allowance on a bunch of film, silk screen cloth, frames, pens, razors, paint, and blank t-shirts to do it... sadly, I found that I had a complete lack of artistic ability after making some pretty crappy designs. Not only did I fail to properly transfer most of them to the film, even the ones I did transfer to screen turned out pretty hideous... so I gave up. =(


.:.


It seems rather timely that James' "Friday Five" is money / job related. Since the time where the humble locomotive of my hopes and dreams ended in a spectacular traincrash several weeks ago, I've been trying to job hunt to find something to "expand my abilities as a teacher" (hrmph) and generate some income to alleviate my all too familiar poverty. Sadly, there isn't much demand for 20-something Asian guys with shaved heads in the field of education, and after weeks of e-mails and phone calls, I've managed only a paltry handful of interviews, most ending with phrases that amount to "you're a nice guy, but we don't have a job for you".

I'm beginning to question the wisdom of someone "like me" (non-white, young male) trying to enter the field of elementary education that is vastly dominated by people who are white, older, and female. Have I gone crazy?

Since finding a temporary job in education has seemed more and more unlikely, I've also been looking around at just about anything else. At my latest interview with my old company (pre-Japan), there might be the possibility of employment, but I don't want to celebrate yet. Nothing is definite, and frankly, I don't want to jump the gun. My recollections of the past are filled with plenty of times I've gotten my hopes up for things to turn out well and the opposite happened.

Yeah.


.:.


It just occurred to me that I had wanted to write a letter for Father's Day for another family I know. I should get started on that...

  |


Comments:
maybe you can try the hakwon AKA private SAT prep circuit as a p/t job until you find something more permanent. the opportunities are there, and the $$ can be pretty good. dont know how the market is in WA tho... look for where Asians congregate.
 
dks- thx for the recommendation. There's some hakwon/prep schools around here, but not much. Funny enough, there's a bazillion advertisements for "Teach in Korea"... tempting, but unfortunately, the timing doesn't seem right to take off for another adventure abroad...
 
Post a Comment

in?scrip?tion (n-skrip-shun)n.
1. The act or an instance of inscribing.
2. Something, such as the wording on a coin, medal, monument, or seal, that is inscribed.
3. A short, signed message in a book or on a photograph given as a gift.
4. The usually informal dedication of an artistic work.
5. Jeremiah 31:33

the facts.
name. Gar AKA "that Chinese guy" "Sleepy.McSleeping"
ethnicity/nationality. Chinese/American, 4th gen.
location. Sea-Town, WA, USA Kawanishi, JAPAN
occupation. less-cynical poor grad student
age. younger than you think, older than you know

 



 

[contact]
UnseenGC @ AIM
(myname) @ gmail.com

 

 

[ARCHIVES]
main listing

[memories]
i - ii - iii - iv - v

  This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours? Weblog Commenting and Trackback by HaloScan.com Creative Commons License