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I've not been a very productive content writer for my first affiliate lately. I've said that the "idea barrel's" saturated. So here's my solution -- reading. During those "off" times, it's best to read stuff about your topic. It's because I found out that when I do get my writing mode "on", the words just start to come out. Take, for example, the article that I just submitted a little while ago. I have read about this topic before but during that time, I just couldn't get a unique idea about it. And now, I started to think about it and words just kept flowing. And I like how that makes me feel. The weather's nice too. It's fairly cool, looks like it's going to rain. I could've had a hotdog sandwich earlier but I didn't want to spoil my appetite. We have one of those pre-packed salads with fruit, chicken, seeds, greans and I hope it stays fresh for later. This one has sesami vinagrette on the side and it's

Yesterday... And now... it's gone! It wasn't there anymore when I woke up yesterday. Yay! The skin's pink though but that's normal. I just discovered that the headset inside my mobile's box - that I thought was just a headset for hands-free calls - was more than that. lol! After almost eight months, I started to go over the clutter that I have here. And I saw the box that my phone came with. I didn't throw it away because the warranty sticker's on it. Anyway, I was googling if my mobile can be used for international roaming. Turned out that its gsm's only at 900 and 1800 which are for Asia, not anywhere else. All right, so I looked over specs on the nokia site online and saw that one of the holes on my phone was for the headset. OK, I plugged it in. Nothing new there... Eureka! I went to the radio enhancement module and it said "Turn on radio?" Yey! It was a headset/antenna in one! That's so naive of me not to try it out when I actually bou

For 15 pesos, I get to keep my insides cool with halo-halo. I've said that I'm not a fan of most sweets but I bought it more so to drink it than to eat its ingredients. And it does the trick... my insides are cool. Oh, I ate bits of banana, pinipig, sago, and some of that green and red gelatin. I did not, however, eat the red beans and nata de coco. And here's an interesting find... chickpeas. I may not be a big halo-halo fan but halo-halo with chickpeas? But when I tried it, it was sweet. OK, it works. lol! By the way, the scab (yeck!) on my chin's starting to peel off. I'm not trying to hurry it but from the look of things, it may be totally gone in a few days. Yay! The skin under it is pink and I don't think it'll become a scar. Half has already pulled away from the skin and the other half's still attached to the skin. Oh, skin... skin... skin. lol!

This is what I had for lunch today. It's sauteed string beans. It's easy to make too. There's just four ingredients: string beans, one shallot, a clove of garlic and light soy sauce. I also had fish, enough said. I'm dreaming of steak right about now... [tummy grumbles] Anyhoo... I've been seeing a lot of new article topics up for grabs in my affiliate's site. I don't know, I'm not feeling them topics right now. I guess it has something to do with having a hard time collecting my pay -- not that they don't pay me, because they do (and promptly too!). It's just that so many things have come up these past few weeks that it's inconvenient to go out and get it. Yup, it's been sitting on the MLKP coffers for almost three weeks now. I have to get it ASAP -- that'll get me motivated, true that. I am getting back on track with my bookkeeping. I just realized that I've been so behind on doing it that, I guess, I'm going to make it my t

I just got up a few hours ago... Actually, we left at 4:00 this morning and got back at around 9:30 am. I had breakfast of fried egg and spicy sausage (sans the skin) and slept. It so hot and humid today!!! Anyway, I got out of bed around 3:30 pm to get some work done. There's nothing much to say except that I will be going away for a little while in June. Yup. So excited. Turns out, I'll get to see my darling niece then. Also, I hope to see my other niece (who's still a bun in the oven! lol!) too. My sister's due in July so I hope we'd still be with them for the birth. I haven't really written any articles for my first content-writing affiliate. Since you can submit articles anytime (but, of course, you won't get paid unless you reach the minimum quantity at the end of a pay period) I've been less than motivated to get some articles in there. I guess the "idea barrel" is still saturated at the moment. I am, however, working at writing short ar

My chin, 50 hours after the fact: See how dark it is? It's actually a big scab now... still tender though. Not yet cooked. lol! Didn't realize that that big an area of skin broke. Blech. Hope it doesn't turn into a scar. I'd have to be careful not to have anything scratch at it before it totally dries up. Having bruises and bumps over the years have taught me the value of cold compresses and warm compresses. As long as there's no broken bones (haven't had any, thank goodness!) we must immediately put a cold compress on the area to avoid too much swelling. Don't leave it on the skin for more than 20 minutes or you'll get frostbite and make it worse. After an hour or two, apply the cold compress again. That really saved this bump from growing than what it could've been -- I imagine, the size of a golf ball. Do the cold compress treatment many times a day for the first two days. Now, I'm doing warm compress treatment to break down the hematoma (is t

My chin at four hours after the fact: Almost nine hours after the fact: I'm right on sched with tax reports. I just have to call my friend to get all the other pieces of information. And after making sure everthing's all right, I can probably send this tonight. Yay. Unfortunately, there's been accident today and I got in to a fight -- with the floor! It was the chair's fault! Obviously, I lost. What's more, I'm going to take ID pictures tomorrow!!! ACK! It's a bad hematoma and bump with scrapes to top 'em all off. But no broken teeth, nothing... thank goodness. The other side of my jaw's sore now though. Possibly, a delayed reaction from the impact. Dang. OK, back to more ice packs... Turns out, there's something going on at my friend's house that she asked if she could call me later. All right, looks like these tax reports are going to be sent tomorrow then.

No, this is neither transcription nor content-writing because this week's work concerning those are done. I am, now, finishing the tax report for my bookkeeping client... You know what? They're more of a friend than a client so I'm going to keep this on a very informal note and tone. Ergo, she is my friend who's asked me to make their business' tax reports and in-house books for them. That's about right. I got a call yesterday morning and their tax people were asking when they'd pick up the report and the check for the BIR. I said, "Well, I just got the documents so you can get them on Monday." See, I checked the tax calendar and this particular due is due (lol!) on the 25th. Since they want to get things over with, way before the deadline (which I appreciate as I do the same), that gives me this weekend to wrap this up. But something came up that gave me the impression that I might be going out on Sunday so I've only got today and tomorrow to

Earlier this week, there were a couple of afternoon and morning drizzles. The news reported that there was a storm in the area. Nada, nil, zip... zero storm. But it was cool for a while then... but it was brief. I only wished that it would rain. I don't want a storm, of course, for the simple reason that the power might go out. And you know how that could affect my online WAHJ's -- very badly. But now, we're back to warm and humid weather again. And my hair clamp broke too so my long hair's covering the back of my neck now and the heat's giving me a headache. And I don't have anything to tie my hair back too... Oh, the misery. Right, I'd better stop complaining about that. lol! Yesterday - yes, I was able to submit my transcript in time (two minutes before the deadline!) - as I was going over my work, I discovered funny typos that would've been really embarrassing had I not corrected them before the editors got to them. Now, I forget... OK, I'm going

It's 2:34 am as of now. I can't believe how tired I was when I woke up... yesterday. I went to bed around 3:00 am - and I'm doing the same thing now, lol! - and I got up around noon. I sat down to eat and as I was blinking, I was starting to doze off. Yikes! My lids were heavy - I guess that's how most of us would describe it. And later, I got to get up early (earlier than noon, anyway) to edit a transcript. Yup, I got assigned to transcribe a 90-minute audio in two days -- and I accepted! Right now, I'm wished that I typed 70 WPM. See, I've read somewhere that if a transcriber typed 70 WPM, they'd get an hour-long audio done in... four hours!!! WHATDAFUDGE?!? I assume that it also meant that the person's got ten years of experience and all the amazing gadgets that definitely help speed up their work. But that was an interesting read... the publisher's got that down to a maths thing with formulas and all that. Oh well, in fairness to me, I've com

I've got different 'work at home' jobs (WAHJ's) and a few other Internet opps that I'm managing. And after seeing what's required in each of them, the next important question that I ask is - how do I receive my pay? There's no comparison to cold hard cash up front -- a couple of my clients provide that. Another one is direct deposit to the bank that my transcription client does. But what if your client only sends pays through electronic transfers and international checks? Ah, that's where I got stumped when I started using Internet for WAHJ's. Forums are good sources for finding out how payments of Internet jobs and opportunities are carried out -- and if they are actually received. It's great that people share their experiences with so-and-so transfers. That way, others learn from it and can decide if that's for them. As far as my own research goes, these are common details that I know and that are applicable as of this time. But before anyt

I haven't been playing backgammon for a while, I've noticed. So, today I connected to FIBS to see what's the up and up. I have a "friends" list on there... most of them are "bots" too since they're always available - except when they're playing a 15-pt match or something with someone else, of course. What's interesting though is that someone actually recommended me on FIBS. Cool. That must be the guy who was surprised that I came back to continue our match. That was, oh, a long time ago. lol! See, I got disconnected in the middle of our game so I had to sign back in. He was still there and I immediately invited him to continue our saved match. He accepted and I told him that I got disconnected and that I was sorry. He said that it was OK and that he got up to get coffee, assuming that I was a dropper. So he was really surprised to see me back on. I think I won that match too, by the way. He was nice. I should've added him to my friends

We know a dealer who comes by, at least, once a month to show us her product catalogs. And earlier this week, she brought her MSE book -- that stands for Marikina Shoe Exhange. And I found this amazing golden, shiny sandals there. That made me think about how I don't have dressy, formal shoes at all! "I might need one," I thought. "And this would be perfect," I thought. So I ordered it. Two days later... they're here! Yay! So pretty... And of course, it's proudly Philippine-made and from Marikina too! They're good-quality shoes and I can comfortably walk in them. Me likey MSE. So that's my latest purchase. If a formal thing comes up, I'd have the shoes for it. lol! But what about getting a dress? hmmm... Right, I'm not going to hold my breath for that. Most of my earnings go to buying more 'needed' stuff like -- medicine. I'm not on prescription meds ha! Though they are technically prescribed... well, I can get them OTC (over-

All right, so they didn't forget me after all. My transcription client just sent me new audios earlier. [sigh] Anyway, after I submitted the first finished transcript a few hours ago, I realized that I forgot to justify the page format. Nyee... So, I guess I was a little rusty with my editing there (careless is more like it). Anyway, there were no complaints. Meaning, they didn't return it to be changed. lol! Here's to another late night! Truth is it's better to work nights because it's much cooler and there's less distractions. During the day, it'd be so hot that you'd want to stay in the bath much longer than normal. And my kind of normal is already longer than what most people would consider normal too. I couldn't hog the bathroom all day, of course. lol! But the heat is still bad and I'm starting to feel sticky (because of the humidity) again. I said that I was going to turn the a/c on but... oh well. I guess the lamp's also giving off he

I went on holiday for four days and I'm already on the back burner? That is, of the transcription team, already! Let me just go back and feel dispensable again here... Oh well, I guess that's more writing time for me then. Truth be told, I get paid more for less time that's put in when I write articles. It's true. I noticed that I haven't been so toxic in content writing than I was in transcribing. That's a thought. Don't get me wrong, I'm not about to give up on my client just yet -- they have paid me for the work that I've done and I'm not about to discount that fact. And I do enjoy transcribing for them. This is just new - being on the back burner and all. What's good about this is that I've managed to go over my target number of submitted articles today. When it seemed that I couldn't write anything more about this one topic, I get inspired and I've been writing with gusto. Now, wouldn't it be great if this actually happe

Oops! Again, I forgot to take a picture of our amazing pasta . Sorry. lol! But I did get my cup of coffee though. And there is that speck of pasta sauce stain on my accounting journal -- if you can see that. That won't come off too unless I ruin the page. It's right there, down at the bottom... see? lol! I get sort of "mechanical" when I do bookkeeping. And anyone who's worked with journals and ledgers would attest to what's called "transposition errors" in recording. I'm guilty of that sometimes when my eyes unintentionally wander and I write what I think I was supposed to write in stead of looking at what I'm jotting down. That's like writing 637 in stead of 673. lol! That sucks because you'd only find out as you're doing the totals already and you have to go back to see where the debits don't equal the credits. That's why being sleepy while doing bookkeeping can be very bad. I mean, who'd want to be inconvenienced w

There's no new audio to work on until next week. Yawn! I'm so sleepy. I already submitted a couple of articles yesterday and I'm catching up on my bookkeeping right now. Bookkeeping is making me sleepy... yawn! I've asked how long accounting documents should be kept on file before it can be thrown out. One person said it was five years and another one said it was three years so I'm not so sure which one to follow. I have bunch of documents stored here - check vouchers, cash vouchers, petty cash vouchers, purchase orders, expense reports - that are cluttering up my work space. There's a big paper bag of it in my closet, another one under my dresser and the recent ones are here on my bookshelf. I guess I'll throw out docs from 2003 and 2004 then - that's a paperbag-full of accounting documents right there. Oh, and I have to get my content-writing pay too. yay! I keep looking at my bed and thinking of how good it'd be to have a "siesta" (after

We just had a three-hour long blackout. I was working on my desktop when I heard an explosion from across the street. It sounded like it was from across the street so I assumed that that's where it came from. Right. lol! Anyway, then our electricity went out. And I was almost finished with an article too! Dang! So I went outside because there was still light out. It was 5 o'clock, I think. I worked on my bookkeeping until it got dark. I asked for a candle which kept blowing out because it was fairly windy too. Good thing the weather wasn't humid at all tonight. After two hours, I called our electric company to report this power outage - which affected just the houses on our street, it turns out - and they said that several reports were already made. Okay. So after dinner by candlelight, I decided to use this oil lamp that was a present from like, two Christmases ago. It was pretty and directions said that there's parafin oil inside the bottle. Cool. Anyway, we got the w

I went to see my doctor today for a long-overdue check-up. This is one of the few times that I've been out of the house this year. It's only April so I'm pretty glad to have gone out before half the year ended. The last time I was out was when I opened an account at a bank to receive my transcription pay. That was last month. Oh, and there was New Year's when we visited relatives. lol! See, that's one of the things that tend to get overlooked when you're working at home. You don't go out as much. That's cost-saving too -- no commute, no lunch-outs, no night-outs (except for really special occasions). No wonder telecommuting has been very popular nowadays. Employers don't pay as much for the rent/utilities and employees don't have to buy gas for their cars or pay a cab just to get to work. Yeah. Anyway, back to my doctor's visit. I have to say "tata!" to fried foods. Isn't this a lovely picture of fried dough with sugar and straw