BLOG REALIZATIONS

It’s been quite a bit since I first entered the blogosphere. I can still remember my first steps into it. Most of them fell on pot holes, however.
I spent some time to think about where I went wrong. I thought about things I should have and should not have done and so here I am with a few of my realizations:

a) Nobody really wants to read about sob stories
There I was pouring my heart out about how crazy politics is, how I missed my cat and how I hated vegetables but no one seemed to care. After some thought, I realized I couldn’t blame them. After all, we each have our own problems and listening to someone rant about how pathetic his existence is would most definitely not be a good way to spend time when you could have been learning how to get a better job or even how to improve your blog.
Instead, work on how to make your blog more enjoyable. This is probably the reason why I, as well as a lot of readers, keep on returning to Kumiko’s page (See Link).

b) Blogging is a lot of hard work
Sure, you just fill a blank screen with your ideas and then it’s done. It’s that simple, huh? Then what? Of course you would want others to read about your stuff. How to this is the hard part. Traffic is a key element to sustain a blog. Without it, most blogs just wither and die.

c) A lot of luck is involved
Out of the many blogs out there, nobody can really tell which ones would be successful. For instance, a lot a blogs may cover a particular area but by some weird chance, it’s your blog that John Chow saw first, liked and eventually linked. Lucky you! A lot of luck is definitely involved. Any blogger who would say otherwise would most probably be lying.

d) Most importantly, if money is your primary objective, blogging becomes so darn difficult
This is probably the biggest mistake I made. I was blogging for the sole purpose of making money. I can still remember how it would hurt to have written so hard and at the end of the day discover that you’ve earned a total of $0.00. Ouch! Remember, though, that if you write right, money will come.

USMLE: MY TICKET OUT OF THE PHILIPPINES

Before entering med school, quite a number of people had nothing but discouraging words. “You’ll go through a lot of hard times,” they say, before I reach success should I pursue a career in medicine. I still got in… idealistic fool.

I never really thought of using my medical career to profit anyway. I never really thought of getting rich by being a doctor. I wanted to make this my vocation and not merely a profession. But this is just ridiculous.

It’s only now that I get what they were trying to say.

I spent 4 years in premed and then another 5 years for medicine proper, graduated with honors plus some more academic accolades. All those years of hardwork, sweat, tears and yes, even blood…

A medical resident is currently paid somewhere between P8,000-P15,000 (about $160-$300) per month here in the Philippines.

Wish I had gone into Information Technology or some other computer course where my brains could have produced more tangible results, at least monetarywise. But I became a doctor.

I never thought that I would regret being a physician.

It’s worthwhile and even emotionally rewarding to help relieve someone’s aches or get rid of one’s disease but at the end of the day, who’s there to take care of doctors. What about my own aches?

And so, the decision has been made. I have to get out of the Philippines and bring my medicine elsewhere - where it may be better appreciated. I have to go out before my regret becomes complete.

CAN’T WAIT TO FINALLY GET OUT OF THE PHILIPPINES

This will be a series of not so good experiences in my life living in the Philippines.

Come to think of it, besides Manny Pacquiao and Boracay, there is nothing that we could really be proud of as Filipinos. I think a lot will agree with me on this. Don’t you? Come on, don’t kid yourself. I am 100% sure that at least once you have thought that life would have been much much better if you were born not as a Filipino or at least if you were in some rich foreign land and earning maybe ten or twenty times as much as you are earning here.

With all that brains and talent, would you really settle for the Philippines - a country asking so much and yet not at all willing to give what’s due you? Don’t get me wrong though, some people get paid well here. That is, if you are an actor or a politician or an actor-politician.

No wonder so many Filipinos are abroad, where their work is appreciated and their worth recognized.

Given the chance, I too would definitely board the first plane outta here and choose a better life outside.

Can we ever stop Filipinos from seeking better fortune abroad? I don’t think so, not unless we all become actors or politicians or actor-politicians.