The Initial 2006 Blues

It had been a frustrating first quarter of 2006. Up until this job at Mega Publishing, I've been trying to find a job with no success. I'm up against new graduates who have low expectations of salary compared to mine. I'm 30 now and probably too old for those employers who always want to see a fresh, pretty face and a salary demand that's way below their offering for new graduates. I can't bring down my current asking price since I'm supporting my family (though I'm not married). Luckily I got into Mega, but I'm you under stand what I was up against in getting this job.

Guess it's the times. Ever since the 1997 Asian Crisis struck, it's all been down in this country, and even today, the effects are still there. I think the effects are still there because the Filipinos keep it there. Compared to other countries whose people wisened up and patched up their countries' economies, the Philippines remains in crisis.

This would be because the Philippines has a much different (I'd daresay worse) culture than the other SouthEast Asian countries. The crisis brought out the worst habits in most Filipinos and those prevailed in times of trial. That's how ordinary Filipinos turn out to be when tested up in the worst of muck. Rather than work hard and give up their nasty but luxurious vices, they'd rather start leeching or stealing from other people to fuel their vices. It's not a culture that's focused on improvement and change. It's an attitude that consumers, government officials and businessmen all share.

OK, so the Asian Crisis killed the former Asian Tiger. And now it's China, a communist power, that has taken the economic kingship in the Asian region. Japan is there, but closer to the Philippines, it's China. Only Singapore is probably above it in economic power, but that'll all change when China decides to drop a nuke on Singapore (heaven forbid).

And with all that, jobs are hard to catch. So here I am, lucky to have a job, while at other times wiling my time at the computer, drawing manga, watching anime, and fishing the net for more jobs. Still, at the back of my head is the feeling, maybe I should find a way out of this country, due to the gut feeling that national collapse isn't so far away.