Fucket

The spiral continues. My appetite has come back, which is a blessing. Yesterday was the first day that I had three solid meals and even had room for some snacking. Jackie wasn't up for coming to the 7/11 to grab some snacks last night, so I went ahead and tried to pick up some stuff that she would have probably avoided. I ended up with Jing Jank Fish, which are tiny bit size dried fish that are covered with poppy seeds, a sweetener and some hot pepper. They were interesting, crunching, and fishy for sure.

I'm trying to stay positive about everything, but it's almost impossible given how set I seem to be fucking it up. I've been job hunting a lot recently in addition to trying to grind it out doing freelance writing, which I don't think will ever produce enough money for me to live off of. I had originally taken down the post "Ain't Living No Dream," because, despite some grammatical issues, I had put the Blog on my CV to the Phuket Gazette and that entry wasn't really the kind of first impression I wanted to give an employer.

I can't tell you how happy I was when I got an e-mail back from Chris at the Phuket Gazette. He wanted to talk with me. I spent the next morning brushing up on SEO (seearch engine optimizing) theory and gave him a call. He hadn't gotten my CV, the attachment had been removed by the Phuket Gazette's security, so the fact that he wanted to talk with me really didn't mean a whole lot. We had a quick talk and in many ways I was what he was looking for, but I didn't know the island well and I also didn't speak Thai, those were both strikes against me. If I had ANY newspaper editing experience I would probably have been able to land the job, but I don't. I don't have any kind of newspaper experience at all. I didn't work with The Optimist at Bloomington South High School and I had no affiliation with The Indiana Daily Student (IDS) at Indiana University. He asked that I review the job description and then maybe send him my CV. I looked over the job description and couldn't help but think that a break like this would be amazing. How many writers start out at newspapers? Of course I forgot that most writers can actually write grammatically correct English. In my reply to him with the CV attached I wrote the following.

Letter to Chris at the Phuket Gazette:

"Chris,

Thanks for talking with me today. I looked back over the add inPhuket Gazette and despite being new to Phuket and not having learned Thai yet, I think I will be a great addition to your staff. I am incredibly curious about Phuket and the topics that are important to both Thai nationals and the expat community. I more then willing to work extended hours to insure that concise and clearly written news pieces are flawlessly edited by their deadlines. I have attached my CV as requested. If  there is any further information that I can provide you with, please don't hesitate to let me know.

Thank You,

Isaac Stone Simonelli"

It would be hilarious if I didn't need the job, but as it is I can't fully express how upsetting it is to see myself squander opportunities at a time that so few seem to be within reach. I was nervously looking back on the message today to see when I sent it, so I could time a follow up call and let him know how writing is my life's passion and how I would be grateful for an opportunity to be a part of the Phuket Gazette - that's when I caught some of the grammatical issues. What burns is the fact that I had read over it several times and was worried about how wordy that particular sentence was.

As you might have surmised poker is still not going well. I'm desperately trying to pull my game out of a spiral. I am getting good input from friends on what changes I can make, but the nose dive continues. As it is I can't imagine turning a profit this month - too far down the rabbit's hole. With backup plans heading for the windows in a high-rise and my finances quickly being depleted I'm still scrambling to find a solution. I'm taking a TEFL course right now in hopes of getting my certification and getting a teaching job here in Phuket, maybe at the same school Jackie is teaching at. This would of course require me to pass the TEFL course. I am taking it without a tutor and the whole course depends on me passing a single 24 hour open book test. Given my current track record, I must admit that I am nervous, but I'm doing all the readings and trying to take the worksheets seriously and it's hard to take an entire worksheet on desk arrangements seriously.