Back to School This Spring or Summer?

While business is still slow, I think I should take another editing course at Simon Fraser University's Writing and Publishing Program. Basic Copy Editing is the next course in the Editing Certificate program - to which I haven't registered because of the estimated total cost - so I thought it would be a good idea to check it out.

Anyway, I'm not sure which schedule to choose. The only two workable schedules are in late spring and in late summer:

• Four Wednesdays, May 19th to June 9th, 18:30 to 21:30 at the Vancouver campus
• Monday to Thursday (i.e. four days), August 23rd to August 26th, 09:00 to 12:00 at the Vancouver campus.

Instructor is the same (Nick Rockel), as well as the fee ($370).

The spring schedule starts four days before ABC airs LOST's series finale so I'd be freaking out and preparing myself for the end, which means I'd need something to get it out of my head for a night. On the other hand, it's going to take me an hour and 15 minutes to get to the Vancouver campus after work and an hour and 55 minutes to get home. I've taken night classes before and nothing untoward has happened to me. Still, I'm gonna need to take a lot of precautions - say, keep pepper spray in my purse - when I go home.

The summer schedule is great because I can take this week off work and devote the entire four days to the course. Since it's a hassle to commute from Langley to Vancouver every day, I can rent a hotel room for four days (which, of course, is an extra cost). It's like a staycation, but at least I won't be in Langley. Or not. However, four straight days of studying maybe too fast, too much for my brain. 

If only Basic Copy Editing were offered as an online course like the introductory one, I wouldn't have to freak out about the schedule.

 

At the moment, the summer schedule looks better. But we shall see.

 

***This was originally posted on the Announcements section of my freelance editing website at 4 AM today.***

An Evil, Evil World

I just learned that an old friend of mine from grade school was shot dead last Sunday, August 16th.

According to my classmates, he was shot in the torso somewhere in Antipolo City, Rizal Province (which borders my birthplace). I guess that someone got himself or herself a gun and decided to shoot someone. Or the killer was probably having a psychotic episode and mistook him for someone threatening. Either way, it was unfortunate that my old friend was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

He was a generally nice, soft-spoken guy. He was this tall, mestizo hottie and many girls had a crush on him. (Yes, that included me. ) I do not remember him getting on the periodic Top 10 in class, but I think he got decent grades. He was also a lot of fun.

So, the world just lost a decent guy because someone made the wrong, wrong, wrong choice. Is that unfair or what?

*Sigh*

I know God has a reason for letting a nobody (my grade school best friend's words, not mine) take my old friend's life. He may have completed his mission here on earth. His death may help change gun laws in the Philippines (keep your fingers crossed!). I don't know why God let him die, but I do know that God will punish the killer either in the culprit's lifetime or on Judgement Day.

My friend's senseless death makes me wish that Judgement Day would come soon. I cannot take any more of this evil, evil world.

Leap, Dude, Leap

I just started an editorial and typing service business. Yeah. I did an outline for a business plan, researched my market, carefully read statistics and business start-up info, and created a web site.

Well, I need extra money so I can save enough for a down payment and closing costs. A little moonlight business can help. A former co-worker is moonlighting as a bookkeeper for at least one small company. I figured, I could moonlight too - not as an accountant, but as an editor. I've been writing prose and blogs for years now - specifically, 15 years all told - and I have been editing my nephew and niece's school papers for almost half of that. Plus, I always edit stuff - like news articles, feature articles, company and road signs, other people's blog posts, etc. - in my head.

I thought I could make it as a freelance editor after I worked on Miss KC's essay for her high school IB program. I needed to whittle it down from 600 words to 200. I only managed to reduce it to 400 words, but I tried to rearrange sentences and change the wording so that I could unite her ideas into one decent application essay. Apparently, after I gave it back to Miss KC, they sent it to their editor-friend in New York (yes, the mecca of publishing in the US) for further polishing. I don't know what the final essay looked like, but it probably helped her get in the program. According to Mrs C, their friend said it looked professional - as if a pro editor worked on it. From there, the freelance editorial services business idea was born.

I'm not going to bore you with the details of my research, but it took me two or three weeks before I finished the rough draft of the business plan outline. I still have not finished writing the business plan itself, but I can work from the outline. I even figured out a fair pricing plan: I will be billing based on either word count or page count (depends on the document), rather than on the number of hours I worked on it. Since I have a day job, LOST obsession, and a hint of a social life, the usual pricing basis will not be fair. Anyway, I added document or manuscript typing to widen my market. I would probably do a bit of editing as I type anyway.

So I created a website on Google Sites, because it is free and it is convenient (I am using my other GMail account for the business). It's a decent site - frankly, Microsoft Publisher can do better - but it works. The site is almost complete; I only need to complete my bio and to figure out how to make the file upload page work and secure for my customers. Check it out, if you'd like.

Also, a thought came to me last Saturday: Why don't I actually study editing? Simon Fraser University has a Writing and Publishing Program, which is based in the City of Vancouver. There is a Certificate in Editing program, but all applicants need to complete Editors and Editing: An Introduction. So I registered for the online course, which starts on July 1st (a.k.a. Canada Day) and should be completed after four months. I hope I get to finish all the requirements so I can apply to the Certificate program. And for $420, I'd better!

Now, I need customers. So, if you need someone to polish your work, then let me know. Pricing is on the website, and you'll find it cheap and reasonable.

And, oh, this feels so much like Ted Mosby on How I Met Your Mother's Season 4 finale ("The Leap"). Although the field is still architecture, teaching is an entirely different career. With the help of his friends, he took the metaphorical leap and left the architectural practice to teach. My situation is different, but the action is the same: I also took the metaphorical leap by moonlighting as a freelance editor and by studying editing. I actually remember telling my old boss (from the one that laid off the entire Burnaby finance department) that I want to go into the literary/publishing field. Ten months after, I finally made good on that statement. Let's hope I become successful enough so I only have to work part-time as an accountant. Hehehe...

Don't Quit!

I was supposed to memorize the "Don't Quit" poem when I was in CAT (Citizen's Army Training, like ROTC) during Grade 10 (high school senior where I come from). Of course, I never did, but they never found out because I was never required to recite it. 

Anyway, part of this poem was featured on the Pastor's Corner today. I realized I need to keep a copy of this poem somewhere. I need it to remind me that I shall never quit - in looking for my first place, for instance. It might be difficult to find the condo for my specific needs, but I will keep looking. Also, I won't quit when my business does not bring me the profit that I'd hope. I also won't quit when it comes to my pathetic love life and LOST. (Hehehehehehe...)

Here's the full poem, courtesy of TheDon'tQuitPoem.com:

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will, 

When the road you're trudging seems all uphill, 

When the funds are low and the debts are high, 

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh, 

When care is pressing you down a bit, 

Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.

 

Life is queer with its twists and turns, 

As every one of us sometimes learns, 

And many a failure turns about, 

When he might have won had he stuck it out; 

Don't give up though the pace seems slow-- 

You may succeed with another blow.

 

Often the goal is nearer than, 

It seems to a faint and faltering man, 

Often the struggler has given up, 

When he might have captured the victor's cup, 

And he learned too late when the night slipped down, 

How close he was to the golden crown.

 

Success is failure turned inside out-- 

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt, 

And you never can tell how close you are, 

It may be near when it seems so far, 

So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit-- 

It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

The website says that the author is unknown, but there's a name at the bottom of the Pastor's Corner sheet: Mr Harry Knowles, Sr (1904 - 1979). Some websites attribute the poem to him. 

Regardless, thanks to whoever wrote the above poem! Your words help us get through difficulties and failures.

Save UPIS

SAVE UPIS

To all UP Integrated School alumni.

Don't you miss high school?

The Graduate

Three years. I spent three years stuffing my brain with accounting concepts. It was only supposed to be two years, but Canadian income taxation rules screwed me over the first time.

Post-secondary education in Canada gave me a taste of hell (figuratively, of course). Here, full-time study is taken quite literally. I had 32 units in one semester. Maximum of two lectures and maximum of two lab classes for every course. Two or three quizzes in one day. At least two projects or assignments due in one week. Eight-hundred-dollar-worth textbooks, as heavy as a century-old tree. Reams of handouts that went to the trash at the end of every semester. Nine hours in school. Crazy instructors who are buddies with Saddam Hussein, Osama Bin Laden, and the Abu Sayyaf. Gossiping classmates. Cute guys as freakin' jerks.

Can you believe I actually got sick after every exam week? Stress? Heck yeah!

But I have survived.

I now have a Diploma of Technology in Financial Management - Professional Accounting.

Praise God!

Quiz Results Rant

ARGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Nobody can say that I didn't study for the tax quiz last week. Seriously. You can say that I didn't study enough, but I still studied.

I flunked it!

I only got FOUR out of SIXTEEN! Only 25 percent!

I thought I understood RRSP Deduction Limits, Taxes Payable for Individuals enough to get those questions right. Not!

GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!

Weird thing is, when I calculated what I should get in the final exam to get at least 50%, I discovered that I only need to get at least 38.57% to pass!

Guess I still have a chance to get this thing over with this year.

Do you think so, Heavenly Father?