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Saturday, April 19, 2008

Hiatus

For nine months now I've been a member of the Christian Voices Chorale (CVC) in Dubai. Though living & working in Sharjah, going to Dubai has been my weekly bustle to visit my brother, for my passion in music and service to God. I am in the bass section of the choir and being a part of that ensemble is something that I'm thankful of and I'm proud of it (though I'm a baritone and still longing to be a tenor but to no avail).

I remember that once I have stated that I rather not go to work than to miss a day of service, and now it seems that my words are being put to the test. For there are a few occasions that I had already missed due to work. The latest was last Easter Sunday, I was unable to go to the early morning service of our group then for I can't file a leave of absence and due to the company's new policy of late = 1day absent & AWOL = 3 days deduction in salary. So I've got limited choices: proceed with the service and risk being late and deducted one day or three days if worst comes to worst. So I chose to go to work and attended the Mass service that night here in Sharjah. What irony it is that I am in now, one that is working abroad always are expectantly filthy rich or plainly without monetary problems in which I'm the the direct opposite of that. For I am now in one of the deepest financial slump of life (due to a series of unfortunate events if you might ask). Now, in order to survive I've got a few options: one, I could resort to owing money to my colleagues (which I rather not); two, sacrifice a few of my expenses; and three, find a part-time job. I'd rather not go to option one since it is the primary reason why I am in this desert country and having debt just leads to a series of debts since paying your liabilities with your upcoming salary will just make you even more financially unstable for a person with meager eanings like me. Unless you combine this option with the other available options ( which will be easing my financial breakdown greatly but may eventually lead to physical or worse mental breakdown). Option number two, sacrifices. What are the things I should sacrifice? Actually I'm living a very frugal life here ever since I went here in the UAE; limiting my expenses only to the vital and unavoidable ones. I have only one unnecessary expense, cigarette smoking that is. But quitting smoking doesn't prove much of a help. For I am not a heavy smoker; I usually consume a pack for about a week add or less a day or two and sometimes I can go on for weeks without one. And a pack of cigarettes only costs 6dhs. Which will only save me 24dhs for a period of four weeks, not very much of a help indeed. You might be wondering how much now do I have in hand? To put that in consideration, admittingly I only have less than 300dhs in my pocket now. And my average weekly expense is worth 160dhs., with three more weeks to come before payday i need about 480dhs wherein I'm 180dhs deficit and the 24dhs from quitting smoking will not do much so I've got to look for other cost-cutting perspectives. Another expense of mine are my weekly trips to Dubai. Usually it costs me 100dhs each time I go there; wherein 67dhs counts for the total fare. As you can see, my trips to Dubai holds a majority in my weekly expenses (about 62.5%). As for the last option, find a part-time job. I now have a prospective part-time as a tutor though it still not that viable as of this time since we (the client & I) don't have enough time to go through it for we are both working full-time. But it will be great if my part-time job will be pushing through.

After thorough scrutiny of my available options I chose the second one and decided to take a leave from my weekly trips to Dubai and to the choir for a period of three weeks. Though it's a painstaking decision I had to succumb so that I may be able to save up lest I will face this ordeal again. As a consequence of my decision I shall be under probationary for a period of one month for the choir. That means I shall not be joining them during the mass service. The leave was effective yesterday (April 18) and it was the most boring day of my life. Though a rest day for me, I still woke up early in the morning at the ringing of my phone. Apparently, one of my choirmates was calling me to check upon my whereabouts for I am late for the service; my leave was unbeknownst to the other members for I only informed the council about it. I have not done anything productive the whole day. Surfing the net, eating & sleeping only caused me headache the whole day. The only advantage is that I had a long rest and I got to chat my family back in the Philippines. Choices & their consequences, why are they always very tough to decide on?

Labels: choices, choir, consequences, crisis, hiatus, leave

posted by Tsinitoboy @ 12:31 AM

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