Chapter 6 - The Job

I got a job offer. Here I thought I was wasting my time with my dream of writing for television and right at that moment, it all changed. I guess it is karma of sorts. You know how if you bet your everything to fight for your dreams, then your dreams will fight for you? This is basically the classic example for that.

I excitedly showed this to pops, whose excitement about me pursuing further studies died down. He was concerned more than anything. Up until that moment, pops was all about me chasing the dream. However, when it seemed like I could achieve it, pops was no longer by my side. He asked me to reconsider. He told me that I might just have no real luck in this business and that dentistry was the way to go. But how can I listen to all that when everything I wished for was just a step away from me? So, just this once. I had to go against what he said just this once. It might be a failure, but it is worth a try. I am gonna be a writer.

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Few days into the job, I realized that writing is not the kind of dreamy job that I expected. The job I got was a writer for a rather small wrestling promotion. And this being a job related to wrestling was the reason why I favored the job in the first place.

I grew up watching wrestling on television. It was unlike anything else. While people criticized wrestling by calling it fake and all, I appreciated the beauty shown by it. Like, the storylines that we could see in a soap opera were shown in front of a live audience. The red hot audience cheering for a babyface and booing the hell out of a heel if they did their job well. The hometown crowd welcomed the hometown hero. The morally ambiguous character finally siding with the good guys. There was everything in wrestling. And that's what made it beautiful in my eyes. While normal soaps could only feature one arc at one point, a wrestling show could put out five arcs with just one character. I have seen that happen and to see it being executed with perfection was indeed a sight to see.

Initially, I wanted to be a wrestler. But seeing how the wrestling business was filled with supernatural beings who could do crazy shit, I lost my will to be a wrestler somewhere along the line. Sure, I could've done that underdog story where the human who got all the odds against him wins it all, but I was too weak to even hold a bunch of chairs up, so how can I expect to lift a person and Thesz press them?

But even though I couldn't pursue my dream as a wrestler, I was incredibly happy that I could still contribute to wrestling. But as I said before, being a writer in a business like this was not an easy thing to do… especially if you are a human.

While the supernaturals with incredible resumes were pushed straight into lead writers, I, who had never experienced such a workplace experience, did what the interns do. I listened to what the chief writers had to say, noted it down and handed the script to our boss, who was one of the craziest people that I've ever met in my life.

Granted that I felt the same as him when it came to the quality of the stories. It was shit. But shredding it down to pieces when the show literally had moments to air was something I have never seen anyone do. And with that, we would have no script for the show and literally do every single planning as the show progresses. It was hell for everyone.

But unlike everyone, the hell I had to suffer was even more painful, to say the least. Life as an assistant sucks. Not only did you have to hand this shitty script over to the boss who was known for his temper, but I also had to listen to him talking shit about it and scolding me for the mistakes that the writers he hired did. And then when I get back, I get scolded by the so-called chief writers for not defending the script in front of the boss. They were asking the impossible off of me. It was something that even they wouldn't dare to do and they are asking me to do it. Assholes!

Anyhow, the only place that I would get a bit of relief was around the wrestlers. I had this thought that they were all brutes who hated everything around them. But as I got to know them, I learned that they were the coolest. Like, whenever I turned up with no script, even if they got angry about it, they never showered it on me like the others do. Instead, they praise me for informing them about it. This tiny bit of appreciation was something that kept me going throughout the day. And seeing these wrestlers work their asses off during all the adverse situations put before them made me believe that if they could do it, then I could do it as well. The job was difficult, but with people like them around me, I had an easier time with it. I loved my job, even though it looked insignificant in the eyes of many.

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