Until now, I am still surprised at myself how I was able to survive working alone at home for one and half years as a freelance IT professional with a work minima of 16 hours and maxima of 18 hours per day, including weekends and holidays. For my new readers who don’t know me yet or what I do, and for my avid readers as well, I’ve updated my “about page” for you to keep abreast with my life’s journey.

The past six months of work had been rough and very emotional for me – and very productive. You can easily tell that if you have read my posts prior to this. Before I mainly post about computers and all geeky stuffs that I do, then it shifted to a more personal theme that I liked, anyway.  Although I don’t regret and I consider my choice to work freelance and many hours as a good thing, I never imagined it could turn out very dramatic and lonely — at the same time rewarding.

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After nearly two weeks of intensive two-men construction labor so that I can have my own room after 21 years on the floor, the walls and ceiling are finally complete — and I finally occupied my personal den. I still sleep on the floor because there is no bed yet for me, and despite the floor’s unpolished look, the broken door and the high temperature during day and night — that didn’t stop me from occupying it — because now, I have my own room and I’m proud of it.

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I still can’t believe that I’ve been home doing computer work everyday for a year now. Imagine: on average, I worked 18 hours a day and seven days a week, sitting in front of my laptop working on websites. I go out only once a month during pay day to buy necessities and to change my mind a little bit. So, if you calculate it, I’ve only went outside (not doing work) for at most 20 days out of 365 days of the year — quite a record for me! I did work, work, and mostly work… very productive for good. To share to you my experience, I find it appropriate if we roll back and recall what happened 365 days ago, so here it is.

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On May 6th, it will be my ninth month working as home-based web developer, web designer, technical support engineer, and system administrator for people from North America and Europe. I was surprised that I was able to last this long without losing much my enthusiasm on my field of work. Perhaps I already loved the people whom I interacted with everyday and they are now significant part of my life, despite the fact that I don’t see their faces often and we are divided by great distance. The Philippines is like 12 hours ahead from America’s Eastern Standard Time (EST) – meaning to say, I am nearly in the opposite side of the earth from the people I worked for.

Today, I reevaluated my workplace to see if things have changed in the course of nine months. I’ve been like a couch potato sitting in my chair all day long and working all the time – yet I was very productive – so no regrets at all. Work alone was not a problem at all since my skills tend to suffice the needs of my employer and I was quite fast adapting the business-work environment they embraced to me.

Last January, I showed my workplace in one of my blog posts. It was revealed there my real office situation at that time. Now, I want to show where I work now. There is not much difference but at least few things improved. I got a new chair, LCD monitor and new sound system – things that helped sustain my energy and zeal throughout the day of work.
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