OK, let’s go through this vid looking for gold.

Deep, cleansing breaths. Here goes.

I just have to keep reminding myself that I am not going to suddenly be yanked out of my comfortable yet stultifying life just because I am watching a vid.

1. Meter reader analysis : I don’t really have the temperament for that kind of work. I could probably handle the number analysis – I am pretty good at spotting patterns – but the work would give me a headache. So, maybe, but probably not.
2. Remote hotel reservation specialist : The job is remote, which is keen, and I love customer service, but I imagine I would have to learn a heck of a lot about whatever hotel I worked for, and that seems like it would be hard to do remotely. So I rate this as a solid maybe.
3. Content moderator : I think I could be content as a content moderator. ^[1] I would have to give myself a crash course on the popular social media platforms – no biggie – and I’m a weirdo who enjoys making lots of judgement calls, plus I’m fairly thick skinned when it comes to content, so this one is a solid lead. Yes!
4. Social media manager : Hmmm. I could probably craft witty tweets, although it might take me a bit of time to get into that particular groove. But managing a company’s entire social media presence sounds overwhelming to me. So I rate this a maybe, but probably not. Plus I don’t have much social media presence.
5. Online tutor : I don’t know if I would make a good tutor. I think I might. Like all nerds, I love sharing knowledge, and I am a kind and sympathetic person who is good at seeing things from other people’s POV. I have no qualifications though and I have no specialized areas of knowledge. So I rate this one a maybe.
6. Customer service representative : I could probably handle this. I’d have to learn everything I could about whatever I am representing, because my biggest fear would be someone asking me a question I don’t know the answer to. But like I said, I actually enjoy customer service. I’m so weird. Put this on the plus side of maybe for me.
7. Transcriptionist : I don’t think I type 65 WPM, though it’s hard to say, because for obvious reasons I type straight from my head as opposed to an audio source, so I have no idea how fast I would type for that. More importantly, though, I can’t see this as being a job with a future because AI is getting extremely good at recognizing voice accurately. So call this a negative maybe.
8. Online survey taker : That’s a job? Of course not. And I have done this gig a tiny bit and they ask a ZILLION questions for very little money. Um, no.

That’s enough of that for now. I will do the other seven in part 2 of today’s entry.

And you know what? It’s been no big deal. Once I got into the actual work of it, that absorbed me enough that I wasn’t anxious and I wasn’t thinking about pressure or change or all the other things my neuroses feast upon.

I can totally do this. And it would be so good for my mental health for me to have something truly productive to do with my time for at least a couple of hours a day.

The extra money would be nice too, and the ultimate would be if I could actually make a living at one of these things, but mostly I just need stuff to do and I am incapable of providing my own structure so I need someone else to provide that.

Online university is still an option too, of course.

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Part two : the Jobening

Now where were we?

1. Virtual bookkeeping : Today I learned that being a bookkeeper is still a thing. I could probably get accredited as a bookkeeper. I’m the only person to ever get a 100 percent in my high school accounting class, after all. I know I have the aptitude. I would just need to take a few online classes to update my skills. And I suppose I could do the work. I know how to make a spreadsheet. I will put this one down as a positive maybe.
2. Medical coder : Yikes. I am sure I could do it but I’m also pretty sure I would hate it. Learning all those weird (and unnecessary) codes would be such a snooze. I might balance the books and I might even read your meter, but I draw the line at this kind of work. No.
3. Proofreader : I don’t think so. I have an extremely keen grip on the English language in all its minutiae, but what I lack is a fine attention to detail. I could be wrong, because language errors in stuff I read online do tend to leap out at me, but I would honestly make a better editor. I can improve your writing better than I can make sure everything is perfect. So…. maybe?
4. Virtual recruiting : Not sure how exactly this works. I guess it must be like outsourcing your HR work and paying someone to plow through all the applications for jobs till you find someone actually hireable. I don’t think I would enjoy that. Too much guesswork, because it’s not like there won’t be multiple equally qualified people for every job. And being responsible for whether someone’s kids get to eat would be way too much for me. Nnnno.
5. Online ESL teacher : The whole world wants to learn English because it’s now the lingua franca of the world. The internet gave us that. But I get very stressed out around people who don’t speak English well, making this about the worst kind of job for me. Um, nope.
6. Search engine evaluator : Hmmm. Another “judgement” job. I can see myself doing this. I am sure it can be quite tedious but like I said, I like exercising my judgement on large numbers of things. That’s why I used to enjoy sorting through my random acquisitions from Usenet so much. So, positive maybe.
7. Virtual event planner : Another hmmm. I’m not exactly one of the party people but I do have excellent organizational skills. I am not sure about organizing virtual events, though. That sounds like no fun. I suppose real world party planning would be really hard to do remotely though. Yeah, FedEx me those cake samples. I could probably do it but I would probably hate it. So no.

There! Now I can close one of my lurking tabs! Hooray!

Next I will sign up for SkillUp!

I will talk to you nice people again tomorrow.