Writing Reviews

Yesterday I applied for multiple freelance writing jobs. Let's just say I was on a role. Really, it seemed absolutely unbelievable that I would find so many ads in search of freelance writers or assistants to the editor or bloggers, etc. After writing several ingenious cover letters I attached writing samples and my CV and sat back feeling quite satisfied to have accomplished so much in one afternoon. Undoubtedly you can imagine my enthusiasm when within the first hour I received a reply. A reply! I have so rarely received a reply to any job I've applied for or bid on in nearly a year and after feeling utterly dejected this was the boost I needed!

Upon quick inspection of the email, I took notice that it seemed a bit on the shady side and still possibly very legitimate. And there was only one way to find out. I responded by completing the task assigned to me and emailing my final product. However, it doesn't end here. While working on my writing assignment I noticed another reply pop into my inbox. Then another, and another, and another until I had received a reply to each and every job application. Amazing! And yet, it wasn't adding up. So I read them. And yes, there were several scams instructing me to send in only £11.95 for tutorial pamphlets or spending a low one-time fee of £20 to receive that special how-to-make-a-fortune-in-an-afternoon video - after all, you have to spend money to make money my online interviewer enthusiastically stated. The more I read, the more I realized I had opened a sort of Pandora's Porn Box. Take the image as presented. And yes, when I say box I mean "box", if you know what I mean...

I was horrified. Not in the way that makes you afraid to walk outdoors in the dark but, the kind of horrified that makes you cringe whenever you see young girls at a Daytona Beach tequila bar while on spring break. You just know that vacation is never going to turn out quite the way they had imagined. Woooah, that was dangerously close to judging, wasn't it? Be that as it may, I cannot deny my initial feeling; and it wasn't good. That being said, I have this overwhelming sense of curiosity when it comes to pornography. I just can't help but take a glance. It's sort of like the sense of excitement my mother would get when she would have to pull off to the side of the road when an ambulance zoomed by. "Let's follow it!" she'd say craning her neck around at us as she pressed down on the gas pedal. We rarely ever caught up to the ambulance or even followed it to it's ultimate destination. But, it was exhilarating just imagining the gore we might be confronted with if we ever did catch up.

Anyway, I was hooked and proceeded to bring up hotsugar.com, realdrunkgirls.com, among many other sites, and I just couldn't go any further. Now, I'm not about to start a conversation or debate on the ethical nature of pornography. That's not my bag baby. However, I do know what doesn't settle well with me and this just wasn't settling.

So, as great as all of those opportunities may be, I chose to delete the responses and block the websites and never to look for a job on that website again. Did I shoot myself in the foot? Cut off my nose to spite my face? Was I a lost ball in the high weeds? Possibly. Perhaps I could have been one of the best script writers for B rated XXX movies. Damn, I missed my opportunity at the AVN Awards!!!

We'll see where I get with the writing assignment I did submit. Perhaps it will be my chance at glory after all.