Twelve Hours, P1,500.00

A while ago, I received what seems to be my first official paycheck ever in my humble twenty years of life. I was ecstatic as I saw the nice attendant behind Window 10 shuffle through her notes and yank out a form with my name printed on it. As she was preparing the necessary documents for her to release the check with my name printed in bold font, I started to wonder what I would do with the money. It is just a small amount, a compensation of P1,500.00, but still, it meant a lot to me. As I signed the "Received By" field, I remembered the contract Ate Lisa gave me to make my work more or less formal:

TERMS OF REFERENCE

These are the TERMS OF REFERENCE that govern the research work conducted by RODOLFO NOKOM, henceforth referred to as the RESEARCH ASSISTANT, of MA. MERCEDES T. RODRIGO, Ph.D., henceforth referred to as Dr. Rodrigo, of the Department of Information Systems and Computer Science (DISCS) of the Ateneo de Manila University for the project entitled "Multidimensional Analysis of User-Machine Interactions Towards the Develoopment of Models of Affect" for the period of 15 September 2008 to 31 October 2008.

1. Obligation of the RESEARCH ASSISTANT

• Assemble and ensure completeness of experiment kits for field work;
• Encode data gathered from field work;
• Keep all data confidential; no data will be released, analyzed or published without written permission from Dr. Rodrigo;

2. Obligations of Dr. Rodrigo

• Provide the RESEARCH ASSISTANT with an inventory of the items that should go into the experiment kit;
• Pay for costs of reproduction, communication, or postage and delivery related to the research; and
• Provide the RESEARCH ASSISTANT with the gross compensation in the amount of P1,500.00 per month. The Ateneo de Manila University will deduct withholding tax from this amount and remit it to the appropriate government agency.

Conforme:

Rodolfo Nokom
RESEARCH ASSISTANT

Ma. Mercedes T. Rodrigo, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Information Systems and Computer Science
Loyola Schools
Ateneo de Manila University

After working for twelve hours in a span of two weeks, I get rewarded. Actually, Ma'am Didith just paid me. All I wanted was the service hours needed in my scholarship.

Now, what should I do with this?