Joblessness hasn't been so bad

[ye olde fretmonkey]

Monday makes a scant 2 weeks. I wish I knew for sure that I could draw unemployment, I'd just take my damn sweet time and find the job I really want. But...

I mowed and weed-eated the front and back yards
I drained and mucked out the pool
I'm a-gonna clean the fridge tomorrow
I cleaned the house within 1/2 inch of its life
I'm a-gonna patch the pool a little here and there, give the pump a tuneup and fill it back up this weekend...so we'll have a pool and backyard that we would actually want to hang out in
I gave myself a Merle Haggard and Western swing lesson on guitar for about 4 hours the other day

I processed the dismissal thing pretty quick. This time last week i was still pretty angry and hateful, thinking "I KEEL them. I go back and KEEL them all". Death by machine gun, mortar, Molotov, drowning, strangulation, being tied to the railroad tracks, shotgun, 18 wheeler crash, etc etc Then I went all granola and said "Ehh, I'll let karma sort it out, y'know man, let the universe do it". I dropped that pronto, and now I just don't care what happens to em. they can all live happily ever after, or get on the same bus and go off a cliff together. Either way's fine. My ultimate way of getting back at them is to move on and find a job I like. Maybe someone else's life is long enough for that kind of thing, but mine isn't, and after less than 2 weeks, the 6 years I was there seems like a long, long time ago.

So now it may either be working for a mom n pop printshop, or a distributor. The distributor job would be harder and dirtier, but it's so close i could literally ride my bike back and forth to work, which would be SWEET. I think it's gonna be one or the other, the way things are looking. I'm still hoping things come together, though, with freelance writing/voiceovers/music that I can go down to part-time work. Eventually...I do know that looking 5 years down the line, I would very much like to not be punching a clock anywhere anymo'.

[Geo]

Good luck with it Fretmonkey.

I'm going to be that way (unemployed) in about 2 weeks
so for a while I'll be doing things like that.
I'll probably drive to my mothers in Pittsburgh and work
on her yard and house a bit also.
Maybe take a drive over to Memphis
Play more guitar hopefully.

I have 32 years seniority with this company rolled
over through several owners. The severence is pretty
good. Don't know what lies ahead job wise yet but
have a few things to persue like yourself.
I'm going on 57 but can't really retire yet. I could but
it may make later years tighter.

[zombywoof]

I truly hope everything works out for ya' Fretmonkey. Same thing happened to my brother in Boston. Although he could have stayed with the new owners, he decided to strike out on his own. Just did not want to work for a large company. If this gives you any cause for hope, he is much happier and far better off financially now than before.
I am looking at posssible unemployment myself. Quit my very secure job for one which has to be renewed each year with a four year limit so my wife could accept her "dream" job. Took a pretty hefty cut in salary to boot.
Well, if I could just make it to age 62 (7 years from now).
Only time I really get down is when I walk into the local music store and see an '86 G&L Broadcaster for sale. Got to exert an incredible amount of self control. Making matters worse, owner keeps trying to talk me into taking it home for a test drive. Gotta keep refusing (if I take it home, I'm dead - will be paying it off for the next year) so I just drool alot.

[ye olde fretmonkey]

I'm not really too worried about it. My wife has a good career going, and I know I'm gonna find something soon.

I"m just thinking long-term, though...back before the dot-com bust I was pulling in enough freelance writing work that I could have quit my day job (but didn't). That all dried up over the years, but I know there are plenty of writing/editing gigs out there still; I just need to run 'em down.

That plus I've got a buddy who's studio manager at ACC, we're gonna hook up and do a voice demo for me in the next few weeks (or one of his students might take it on as a project). I could voice some really dry stuff like "Always remember the ABC's of forklift safety", or "Keep your back straight while lifting heavy loads, and always lift with your legs", maybe a couple of phony truck commercials, and try to get some representation for that sort of work.

Short term, I'll be back at a day job. But I've heard the cliche' of "When one door closes, another one opens up" so many times now, and I'm gonna MAKE some of those other doors open up if I have to take a battering ram to em. It'd mean independent contractor status tax-wise, and getting on my wife's benefits, but I'd love to work from home as a freelance guitar player/voice talent/writer. Hell, I've gotten so much done around here just in the last week...