Unemployed, Week 2

I know I've been unemployed enough times when I just settle into my routine effortlessly. I'm not even fazed or at a loss of what to do. This is just second nature, now.

Sleeping in: yes, that happens. But also regular gym visits, and eye and dental appointments while insurance is still good. Desk is tidy, e-mails are answered, Monster is updated, and I've filled my week with things I'd do more of if I didn't have to work (such as now):

• Hosting two radio shows this week (Tuesday and Friday, Daily Planet on KBCS, 3-5 p.m. PST)


• Performing in a school show with my choir Dunava


• Going skiing! My uncle is in town, and he's taking pity on me and getting me a lift ticket. Yay!

I've also edited my first article for the Seattle Courant (although the article I edited looks quite a bit different than the one that got published—fortunately). Not much money, but I like mucking in online journalism.

But, while I'm in good spirits and confident that this is just temporary and I might as well enjoy myself for now, not all is rosy. My partner, who has been working for REI for almost twelve years, is having employment issues of his own. His hours, which are supposed to be full-time, are being cut to 14, 19 or 27 a week—with not much advance warning from week to week. Seniority and experience don't seem to count for who gets how many hours. In addition, he tells tales of co-workers who lose their benefits because of being reduced to part-time, or whose departments are being closed and who have to work on the sales floor for reduced wages. Wha...? They hire people for a specific task, cut their job, and tell them to work for a 50% pay cut doing something that's not their trained skill?

I'm only getting one guy's perspective, but it sounds fishy. Smells fishy. Just lay people off already; don't reduce their hours and their wages. Sad to be disillusioned about an institution we're all so proud of in Seattle...

Free time?

I know I should be scouring the Internets right now, sending my resume around, updating my Monster account...

... but instead, I've gotten drawn into to more domestic tasks. I suddenly can't take the little and big messes anymore. So I dove into my filing cabinet with a fury (really, how many files does one single person with little property need?), and am now halfway through my "inbox" -- the inbox that was supposed to be "stuff to do now," but turned into "stuff to ignore indefinitely." Bills from last year? Old account statements? Yikes! No more!

I figure this is all part of the new clean start, whenever that happens. When another full-time gig comes around, at least my home will be in order, and I'll be caught up on all that non-work stuff. (Smothering cynical voice...)

In terms of gigs: I'm talking to the editor of a local online publication tomorrow. That might be some fun freelance work. And I'm also taking on additional radio shows. I normally host a world music show just twice a month, but hey, now I have time, I can fill in for others!

The next gig: Tuesday, January 27, Daily Planet on KBCS from 3 to 5 p.m. PST.

Irony

On January 20, 2009, the United States inaugurated a president who seems a beacon of better times to come. Barack Obama will end the recession, end all wars, and end racial injustice once and for all. Well, maybe. But what is real is that, for now, the country is swept up in a feeling of optimism, hope, excitement, even motivation to do our part, pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and do the right and necessary things.

The day before the inauguration, I got laid off from my job. I'm sure this is not big news; several people at my company were laid off with me, and layoffs continue to happen across the technology sector. (Microsoft layoff rumors abound...) And while I have no delusions that President Obama will turn things around on a dime and start the next technology boom, just in time for me to get swept up in it, I do wonder:

When's my next gig?
What is it?