Lazy Saturday

One of the things about unemployment is that you can either have a lot to write or absolutely nothing. The search for work can be an interesting job in itself, if you're willing and/or able to do anything, but if you're determined to work in a specific industry, the process of looking gets a tad monotonous.

After about two months of looking for work (I started the search around Feb. 5 — the day we had a union meeting to discuss the fact that we knew there would be layoffs and that my job was one of the ones most in danger), I finally got a few responses to resumes. I don't want to mention anything specific for fear of jinxing the process, but I do have at least one solid lead that I'm confident about. It's a paper on the west coast, which would be great. I've been in contact with some people from that paper all week and one was supposed to call me yesterday regarding an interview, but he didn't. Here's hoping they were just busy.

The other lead is less sure, but I got an e-mail from an editor telling me he was narrowing down who to interview. I know it wasn't a form e-mail because he referenced a very specific, personal part of my cover letter. That job would be farther away from the west coast but is close to some family.

If nothing else, I'm just happy to have gotten some response after all this time. I'm about to send out some more cover letters — I have to do three per week while I'm on unemployment — but I'm feeling a bit better. One thing's certain. The countdown to leaving Yakima has begun. I've given notice to be out of my apartment on May 3, and if I don't have a job by then, I'll be staying with my parents until I do. Knowing whether I have a job would make it easier to decide how to deal with my stuff (particularly if I have an offer from a place that will pay moving expenses), but the sure thing is that by the end of the month, I'll be off the hook for rent and utilities or moving somewhere where I have a steady paycheck and can take care of those things without stress.


Tonight I'm going to a party with a work friend and some of her friends. I met them last week at a fun party at this really cool farm house out in the country where they tried to teach me to Salsa. It was a fun time. It figures that right when I'm ready to move, I finally start meeting great people and feeling really comfortable with the friends I have made here. I've always considered myself to be someone who made friends easily, but it's been hard here. It was the first time I ever moved somewhere where I didn't know anyone (including when I went to D.C. for the summer) and I just felt like the new kid in school. I just didn't have the confidence to call people and invite them places, even when we were friends at work. I haven't felt like myself in a long time, and I hope that wherever I go next, that changes. I need to figure out how to make the most out of wherever I am and I hope I've learned to do that.