Unemployed.

Well, fair readers, I am officially one of the approximately 11.6 million unemployed people in this country. Long story short, department needs changed, my job changed, I was no longer qualified, and now I'm out of a job.

I am receiving a few weeks' pay as a sort of severance, and I'll be applying for unemployment as soon as I receive my last check next week (learned this morning that I can't file for unemployment without that last check, darn!). Luckily, I have a decent emergency fund that will help supplement the unemployment checks until I find a job. It should also help pay for new tires on my car that I'll be needing soon (it's almost time for my next check-up, and the last time I was told "well, next time it'll be time for new tires" - eek!). An emergency fund is one of those things you never think you'll need, but you build it up anyway...and well, now I know why!

I am trying to just stay positive, apply for jobs and use this "time off" to reflect, think, and do some of the things I've been wanting to do but haven't had the time for. In fact, I've made a list. I call it the "No Excuses - You're Unemployed" list. Ta-Da.

• deep-clean the bathroom - it needs to happen.
  
• (finally) sort through the box under my keyboard - it's been there as a junk box since I moved in. a year and a half ago.
• give myself a pedicure - my $15/month splurges may have to be on hold for a while.
  
• READ - I just renewed my library card, and I plan to use it!
  
• bake bread - I want to experiment with new kinds like rosemary or olive
  
• watch more Food Network and try new recipes - I want to go to farmer's markets and Berkeley Bowl, buy cheapish produce and try something new!
  
• fix my broken shoe rack - instead of purchasing a new one, I'm going to hammer it back together and duct tape it. Duct tape fixes everything, right?
• deal with my "office" area - I've gotten some good responses from my post to Apartment Therapy, and I think it's about time I figure out how to make use of this corner of my bedroom.
• go through and get rid of some books - my bookshelves are overflowing, and a lot of the books are ones that I don't read, or don't like, or otherwise just don't really need to have around.
• empty the bag-o-snacks - I have a big bag in my apartment filled with trail mix, crackers, and other kinds of snacks...time to unpack it and find places for all these miscellaneous food items.
• put away bags in living room - there are a few random bags hanging out in the living room that I should really just go through and put away already.
• earthquake straps - I've had these for longer than I care to admit, and I need to attach them to my tall bookshelf and dvd/vhs shelves.
• wash sheets, towels/bathmat, duvet cover - this kind of laundry is the stuff I procrastinate doing because it involves unmaking and making the bed...not really sure why I procrastinate the towels/bathmat. But I should stop.
• re-pot plants - I have two plants right now that are currently in need of re-potting. Once the rain lets up (well, it's sunny right now, but this is my obligatory "sit on the couch and maybe do dishes" day), I'm all over it.
• take my laptop to the Apple store - it's been slowing down a lot lately, and I want to know if it's something easily fixable (aka not "oh yeah, you need a new hard drive).
  

the burritos i've been eating all day, made from leftovers a friend left here on Saturday

So that's my list...so far. I'm afraid to say it, but I am actually kind of looking forward to this. I've been extremely lucky in employment ever since I started as a babysitter at age 12, and I've never actually been in a situation where my time is 100% my own. Not in my teen/adult life anyway. No classes, no work, no real obligations except finding a job...which I understand is a job in and of itself, but still. There is something freeing about not having your days mandated.

So yeah. I'm trying to stay positive and look at this as a chance for me to learn something and to focus on myself and read a lot, and maybe try some new knitting, and take walks, and make smoothies, and watch some Ellen* and sell merch at Sara's upcoming shows at Cafe du Nord, and spend time with my other unemployed friends, and hang out with my cousin in the city, and be taken out for a meal or two, and well, we'll see. Hopefully this unemployed thing doesn't last too long, but I'm going to try to enjoy it at least. No sense in moping around feeling sorry for myself!

*Portia de Rossi is going to be on Ellen in a few weeks. That should be fun. The Bird and The Bee is on today - very exciting (Inara was my movement teacher at Shakespeare camp, like, 10 years ago). I recognize some of the girls in her backup band as Theatricum girls - that's always fun. Oh, and Neil Patrick Harris will be on on Monday. Yay!

Just discovered some ants in my laundry room, sneaking in through a tiny hole near the floor. Time to go get a cheap ant trap, I suppose...my skin is crawling with the thought of ants. Gross.