Last two years in a nutshell...
I originally wrote this in response to a comment from the lovely leianora, then thought that perhaps it should have a bit wider dissemination.
Got laid off, got depressed. Went through saved fanfics and categorized by author, rating, thematic elements, etc. Lost hard drive almost immediately - before backup, of course. Got upset AND depressed. Started loooooong process of finding and re-saving favorite fics. Accept that I will never get some back, as some have been removed by author since saved.
Reached full year of unemployment, got REALLY depressed. Father-in-law's cancer went into final stages; didn't help with depression. Plan to visit on every conceivable excuse: Veteran's day, Thanksgiving, MLK day, President's day... Got job in December planning annual conference, but will not start until after new year. Spent most of month with Dad, including his last "good" day. Hard candy Christmas, but saw lots of family.
Started new job in January. (Fifteen months after layoff - ouch!) Turned 45 in February. Father-in-law died in early March. Memorial service one week later. Sister #4 (out of 5) married two weeks later. Burial in Arlington National Cemetery in April. Job got very busy; still no time for LJ as spending very long days (and sometimes nights) working. Sister #5 moves next to sister #1; help with last stage of driving (during which her cat pees in my car - no good deed goes unpunished). Conference almost here... oh no! Sister #5 frantic when younger son (age 7) is careflighted 150 miles for emergency appendectomy. Sisters 1 and 5 both stressing out. Impromptu visit to take care of plain-bellied Sneetch -- but conference starts Sunday so it's good that scar-bellied Sneetch is released Friday. Dash back home, throw clothes into suitcase, dash to hotel for conference. Very nice free room; wish I had time to enjoy it but I'm running here, running there, running back to the office for programs delivered there instead of here...
Whew! Conference over. Switch to new project. Log into LJ finally... uh, where did everybody go? Seems LJ got stupid and chased them away. *sigh* Create Insane Journal account: cheer when I get my name without the underscore. Start tracking down/friending people. Make cross-reference list of friends to track who's where. Wonder how I'll check those who went somewhere other than Insane Journal. *sigh again* Decide there's no way I can read two years' worth of posts, reluctantly decide to just start fresh and try to keep up.
Which brings us to today, one year and 364 days since I was laid off -- the day I returned to work from The Witching Hour.
This weekend I'm making a *planned* visit to sisters 1 and 5. The children have asked that I visit more often, now that they're only a 6-hour drive away instead of 14. I think I can handle that.
Got laid off, got depressed. Went through saved fanfics and categorized by author, rating, thematic elements, etc. Lost hard drive almost immediately - before backup, of course. Got upset AND depressed. Started loooooong process of finding and re-saving favorite fics. Accept that I will never get some back, as some have been removed by author since saved.
Reached full year of unemployment, got REALLY depressed. Father-in-law's cancer went into final stages; didn't help with depression. Plan to visit on every conceivable excuse: Veteran's day, Thanksgiving, MLK day, President's day... Got job in December planning annual conference, but will not start until after new year. Spent most of month with Dad, including his last "good" day. Hard candy Christmas, but saw lots of family.
Started new job in January. (Fifteen months after layoff - ouch!) Turned 45 in February. Father-in-law died in early March. Memorial service one week later. Sister #4 (out of 5) married two weeks later. Burial in Arlington National Cemetery in April. Job got very busy; still no time for LJ as spending very long days (and sometimes nights) working. Sister #5 moves next to sister #1; help with last stage of driving (during which her cat pees in my car - no good deed goes unpunished). Conference almost here... oh no! Sister #5 frantic when younger son (age 7) is careflighted 150 miles for emergency appendectomy. Sisters 1 and 5 both stressing out. Impromptu visit to take care of plain-bellied Sneetch -- but conference starts Sunday so it's good that scar-bellied Sneetch is released Friday. Dash back home, throw clothes into suitcase, dash to hotel for conference. Very nice free room; wish I had time to enjoy it but I'm running here, running there, running back to the office for programs delivered there instead of here...
Whew! Conference over. Switch to new project. Log into LJ finally... uh, where did everybody go? Seems LJ got stupid and chased them away. *sigh* Create Insane Journal account: cheer when I get my name without the underscore. Start tracking down/friending people. Make cross-reference list of friends to track who's where. Wonder how I'll check those who went somewhere other than Insane Journal. *sigh again* Decide there's no way I can read two years' worth of posts, reluctantly decide to just start fresh and try to keep up.
Which brings us to today, one year and 364 days since I was laid off -- the day I returned to work from The Witching Hour.
This weekend I'm making a *planned* visit to sisters 1 and 5. The children have asked that I visit more often, now that they're only a 6-hour drive away instead of 14. I think I can handle that.