This Time

Today, despite feeling like crap from my allergies (which a long walk outside for exercise did not help) I cleaned the living room, transferred a bunch of CDs into iTunes, did the dishes, and vacuumed a bit. I am much more effective during this bout of unemployment than during my last one in 2001.

When I first moved here in October of 2001 I had no job. I moved to New England because a friend from college had gotten a job here and I liked the character of this small (by NYC comparison) city in the Ocean State. After being at college in a rural but progressive small city I wasn't quite ready to jump back to the NY metro rat race.

The apartment had practically no furniture. As the cold New England winter approached I spent my days sitting at the makeshift desk set up (milk crate, CPU topped with the monitor, and a box that the keyboard sat on) searching for jobs online. I eventually began volunteering at the local preservation society working on the Industrial Buildings Survey that they were in the midst of. At least that got me out of the house for a few hours each day. But it was still so depressing and frustrating and tiring to not have a 'real job'. I had a few temp jobs, but those were, well, temporary. Health insurance soon became an issue, as my mom's health insurance would no longer cover me. I decided to see if I could find anything, even retail, that might give me benefits. I lucked out and found a job at a local pharmacy. I didn't love working there but they had some of the best health coverage around. And I learned how to run a photo lab. Eventually I found my 'real job' at a local TV station. And now, here I am, writing this blog and hoping that I am entertaining my audience with my wit and style and daily frustrations of the Unemployed Life.