Ebb and Flow

What a crazy life I lead. From one fire right to another one. And because of the economic situation manifesting for the last 8 years (probably more), the fires I am in are fully involved... so there is no easy path to safety. As many of you know, I was let go from a company I had 13 years of devotion into and learned that no one is safe no matter how valuable one might believe they may be. I was plunged into unemployment and uncertainty. I pounded the pavement, went to both useless and invigorating interviews. And then was thrust into freelance and contract work. And as some of you know, that situation is feast or famine. And now, here I stand. Hundreds of miles from home and loved ones. And what happens? Hahaha... no, I am still employed for the moment. But the company I am contracting for just let some people go...

Nothing like people I work closely with getting the ax. Brings back a lot of bad memories, mental turmoil and genuine sympathy for those forced on a path not intended. Three were let go from Design (where I work). 14 from Engineering and 7 from Marketing. There were another 60 or so elsewhere throughout the organization but such info has been kept confidential thus far. As for the three in my department, I knew them all and interacted with them on a near daily basis. I also knew a couple from Engineering. One was leading one of my small projects and the other was one of the Administrative Assistants near my office.

As far as moving on, that's what has to happen. Life goes on and deadlines don't vanish. I get to break it to a team tomorrow that I am now their design lead as well as figure out what to do with another project since my Engineer/Project Lead was also shown the door. Plus the 7:45 AM drop-dead design deadline the following day didn't move... just more work to do to keep the ship moving in the right direction.

Whew!

So what now? Who knows... I am still after a permanent position and have been told that some things are still in the works. I'm still popping out a few illustrations in Dirt Rag... two this past issue! Any plans for any permanency by any means is all up in the air again. And so I make it full circle again to rework "materials" for more pavement pounding and connection tugging.

Woohooo!?