Week One

Tuesday, on the way home from my last day of work, I texted my friend (and former coworker, who is still at the office I left in 2007) to meet me for a beer at Simon's. He obliged. I had two, he had a drink, we chatted, and he walked me home.

I called my parents, told them, called my brother, left a message.

I posted the message on facebook. That basically let everyone else know.

I was embarrassed, convinced I could have been saved, if only I had done this, not said that, been that way, been there..etc etc etc. It runs through your mind. Even though you're told you're not at fault you're convinced you could have made some kind of difference.

I do know that after I left, one coworker told the P that he made a huge mistake in letting me go. Another told my manager that she also made a mistake. That made me feel better, and worse.

I spent this week in the house, finishing up my resume, having friends in HR take a look at it, and critique. I signed up for monster, careerbuilder, and some other event planner sites job alerts. I emailed former coworkers. I networked, just a little bit. I cooked dinner three nights in a row...I took the trash out, cleaned the livingroom, mailed things.

I applied for unemployment on Wednesday...you can do it online now (who knew?) and I can have the money automatically deposited into my account. Whoa. The summer of 2003, when I was last laid off, I got a paper check and would have to take the bus to the bank to deposit it.

I got my unemployment info today. I will receive about 2/3rds of my former pay. In the end, this isn't too bad. This will definitely help. But I do miss the human interaction. I spent most of the week watching HGTV and Food Network. I surf the web, email with people...chat online...it's not the same. I'm looking forward to an Inauguration Party that starts at 9 AM on the 20th like it's the best thing to ever happen to me. Oddly enough, the first day I get to call for my unemployment benefits is Tuesday the 20th.