Stepping out into the light

I don’t plan on getting into specifics here, but I figured I should share something.

As many of my regular readers know, I’ve battled the unemployment thing for the past two-plus years. I’ve harbored some ill feelings toward some people over that time. I’m actually not sure if those will ever go away, but at least they remained contained. The odds are I won’t ever see the people in question, so it’s no biggie.

Over those two-plus years, I’ve blogged about the downside of all of this. My job hunt, my thoughts and everything else. I knew it would be silly for me not to share this news with readers.

The past two years have been some of the hardest in my life. I had unemployment for a long time and that helped me keep up on bills and living. That ended in early January.

Ugh.

Then came me having to tap into a small retirement account.

Sigh.

Thankfully, I got a tax return (though New York State, several months later, still hasn’t sent me my refund. Bet they would be ticked if I owed and didn’t pay on time, eh?), which got me through a couple more months.

In the past several months, I’ve applied for jobs not only in my field (communications, media etc., if anyone is hiring full time), but for everyday jobs, too. Such as a delivery driver for a local electronics place. I didn’t get call backs.

I was honestly starting to wonder if I’d ever work again.

All this time, I’ve laughed as politicians and others say it’s getting better. So many jobs were added, they say. Unemployment has gone down, they yell. It’s because people are running out of benefits, people. It’s not getting better. I know so many people still in the same boat. And I have friends who have been losing jobs.

Better my rear.

Still, I try and keep upbeat. I know I don’t have it as bad as some and I try and keep it into perspective. Am I going to be able to retire and live my later years on a beach somewhere? Likely not. But I still have to believe my experience and education will get me somewhere, right?

Maybe that light at the end of the tunnel is finally getting bigger.

Despite not getting a dream job I interviewed for a month or so ago, I kept looking and plugging away. I had a certain calmness to me. The weather was turning better and I enjoyed being alive a bit more. I didn’t have any money, but I could at least go outside, throw a disc or two, find a geocache and breathe fresh air.

Then I got a call.

I had applied for a seasonal job. I interviewed, it went well and they hired me for the position I truly wanted. It will last about three months or so this summer. It should be a fun job and it gives me a chance to be outside, earn a paycheck and feel like society isn’t kicking me every which way but loose.

And, maybe, this could lead to something else? They say you are more apt to land some other job when you have a job, no? So maybe this can be a good thing in more ways than one. In a perfect world, this would be the type of company I’d like to land with full time.

Again, I don’t want to get into specifics because that’s the type of person I am. I try not to mix personal and professional when it comes to blogging, so I’ll just say I’m happy with this summer gig and excited to be doing something again. It’s been a long time coming and it will be nice to have some sort of income. Add to that, from everybody I’ve talked to, it’s a great place to work.

So the mood is upbeat. I’m still chugging along and maybe things are looking up for me. Maybe. I’m excited for the future and hopefully I can keep that excitement up and raring to go.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!