Yarrr...

You know you've been unemployed a bit too long when you get career ideas from song lyrics.

Case in point? This afternoon, while being a good girlfriend/domestic goddess and ironing B's shirts, my iPod shuffled on to one of my "songs for making me happy". I could instantly identify with the lyrics:

I looked for every kind of job, the answer always "No"
"Hire you now?" they'd always laugh "We just let 20 go!"
The Government, they promised me a measley little sum.
But I've got too much pride to end up just another bum.

Then I thought "Who gives a damn if all the jobs are gone?"
"I'm gonna be a PIRATE... on the river Saskatchewan!"

So that's my plan. Who's with me? I might have to amend the plan slightly to focus my pirate activities on a river in say... Meath... but I reckon it's still feasible.

PS - for those readers unfamiliar with the song "The Last Saskatchewan Pirate", you can find quite an entertaining video here. Syncs up quite well I think!

PPS - for those of you also unfamiliar with Saskatchewan, it's the flattest place in the world. Totally landlocked. Mostly wheatfields. When your dog runs away you can see him going for days... you get the idea.

(photo courtesy of Mom and Dad)

An open letter to the "Powers That Be"

(preface - the other day I was reading about how sometimes when you're unemployed you go through similar stages to those of the grieving process. With that in mind, I now present... Stage 4 - Bargaining)

Hi. Thanks for taking the time to hear me out. I know how busy things must be lately, what with all the chaos we mere mortals seem to be causing on a semi-regular basis. I'll try to make this quick so as not to take up too much of your time.

I need a favour. Call it "cutting me some slack" or "giving me a break". I need a job. I really really liked the people I interviewed with today, I think their organisation is fantastic, and I know I'd really love the work they have planned. And I really did my best in the interview and left with a good feeling about the whole thing. Help me out here.

In return, I promise to:

- humour the on-the-street pests from Concern (fundraisers! I meant fundraisers!) once a month and actually hear them out (I hope you appreciate the extreme measures I am resorting to)
- regularly carry change for the homeless (they have an uncanny ability to ask when I have absolutely no change on me! I will remedy this)
- try to control my grumpy mood swings, especially around B. This will be infinitely easier if I am successful in landing the aforementioned job.

So there is my proposal. I will also consider adopting a rescue cat, but this hinges on the landlord's level of willingness to allow a small furball into the apartment, and thus is mostly out of my control. But I promise to try.

Thanks for listening. I'll be waiting for your decision (or... counterproposal, if my suggestions were not to your liking. I'll take care of the evil lemon plant in our living room! I promise!)

Yours sincerely,

K

Will work for...?

Is there any worse kind of weather than the drizzly grey bleh-ness of Dublin? Especially since I often feel like my moods are tied in to the weather outside. Not quite seasonal affective disorder, but something close.

I'm getting frustrated.

Over the past couple of weeks I've thrown all my energy into The Epic Jobhunt, but to no avail. Well, that's not to say that I've been rejected by every single company or organisation. Far from it. Apart from the occasional "We've received your application and will let you know" email, I've heard precisely nothing. Nothing from anyone. Ok, maybe I'm just impatient but seriously... I want to work! I've enjoyed my 3 months of unemployment, but I definitely think it's time I rejoined the workforce.

Anyone want to give me a job? You won't regret it! To quote Homer Simpson: "I work like a Japanese beaver!"

Life of K - or, "Unemployment is good for you!"

Most people I've met up with recently have asked me how I'm finding unemployed life. They seem to ask with a hint of "Are you going crazy yet?" and I always give them my truthful answer.

I am really, truly enjoying being unemployed.

I've given it a lot of thought over the past couple of weeks, as being unemployed gives you the luxury of being able to mull things over - myself, my situation, what I would like out of my life - and I've come to some important (and surprising) conclusions.

My old job was making me ill.

Okay, that does sound a bit harsh, but I can explain. I loved my last job - I loved the people, I loved the challenges, and most importantly I truly believed in what we were doing and what we stood for. And yet almost every day I would come home exhausted - I had little or no energy, and no drive to do anything on weekends apart from relaxing. My stomach and digestion were in bits.

And you know what? Ever since I arrived back from Paris, I have been fine. One hundred percent okay. No stomach woes, seemingly boundless energy, and an overall happy, positive outlook on life.

It's hard not to see a cause-and-effect with something this important.

And so now I'm left to wonder what that could mean for future employment options. Naturally I don't want to leap back in to a job that could potentially undo all the improvements I've seen recently. But where do I go from here?

With a lot of time on my hands to think, I've found myself drawn to people who have embraced a bit of selfishness - no, not selfishness per se, but friends or acquaintances who have packed in things that didn't make them happy: college degrees, mind-numbing jobs, etc and gone after something that would make them happy - usually a radically different life path, and one that doesn't involve any sort of bureaucracy or worries about money. I really admire that, and I think that, given my recent revelations on my health situation, I could do with a bit of that myself.

Now... if only I knew what I wanted to do with my life...

Paris... or "How I learned to love being unemployed"

Lately I've found myself in the land of the unemployed. This mostly involves finding new and interesting ways to keep myself entertained, and so far I'm not doing too badly. I'm discovering my inner domestic diva whilst realising just how filthy a decent sized apartment can get. Martha Stewart, eat your heart out.

With that said, I do have a newfound respect for stay-at-home moms, wives or partners. It's not an easy life. I'm sure it takes much longer than my not-quite one week of unemployment to get used to this kind of life, and I admit that some days have left me nearly crawling the walls, but I now have much more time for the things I enjoy. I've sorted through and posted my best photos from our trip to Paris, for example, and very soon I will be starting my Christmas Project - a calendar of my favourite photos, to be given to friends and family (and anyone else who would like one - requests are welcome!)

Speaking of Paris... that was my birthday present from B this year. We left on the first of November and stayed until the sixth - just enough time to see almost everything, and yet not quite long enough.

We stayed at the Hotel Monte Carlo, just near Montmartre. It's a wonderful hotel, 15 minutes from Gare du Nord one way, 15 minutes from the Opera House the other way, and about 20 minutes to the Louvre. It's in a safe and relatively quiet neighbourhood (apart from a random fight outside the karaoke bar across the road which I'm sure was an isolated incident) and is surprisingly affordable, given the extortionate hotel prices in Paris, even in November.

As for what we did and saw... well the obvious highlight was taking a cooking class at Cook'n With Class, at a small studio near Sacre Coeur. I cannot recommend this enough, and I cannot believe that more people do not know that it even exists! We did the pastry class, which is actually more of a dessert-making class, and learned how to make creme brulee, chocolate souffles, raspberry mousse, poached pears, and madeleines - all from scratch. Bring a healthy appetite.

Apart from all the usual touristy sites (Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Champs Elysees, etc) we also, at the recommendation of one of B's friends, did a tour of the Parisian Catacombs. It's not for the squeamish or faint of heart, but I would definitely recommend it. In the late 1700s, largely because of disease and infection, the contents of many cemetaries across Paris were moved to old quarries about 20m below the city. The bones were built in to walls, with skulls being used for decoration. The entire site was consecrated, so it is also a holy place where the residents can rest in peace (or what little peace you can find given the number of visitors the site receives each year).

We also took two of my favourite birthday presents to Paris with us, and I think they enjoyed themselves too.

So that's been my life over the last couple of weeks. And good news for my readers back at home - B and I will be back in town on the 12th of December. Can't wait to see you all then!

Casualty of an Economic Recession

So it's official. On October 31st, I will officially be out of a job.

Touche, economic recession.

I admit I'd been following the financial crises with a hint of schadenfreude - finally the bankers were getting their come-uppance! What I seriously underestimated was the impact the worldwide financial woes would have on the various philanthropic organisations that are essential for keeping NGOs like ours afloat, and with them, my job.

So sadly it's a case of "last one in, first one out", which has been met with near-universal staff outrage. Nice to know I'm liked, needed and appreciated, if expendable in tough financial times!

Thankfully in all other aspects B and I are mostly protected. We're not yet property owners, so we don't have to join the hand-wringing queues of propertied Dubliners who are watching the values of their homes decline daily.

We're young and relatively mobile as well, so in theory we could pack up and go anywhere. And we're considering it. All the options I've listed in the past are still viable... possibly even moreso now that I'm soon-to-be unemployed. Suggestions are always welcome.

I'm not upset, I'm...

Ever since I found out my job was in trouble I've had a lot of time to think about things. About a month, to be precise. And it's been a bit of a rollercoaster: tears, tantrums, rants and raves. But today, after a meeting with our CEO yesterday afternoon (and even more tears and tantrums last night) I've come to some important realisations.

1 - This is out of my control
At the moment the organisation simply doesn't have the money to keep me on, and with the Government refusing to fund NGOs it is a sad fact of life that money is not likely to come from anywhere anytime soon.

2 - It's not me
I think this is the one that matters most to me. I have done a good job. I am good at what I do. Nobody wants to see me go, and what's more, they really feel they can't AFFORD to lose me. But again, it's out of my (and their) control.

3 - There are more opportunities out there
As disappointed as I will be to have to leave such a great organisation (and it is), there are other jobs out there that will allow me to grow and develop from an assistant/admin role to a more responsible communications role. All I have to do is go after them.

So with those 3 things in mind... well, I'm still disappointed, a bit scared, but also hopeful. I know these people will do everything in their powers to make sure that I'm okay and do well. I have the support of one of the most powerful NGOs in Ireland behind me, and that means the world to me.

Now I just have to jump back in to the job market - a thought that at present is about as appealing as having a root canal with no freezing (for an idea of what that's like, read A Million Little Pieces !) But I'm a stubborn, determined girl... I've hit setbacks like this before and I haven't given up.

And I won't this time, either.