Fired

So, if you are friends with me on Facebook, you'll know that I lost my job last week. It was Monday, I was on vacation, and it royally sucked.

I've been pretty much wallowing in self pity for days, resigned to writing off last week as a "nothing" week. Now I need to shake the pity party off, get my shit together and get moving.

I absolutely loved the work I did at the law firm. It was always challenging, always fast paced, never boring. (okay, sometimes not boring) Now what am I going to do. I would really like to stick with marketing if I can, but those jobs are pretty scarce, still, that's what I'm going to look for first.

This has been an interesting experience so far. I've applied for unemployment, which wasn't difficult at all until I had to call in my claim for the week. I recommend finding out what questions they are going to ask you before calling in. I was totally confused with the whole, you got paid some money, how much? I didn't have my paperwork in front of me, I didn't understand the questions. ARG!! It took me like 6 calls to get it right.

I also have to get some paperwork signed by my doctor, because with my fatigue condition the way it is now, I do not see myself being able to work full time. I will try for sure if needed, but I'd rather be trying to find another part time or telecommuting job that fits my health needs at the moment.

I also signed up for Obamacare because my medical will run out at the end of March. I guess I'm in the  "pathetic" category now that I'm unemployed and get to get it cheap.

And today, well, today I scoured through probably 200 job postings on various websites, Flex, Indeed, Monster, Career Builder, Craigslist...I've not applied yet. I've just been gathering them up to see which ones I would prefer to apply for first.

I have to do 3 job related activities to keep my unemployment going. Either contact employers for jobs or doing these work related activities in the Work Source program, or a combo of both. The Work Source stuff are workshops, job fairs and the like, to get me closer to my employment goals, I guess. A lot of it I really don't need, but I did find a couple of their classes to suit my needs. They have an orientation, stress management seminar, and jump starting your own business that look good.

I've dusted off my resume and added new skills and experience and created a cover letter. So, I guess I'm as ready as I'm going to be.

It's terrifying. I'm downtrodden. I was good at what I did and now I feel like I have to start all over.

I'm still planning to start the marketing business with my friend from my old job. And I'm still writing, so it would be great if one of those would actually pan out for me. I seriously do not like working for other people since having my own business in the 90s. There is a certain freedom you get with becoming your own boss, even if you are working your tail off.

So anyhoo, that's what I've been up to. It's going to be all work and job searching for me for awhile. So if you don't see (or hear) from me, you know what I'm doing.

Have you ever lost a job in your adult life? How did you handle it? Are you better off now? Do you like where you ended up?