Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Unemployment

So this is my first day of being officially unemployed. I have 3 1/2 months until baby comes and 3 1/2 months of doing whatever the heck I want because seemingly no one wants to hire a pregnant woman this close to her due date (although, 3 months is not that close). My whole office got laid off effective of the 31st so ta-da!

I am really sort of hating this already. It's 1PM and I haven't really done anything. Put dishes away, started laundry and then applied for some jobs per requirement of the unemployment office. We've decided the toddler is staying in school so the unemployment will cover that .. and just that. He's going through potty training, having a hard time in general with going to bed and tantrums and all that and there's a baby on the way so taking him out of the school he's been in for the past year does not seem like a good idea. There will be plenty of changes coming, he doesn't need to be uprooted from his friends and routine. Plus, once I start looking for a job I will need to make sure he will be in school. In this area preschools have long waiting lists so I am not willing to risk not having a place for him to go.

On the other hand unemployment covers his school and that's about it which terrifies me. We have some saved up but we had a savings plan for the next 3 months and weren't planning on living off of savings until end of March. So I'm freaking out a little bit. There's some credit and some 401k if we really need to but that doesn't give me any sort of comfort.

Then there's the migraines (or at least that's the last conclusion we got to) .. with the faintness and the going blind and the seeing painful bright spots, which is not very conducive to jobs requiring standing or hauling stuff around. I was convinced this was the way to go. Everyone told me to stay home .. that my mental and physical state are in need of some recuperation. And they're probably right.

So again, here it is, 1PM. By this time I would have worked on some code, helped out a few coworkers, committed some stuff, attended a meeting, planned tasks for the rest of the week, etc. But instead I've gotten very little done. I guess I should take it easy on myself. It's my first day and it's damned depressing to be here. But there are some benefits:
1. I do have a long list of things that need doing around the house
2. we'll be able to eat better since now I will have time to actually go to the grocery store, cook, etc (this relates more to having the energy not just the time .. which lately I've been missing despite the 3/4 of an espresso shot I allow myself a little of throughout the day)
3. There are a couple of technologies useful in future jobs I will have time to read/learn about
4. Have a lot of books I would like to finish (some of parenting, buddhism and the two I haven't had  chance to finish Schumpeter's "Capitalism socialism and democracy" and Smith's "The theory of moral sentiments"
5. Finally some time when I can work out .. I'm 6 months pregnant and have not worked once in this entire pregnancy which makes me feel very unprepared for The Event which last time took 22 hours and a lot of physical work; last time I had also worked out AND done yoga on an almost daily basis.

So, some bright spots there.

2 comments:

  1. There is something rather ideal about being able to take the last trimester off. I hope you find a way to work it!

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  2. You're totally right .. ideal is the word.

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