Well, my not having a job came back to bite us in the ass. We went to close on our mortgage on Monday, and they called to verify my employment (you remember...the job I quit? Yeah...that one.) So naturally, the deal was called off. By some miracle, the mortgage company was able to re-work another offer WITHOUT my income factored in (?!), so we're supposed to close on that one this coming Monday. God, I hope this works, because if it doesn't, we'll lose the house.
Meanwhile, the job search continues. I have several "cattle call" interviews coming up, including one for Cox Communications, one for Radio Shack, and one for a financial services company. I'm still toying around with the idea of a print brokerage and graphic design/support services, but I'm not quite ready (set-up wise) at home for that yet. I've registered "thatprintguy.com" and "thatgraphicsguy.com", so, I'll be That Print Guy and That Graphics Guy for a while...we'll see what happens (maybe)!
So far, my Web Design class seems to be going well. I'm learning some stuff (mostly refresher stuff at the moment, but this week, I have to learn CSS!), but I'm a bit behind on things (I have a discussion that's a week overdue). Nothing like early this year, though...so that's good.
I'm hoping to move this blog to my personal site when it's complete...I guess we'll see how that goes, too. ;)
Friday, June 25, 2004
Friday, June 04, 2004
Early June '04 update
(Yeep! I leave the blog alone for a month, and everything gets all wonky!)
OK, so it's been over a month...let's see...what's happened since then:
I'm still at the job I quit in mid-April. They hadn't found a replacement, and I hadn't found a job, so that kinda worked out. Kinda. I say kinda, because I've actually had a couple of nervous breakdowns (pretty much triggered by work) since then, which have caused me to miss a couple of days. Nothing like having to schedule time with a counselor because you can't handle your job. Fun. At least the job ends next week, and I'll be clear (emotionally, at least). Now I just need to find a source of income.
Home life is pretty much a reflection of work life. I really want (and I think, need) to be self-sufficient, income-wise...the only problem I'm having is that I can't get anything done at home. I'm a notorious scatterbrain, and I need to seriously work on my organizational skills. That, and I need to get my work-related stuff out of the little kids' reach, because otherwise, it ends up strewn everywhere. I have the additional task of playing family mediator between my beautiful (but very difficult) 4-year-old daughter and my beautiful (but emotionally drained) wife, as well as my 12-year-old son. Sometimes I'm a good ref, sometimes I'm not so good. But hey, that's life.
So, I'm in the middle of an early mid-life crisis, it seems. I've left a job that I found spiritually bankrupt, and I've left myself without a source of income. Even though the bottom is about to drop out, I feel strangely at peace with everything. I somehow get the feeling that it's all gonna work out (even though my life seems to be imploding around me these days).
I'm focusing a great deal on game design and interest-based communities lately, and I hope to be able to forge a career out of something related to either (or both) of those. I have a board game that I've designed (that I've also been pretty much just sitting on for the past 5 years) that I'm dusting off and making a new prototype for, and I've recently discovered the piecepack boardgame system, which I am finding most intriguing. Also, over the past couple of years I've developed a fascination with dice, so that's also fueling my gaming aspirations. I hope to be able to design some new dice games soon.
As far as community building, I've been smitten with the process in creating MacJukebox and MacMovieMaker; my only frustration has been that I don't have the time to dedicate to them that I'd like. This is another influencing factor in my life change, I think: I want the freedom to be able to work on these passions of mine, as well as be available for my family as needed. I don't think I can do that while working as an employee for anyone; I think I need to make a career for myself.
I feel rather like a heel whining about my difficulties and life challenges. Although I suspect everyone goes through similar things, I get the feeling that most people don't find overcoming these little obstacles as challenging as I have. I suppose that's just me, but I'd like very much to be able to become a lot more self-reliant, and less dependent on emotional support.
Well, at least the counselor says I'm making progress. That's a bit empowering, so I guess I'll just keep going like I'm going. Hopefully, it'll pay off in the end.
OK, so it's been over a month...let's see...what's happened since then:
I'm still at the job I quit in mid-April. They hadn't found a replacement, and I hadn't found a job, so that kinda worked out. Kinda. I say kinda, because I've actually had a couple of nervous breakdowns (pretty much triggered by work) since then, which have caused me to miss a couple of days. Nothing like having to schedule time with a counselor because you can't handle your job. Fun. At least the job ends next week, and I'll be clear (emotionally, at least). Now I just need to find a source of income.
Home life is pretty much a reflection of work life. I really want (and I think, need) to be self-sufficient, income-wise...the only problem I'm having is that I can't get anything done at home. I'm a notorious scatterbrain, and I need to seriously work on my organizational skills. That, and I need to get my work-related stuff out of the little kids' reach, because otherwise, it ends up strewn everywhere. I have the additional task of playing family mediator between my beautiful (but very difficult) 4-year-old daughter and my beautiful (but emotionally drained) wife, as well as my 12-year-old son. Sometimes I'm a good ref, sometimes I'm not so good. But hey, that's life.
So, I'm in the middle of an early mid-life crisis, it seems. I've left a job that I found spiritually bankrupt, and I've left myself without a source of income. Even though the bottom is about to drop out, I feel strangely at peace with everything. I somehow get the feeling that it's all gonna work out (even though my life seems to be imploding around me these days).
I'm focusing a great deal on game design and interest-based communities lately, and I hope to be able to forge a career out of something related to either (or both) of those. I have a board game that I've designed (that I've also been pretty much just sitting on for the past 5 years) that I'm dusting off and making a new prototype for, and I've recently discovered the piecepack boardgame system, which I am finding most intriguing. Also, over the past couple of years I've developed a fascination with dice, so that's also fueling my gaming aspirations. I hope to be able to design some new dice games soon.
As far as community building, I've been smitten with the process in creating MacJukebox and MacMovieMaker; my only frustration has been that I don't have the time to dedicate to them that I'd like. This is another influencing factor in my life change, I think: I want the freedom to be able to work on these passions of mine, as well as be available for my family as needed. I don't think I can do that while working as an employee for anyone; I think I need to make a career for myself.
I feel rather like a heel whining about my difficulties and life challenges. Although I suspect everyone goes through similar things, I get the feeling that most people don't find overcoming these little obstacles as challenging as I have. I suppose that's just me, but I'd like very much to be able to become a lot more self-reliant, and less dependent on emotional support.
Well, at least the counselor says I'm making progress. That's a bit empowering, so I guess I'll just keep going like I'm going. Hopefully, it'll pay off in the end.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
