unemployment.

..:: day two ::..

day one of being unemployed passed without being too boring. it was day one after all. the important thing i'm finding, is to still have goals for the day. for example, yesterday's goal was to get a haircut. not a spectacular goal, but nonetheless one that required some planning in advance. (the haircut turned out to be too short by the way.)

on the way home i stopped at border's to look at some books. at my mother's recommendation, i bought a book called "the alchemist" by paulo coelho. it's a fable about a young man's journey to realize his life dream. actually it reads kind of like a children's story, but still good for adults. i'm about halfway through and will attempt to post some profound thoughts on the book when i'm done. the other book i bought was "the paradox of choice," about how too much choice can be harmful - "how the culture of abundance robs us of satisfaction." i'm looking forward to reading this one.

goal of day 2 - get through some of the easier items on my ever-growing to-do list, the financial survival to-dos, such as reduce my car insurance. there's no reason why i need a $250 deductible when i'm not using my car for anything more than driving to the golf course. come to think of it maybe i should just trade in my car for a golf kart. i'd be classified a low-emissions vehicle and get unfettered use of the carpool lanes. i'd also get killed, but oh well.

other goals for the day, go to the gym, and read some more of these books. i intend to be border's best friend for the time that i am unemployed. oh, come to think of it, i should do some research on potential jobs.

pausing for a thought here: i want to make sure this time i am doing research on jobs, not looking for jobs. maybe what i need to do is make a checklist that i'll take into phone interviews to ask the interviewer about. for example, for my last job disaster, i didn't really check to see how my future group interacted with engineering. if i had done some more prying, i might've found out that my future group had no respect or bargaining power with the engineers and therefore had a miserable time getting anything done. big, big red flag.