Currently: Still Unemployed

Happy anniversary to me!
Yesterday I received a letter in the mail informing me that, after May 31st, my amazingly low COBRA insurance rate will no longer be available. Thank you Mr. Stimulus Plan, you have done wonderful things for me. The end of affordable medical coverage for the pink slip army marks my 15 month anniversary of unemployment. Yowza, that's a really long time. It's like Obama himself saying to me, "Time to get a job, slacker!"

Times Are Tough These Days seems to be the mantra of the last couple years. Another unemployed friend recently lamented that out of 400 applications for a mediocre admin position, making it to the final 5 candidates didn't even warrant a rejection letter. Harsh, but come to think of it I don't think I've received any rejection letters from any of the 1-2 companies per week with whom I've interviewed. Double harsh.

My original goal was to obtain a job by the end of April, as that's when my bus pass expired. A random deadline, but a failed one nonetheless. Soon it will be time to apply for a second UI extension. Even though I've been unemployed a couple of times before (yay tech industry!) the job market jungle has never been this cut throat. Even though I'm far from a slacker, I sure do feel like one now. Dang.

It's Like Riding a Bike...

I never leaned to ride a bicycle, but had made it my end of summer goal. I have no idea where to start or who to ask for advice, all I know is that I have a trip to the Netherlands in November (2 years in the making) and bike riding is mandatory, as we are staying on a schamcy house boat just out of the city.

I am scared. Despite growing up in a very manicured cookie-cutter middle class suburb my parents did not allow me to go outside to play with the many neighborhood children, not even in the backyard, for fear I would get raped. Not kidding. My siblings and I are first generation Americans, and my parents very paranoid and conservative. No walking to the school bus stop alone. No shaving of legs. No playing outside. And therefore no learning to ride a bicycle.

Looking back at it from adulthood it's not such a big deal, and if it wasn't for the upcoming travel plans I could have lived the rest of my life happily unable to peddle a two wheeled vehicle. Now I realize I'm terrified of falling. I never learned how to play.