Summer 2011 will certainly go down as one of the craziest in my life. Honestly, there are no other words to describe what's been going on with me.
I went on vacation at the beginning of August. I decided to go to New York on a buddy pass. For those of you who've never flown on a buddy pass, it's a perk for airlines employees to give to their friends and family so they can travel cheaply. The only drawback is that you don't have a guaranteed seat, which means that if someone has paid full price for a ticket, they can bump you off the flight. I'll spare you all the details, but let's just say ya girl went on a cross-country tour to get to New York, with stops in Oakland, Vegas, Denver, and Chicago. I left on Saturday morning and arrived Sunday night. Whew!
New York was great -- as always. I was able to work and kick it with my peeps, which was really awesome. And I was able to do a little standup. (I found out that the jokes that work in LA do NOT work in NYC -- but that's another story for another time.) Everything was going great until the last day. I was hanging out with my friends, playing cards and getting drunk. Then my phone rang, and it was my boss. She called to inform me that I was one of five people being let go due to budget cuts. While she said she hated to give me this news on the phone, she wanted me to know so I wouldn't have to rush back to LA. Uh...thanks!!?!!
So, after a year and a half of working full-time, I'm back in the unemployed basket again. I'd like to say that I was able to put it all in perspective, bounce back, and move on. That, unfortunately, was not the case. I got extremely depressed. With the exception of going to my part-time job, I pretty much stayed in bed for the entire month of August. I looked online for work, but it was a slow-go all around. It didn't help that one of my co-workers started working the next week after the layoffs.
Since my financial situation changed, I didn't really know what I was going to do. At first, I thought I wanted to return to New York. After all, LA isn't home for me, and it's hard to be alone when you're going through a crisis. So my initial plan was to pack and/or sell my stuff, and just go back to the familiar. My homegirl was like, "You can stay here until you figure it out." And it was very tempting. But something in my gut was telling me to stay here. After all, I came to LA because God told me there was something here for me.
And here's the funny thing...when I decided that no one really cared about me being here, all my friends on this coast decided to step up. My choir director and his wife gave me enough money to cover my car note. Who does that??? And then, one of my church members offered me a room in her house so I could figure it out. It was all so sweet.
Of course, the main reason I want to leave LA is that I'm so freakin' lonely. I'm used to not having a boyfriend. But it's hard to make it when you don't have someone to hang with. If you've read my blog for any amount of time, you know that I suffer with being by myself in the "good" times. So I was pleasantly surprised when one of my girlfriends here gave me a call. She basically had been guilted into it by one of our mutual friends, but it still felt good. At this point, we've been hanging out really tough.
And, guess what? I now have a full-time job! One of my former co-workers told me about an opening at her current company, and I got the job. The pros: It's a radio job that gets me all the way back to my roots in the business, which is really good right now. I need to sharpen my skills so that I'll be more marketable in my industry. Also, it'll allow me to keep my apartment. The cons: It doesn't pay as much as my other job. And the content of this particular station is...questionable, to say the least. Stay tuned...
I went on vacation at the beginning of August. I decided to go to New York on a buddy pass. For those of you who've never flown on a buddy pass, it's a perk for airlines employees to give to their friends and family so they can travel cheaply. The only drawback is that you don't have a guaranteed seat, which means that if someone has paid full price for a ticket, they can bump you off the flight. I'll spare you all the details, but let's just say ya girl went on a cross-country tour to get to New York, with stops in Oakland, Vegas, Denver, and Chicago. I left on Saturday morning and arrived Sunday night. Whew!
New York was great -- as always. I was able to work and kick it with my peeps, which was really awesome. And I was able to do a little standup. (I found out that the jokes that work in LA do NOT work in NYC -- but that's another story for another time.) Everything was going great until the last day. I was hanging out with my friends, playing cards and getting drunk. Then my phone rang, and it was my boss. She called to inform me that I was one of five people being let go due to budget cuts. While she said she hated to give me this news on the phone, she wanted me to know so I wouldn't have to rush back to LA. Uh...thanks!!?!!
So, after a year and a half of working full-time, I'm back in the unemployed basket again. I'd like to say that I was able to put it all in perspective, bounce back, and move on. That, unfortunately, was not the case. I got extremely depressed. With the exception of going to my part-time job, I pretty much stayed in bed for the entire month of August. I looked online for work, but it was a slow-go all around. It didn't help that one of my co-workers started working the next week after the layoffs.
Since my financial situation changed, I didn't really know what I was going to do. At first, I thought I wanted to return to New York. After all, LA isn't home for me, and it's hard to be alone when you're going through a crisis. So my initial plan was to pack and/or sell my stuff, and just go back to the familiar. My homegirl was like, "You can stay here until you figure it out." And it was very tempting. But something in my gut was telling me to stay here. After all, I came to LA because God told me there was something here for me.
And here's the funny thing...when I decided that no one really cared about me being here, all my friends on this coast decided to step up. My choir director and his wife gave me enough money to cover my car note. Who does that??? And then, one of my church members offered me a room in her house so I could figure it out. It was all so sweet.
Of course, the main reason I want to leave LA is that I'm so freakin' lonely. I'm used to not having a boyfriend. But it's hard to make it when you don't have someone to hang with. If you've read my blog for any amount of time, you know that I suffer with being by myself in the "good" times. So I was pleasantly surprised when one of my girlfriends here gave me a call. She basically had been guilted into it by one of our mutual friends, but it still felt good. At this point, we've been hanging out really tough.
And, guess what? I now have a full-time job! One of my former co-workers told me about an opening at her current company, and I got the job. The pros: It's a radio job that gets me all the way back to my roots in the business, which is really good right now. I need to sharpen my skills so that I'll be more marketable in my industry. Also, it'll allow me to keep my apartment. The cons: It doesn't pay as much as my other job. And the content of this particular station is...questionable, to say the least. Stay tuned...
Comments
Peace, Love and Chocolate,
Tiffany