Weeks 35-41
Still unemployed, but making progress (I hope). I’m going to add another certification to my resume, so a lot of the time I’ve been spending on drawing is going to studying (exam in January). That’s on top of talking to recruiters, interviewing, and applying for jobs.
I’m still sour about the whole thing. I had a manager for a company I interviewed for say essentially “during some layoffs, we let a lot of Quality folks go. I now believe that was a mistake.” That was very validating to hear as I was the sole Quality role in my department, and that’s where they chose to make the cut. It also raised a big red flag to me, as any company should know that Quality is a necessary (albeit annoying at times) part of their business. But I could complain until the cows come home over the whole thing.
I’m trying not to let the depression take over me. I can find a job within a year, right? I just didn’t think I’d be going through this at this part of my career. All the recruiters and job-help folks I talk to tell me I speak well and have a robust resume. I have what it takes, but so do a lot of other people out there. And a lot of other people have also gotten laid off.
On the art side of things, I did finish my “Chuthlu Coat of Arm” block print. It’ll be in this year’s Gods and Monsters show along with stickers that I finally got made. With the economy being what it is, stickers seem to be the best choice for making some cash. Although this year has been rough for anyone vending or having any type of creative thing for sale. It’s just rough all around.
It’s been hard to make October special this year. It’s my anniversary of moving to MN (18 years Oct 1st) and spooky season, but I just haven’t felt it this year. If I can’t focus on the positives I’ve experienced in October, the bad ones end up creeping to the surface. It was the beginning of great things ahead and then almost 10 years later the beginning of everything absolutely falling apart. I try not to focus much on the latter, but this year it’s been real hard. If I was Batman, October would be Two-Face.
But I digress. I think a lot of my moroseness is because I haven’t been spending as much time with art as I usually do. Art saved my sanity during COVID and I haven’t stopped. I think I need to refocus back to it.
