Slowly but surely . .

I saw news footage of a job fair in Philadelphia and the line of hopefuls looked as if it were a mile long. What a line! The news story went on to say that the recession and the lack of work has put many of the unemployed and underemployed in financial straits that will take "years to recover from." Lordee, how true that is for me though I don't think it will take more than two or three years to put things right. Most of my "debt" from the lack of work is in personal loans from friends and family but there is as much drive to want and pay that back quickly as it would be on a big credit card bill. Actually, the drive is more intense when you want to give back money to people you care about as quickly as possible. Even though this entry level job I have doesn't pay all that much, it still enables me to make a living and allows some opportunity for overtime on holidays. As long as I stay employed for the next few years I can achieve the financial goals I have for myself.

I am ever mindful of how much worse my situation could have been. In spite of being either underemployed or unemployed for the past few years, I found ways to stay in my townhouse and eat. I had to give up having a car of my own and some other things but at least I didn't have children to support or similar worries those with a mortgage and other involved financial commitments. Many times when I felt pretty hopeless about things, all I needed to do was read the news and see how much worse others have it.

This brings me to my current situation. I have yet to get a paycheck (I will on October 8th) but I will get one which is great news and NEW news! This job enables me to see just how messed up people can make their lives; unnecessarily complicate their lives with not taking care of their business and being careless. Not taking care of your business will come back to bite you in the ass and you can't run from it. When I come home from work, I am mentally spent (some may argue I'm always mentally spent) because of the intense focus all day. It wears me out as I am not having to focus all day every day. But I love learning about the judicial system at this level so at least I am happy and mentally spent when I leave work.

I wondered how the shift work was going to affect my ability to audition for and be in plays. The rotating shift means I will work the 4 to midnight shift and midnight to 8 am shift at least once a month including weekends. The supervisor tries to be fair about the scheduling. I work more days than anything. I think what I will do is that if I get cast in a show I will engage in the time honored practice of trading shifts when I am scheduled to rehearse and then for the show when I am scheduled to work weekend nights. That's not too often fortunately. Of course I will have vacation and comp time to use up. This court is a 24 hour court. If you are scheduled to work on a holiday (not the day observed but the holiday itself) you get time and a half plus a comp day. You have to use the comp days by the end of each year. Whee!

I'm so happy things have started to turn around and I pray that trend continues. I am mindful of how bad others still have it. I read that the recession supposedly ended in June which is fine on paper but for those who still do not have work or any income, how would they know it ended? I do see more job postings on the state website but still pages and pages of sheriff's sales in the newspaper.

I'm just to thankful for my change of luck and wish the same for everyone still out there looking for work.