Get a Job!
Wham.
That was the sound of reality smacking me upside the head.
I must get a job.
Not just a fun little keyboard-tapping blogging job. Though let it be noted that I have made a whopping $16.53 from Google since starting mullentown in mid-January.
Since leaving my paying job exactly two months ago, I’ve become a well-loved and deeply appreciated full-time wife/mom/housekeeper/dog walker/cook. I’ve had more fun than I could imagine paging through Cooking Light magazines and the new 75th anniversary edition of “Joy of Cooking.” BTW, the French onion soup I made last week has no equal — at least in this earthly realm.
But I need a paycheck. And benefits. And another crack at building up my 401K if I’m to spend my golden years anywhere but sleeping on top of a grated steam vent in some downtown alley.
You might ask what brought on all this soul searching. Uh, well, it was a little yearly ritual called Tax Time. Ted spent his entire President’s Day holiday holed up in his home office digging up e-receipts, little scraps of paper, and calling for a tourniquet to stanch our hemorrhaging spending. To be completely fair, he included himself.
You see, the day started with taxes and evolved into budgeting. A real Come to Jesus session.
Oooh baby, there’s nothing I like better than pulling tax info together. The door to Ted’s office is our home’s demilitarized zone — at least until he gets everything neatly packaged and off to the CPA. I tiptoed up the stairs and kissed him on the cheek a couple of times. But preoccupied as he was, I think it must have felt like a mosquito buzzing his head.
It’s occurred to me that NEXT TAX YEAR will be my time to shine. If I spend the first quarter of 2007 gainfully unemployed, I won’t have any income to claim.
Meanwhile, it’s off to work I go. See, because I could get nicely accustomed to whipping up delicious meals and watching birds cavort in the trees outside my kitchen window. But neither activity will pay anyone’s college tuition, will it?
Working-stiff existence, here I come.
Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.
February 20th, 2007 at 7:55 am
John Saltas would probably love it if you went to work for City Weekly . . .but since he has such a public crush on you that might not go over too well with Ted.
February 20th, 2007 at 8:47 am
There are a lot of jobs out there but plowing through them and finding the right fit is a job in itself. I took two months off after I left my job, spending time with my elderly parents. January came and I hit the internet streets - that is the new way to search for a job now. However, the best leads come from good friends - personal and professional.
After several interviews without success, I’m just realizing that it is important to reinvent myself in the search for a new challenge and to stop trying to replicate the job that I just left - because after all, I left for a reason. Good Luck, Holly.
February 20th, 2007 at 9:04 am
Holly,
Apply at the local community college. You’d make a terrific and much needed journalism teacher.
February 20th, 2007 at 9:29 am
“LarryO” just took the words right out of my mouth (or off of my fingertips, I guess).
February 20th, 2007 at 9:41 am
Holly,
Move to the North Bay & teach at Sonoma State or Santa Rosa JC. We need journalism teachers with your colorful background and here your views would be very mainstream. The air is pure and the politics liberal, a feeling of emancipation after that sagebrush capitol of intolerance !
February 20th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
Oh Holly, There are lots of good suggestions above, except the one about moving to the North Bay. It’s a great place, but we need you and your perspective here, where views such as yours are needed and in short supply. You are personally important to me, and your blog is the first place I go when I sign online each day. So get a job, but don’t quit doing this blog. I would gladly pay you up to $20 a month to freshen the Utah air I have to breathe.
February 20th, 2007 at 5:11 pm
Holly,
Come work at the U. I think we need that column writing class that you were telling us about.
February 20th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
I’m not sure how kosher it is to reply to my own blog, but you are all wonderful. Thank you. Life is good, I promise.
February 20th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
It’s perfectly okay to respond to comments, it’s considered a little odd if you talk to yourself.
Uh, oh. I do that all the time.
So: J-schools seem like a good fit. What about syndicated columns in national newspapers? Someone needs to try to step in where Molly Ivins left off, bless her tart l’il ol’ Texan soul.
February 22nd, 2007 at 9:51 am
Just don’t leave!
February 22nd, 2007 at 1:30 pm
I agree with Sine. I would enroll in a snap.
Also, have you thought about a novel, or “my life as a columnist-slash-blogger” autobiography?
February 22nd, 2007 at 4:19 pm
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