Icy rivers, indeed.
I was listening to Marketplace on NPR (I really must stop doing that) tonight, and it was so scary and depressing that I started to feel panicky. They set me up with a little chitchat about how this is an "equal opportunity" recession and people with college degrees are no longer recession-proof.* That made me feel pretty awful. Then they nailed me with a throw-away story about a guy in Portland. He's not eating sushi anymore, poor guy. While I'm not feeling TOO awful about him, I am feeling panicked that he's joining the 174000 other unemployed Oregonians** competing with me and Cook for work. Recently several major employers in the Portland area have announced layoffs. Also, our brand-new, ambitious, decisive, action-oriented mayor has (just after kicking off a bunch of chaotic changes and new programs) ... embroiled himself in a classic stupid-politician sex-plus-lying scandal, which is making everyone feel a little paralyzed, not to mention massively annoyed.***
Anyway, my point is that I am SCARED. Cook and I have, between us, 62 hours a week of temporary, unbenefited work. Getting a decent job in this place and time seems to be nearly impossible, even for people who are much better at networking and self-salesmanship than we are. We've already cut sushi out of our budget. Things don't look good, folks.
*They said nothing about people with multiple semi-pointless masters degrees. Maybe we're safe!
** Officially unemployed, that is. They don't count the many many Portlanders who are over-educated, under-employed types eking by on part time work. Like...um... ME.
*** WHY do people in power seem to think that they can do whatever moronic, pathetic things they like, lie about it, and get away with it? Does power actually make people stupid?
Anyway, my point is that I am SCARED. Cook and I have, between us, 62 hours a week of temporary, unbenefited work. Getting a decent job in this place and time seems to be nearly impossible, even for people who are much better at networking and self-salesmanship than we are. We've already cut sushi out of our budget. Things don't look good, folks.
*They said nothing about people with multiple semi-pointless masters degrees. Maybe we're safe!
** Officially unemployed, that is. They don't count the many many Portlanders who are over-educated, under-employed types eking by on part time work. Like...um... ME.
*** WHY do people in power seem to think that they can do whatever moronic, pathetic things they like, lie about it, and get away with it? Does power actually make people stupid?
Comments
eep.