Exhale. All of you, collectively. Along with me. Breathe.

I accepted an offer today, and it was a difficult decision because at the last minute someone called me about my dream job (down to working at home in my jammies) but I'd already mentally signed on with this company so today I made it official.

And to prove that the universe is fair and that karma sometimes does kiss you on the forehead rather than slap you on the backside, here's what I'm getting, in random order of glee-inducement:

*I now have "senior" in my title
*I make a little more in salary
*100% paid benefits - yes, that's 100%, so a big raise in itself
*A really big fancy cubicle (though no window)
*A team of the nicest people I could ever hope to work with
*Personality tests confirm that I will be a great fit there and that my boss and I are on the same wavelength
*Cell phone allowance
*All the free diet pepsi I can drink (seriously - free soda!)
*A job that I pretty much already know how to do and what I don't know they will send me to training to learn

I start on the first of Feb, so I get another week and a half to play knit clean my apartment. And that extra severance check will be buying me a computer of my very own. A much better door opened when that last one slammed shut, and I'm positive that it's responsible in great part to all the kind wishes and hopes and possibly even prayers from all of you. I could never thank you enough.

I'm kinda happy today.

A very, very, very kind man who used to be my boss (a few years ago) has taken pity on me and given me a laptop on "indefinite loan." How cool is that? Say it with me - "Jenn is the luckiest girl in the world!" Well, jobless, but lucky.

The job hunt is going well. The recruiters are making me nuts, and when I try to take a day off from the calls and resume revisions they all freak out and think that maybe I've accepted something that someone else was offering and call me even more. I have had a couple great interviews and just got a call today for something that could be awesome too. The worst part, should all these opportunities come to fruition, will be deciding.

It's been 4 weeks now and I have done absolutely nothing that I thought I would. Well, I did play a lot of video games, but I haven't done any of the serious housework, knitting, reading, or relationship maintenance that I thought I would. The apartment is such a mess I prefer to just be elsewhere. When I'm home, though, is when all the nagging anxieties of the situation creep in and I just shut down and play video games instead. I guess I'm entitled to a little time to just play and try to stay happy and upbeat, but the Simpsons game, though fun, is not doing my dishes. And neither am I. Good thing I use paper plates. (Yes, cringe away, I am filling a landfill with my laziness and poorly-allocated resources. I feel bad too.)

While it's difficult to knit and read subtitles, it's impossible to play video games and knit, so there's not much going on. But I have realized that a red scarf needs to be finished pretty darn quick, so that's been toted around. And there's a little girl who is growing every day who is now the size of the cabled coat, so my wiggle room has literally evaporated and I'd better get it finished. How is it that I always find myself in these obligation knitting stretches that frankly aren't as much fun as when I'm knitting whatever/whenever I want? And here I was so proud of myself for not having any xmas knitting pressures. Mine were just delayed until January.

In the knitting world, however a lot seems to be going on. Blue Moon's bank? Muggles. (Check out the Yarn Harlot if you haven't - silly me, of course you have, but the story is just so surreal I wanted to make sure that you did.) Lion Brand is making cotton ease again, in much better colors. I've got a blanket in mind .... NO! STOP! NO MORE KNITTED BLANKETS! There's a monk who doesn't even live in the desert anymore who still doesn't have his.... What else is going on in the knitting world? At a knitting group on Sunday we were wondering what happened with the whole "is it really cashmere" KFI scandal. Anyone know? And has anyone heard about this "delightful blog" thing? Evidently I've been accepted, though I don't remember applying. It feels a lot like that "who's who among america's high school students" thing that I was bombarded with in high school. I think I was supposedly in 4 or 5 of them, but weren't they really just a reason to sell $35 books? I didn't buy them, so who knows.

I would probably knit more just to show you progress, but I don't have a working camera. I think I told you that, but didn't tell you the problem. My camera has gone blind. It all works fine, functions like it's supposed to, but it's acting as if the lens cap is on. Everything is just black. It's only 2 years old, and is a Nikon (which wasn't cheap), so I'm a little miffed. The on-line assistance dude told me to send it in, but can't tell me how long it will take or how much it will be. Hmmf. It would probably be cheaper to just buy a new one. In fact, there's a snazzy one that does everything that mine does but is much smaller and cheaper, and still a Nikon so I know how to jump right in with it. I'm seriously contemplating it, job or no job.

Again, thanks for all the messages of support. I've gotten to hang out with some of my favorite knitters, too. I had drinks with Shannon last week, lunch with Ann on Tuesday, and dinner with Kara and Mindy last night. Thanks for listening and helping me feel like much less of a loser. You guys are the best!

It's not so bad.

Not having to go to a job that, it turns out (I realize after I don't have to go there anymore) I really hated, is actually kinda nice. Plenty of quality time with the wonder kitties. Not having to get up early (though I seem to anyway.) Much better diet without all those pesky vending machines. I'd be going to the gym every day, but it turns out it closed a couple months ago and I didn't even know. More time to read, knit, etc. Well, you'd think I'd have more time to do what I want. But I don't. Because THE PHONE DOES NOT STOP RINGING. Evidently, when a person who has been with the same company for 7 years (demonstrating staying power) and has experience with electronic medical records (evidently pretty darn marketable) posts her resume on Monster, the recruiters go into some sort of blood-in-the-water feeding frenzy. Seriously. I almost wish that they'd just leave me alone for one whole day. Current totals show I have 6 recruiters, plus a handful that I don't think have anything for me anyway. I've had interviews, personality and critical thinking tests, and resume revisions until I think if I have to "sell myself" one more time I'm going to puke. I never really was into the whole self-promotion thing - I've always preferred to have my work stand on its own. But when finding a new job, it's a little hard to do that, so here I am, little miss wearing a suit, smiling and using big words so you think I'm really smart. And according to the battery of tests I had to take for one company, turns out I am. Hm. Who'da thunk it.

What better time than at the start of a new year for a little reassessment and validation, right? Well, give me too much time and I'll just come down with a cold, which I have. I think it's a bug my dad brought home from Austria, so my body actually had to take a couple days to fight it off. I only get sick when I have down time, so it was inevitable. But it could be so, so much worse, what with not having health insurance and all. I know it's a recurring theme in this blog that when something happens to me I just turn it into how I'm lucky it wasn't something REALLY bad, and I don't want to seem like a total Pollyanna, but I feel that way again. This whole thing could have been so much worse. I got a very decent severance package, so I'm not worried about paying my bills. I've always been conscious of how precarious the financial situation is for a single person, so I've been living well within my means all along, and I'll be fine in that regard. And I am relatively healthy, and hopefully the indications that a new job is just around the corner will prove to be true. I do miss the days of waiting tables when you knew by the end of the interview if you had the job instead of this waiting for weeks business. But it just gives me more time to not do everything that I thought I would do (like knit, read, clean out closets, spend time with friends).

The only thing that really sucks about this situation is not having a computer. I've been getting the comments here and all of your e-mails from my cell phone, and I cannot adequately express how much they've meant to me. The support from people that I have never met, or would never have met it if the Yarn Harlot hadn't come to town, means so very, very much. Some have even been circulating my resume around to everyone they can think of! But even the simple sentiments of hope and sympathy have made a world of difference. So, I want to tell you all, that even if I haven't responded (because typing long messages into a cell phone really sucks, even when it isn't ringing constantly) your messages were heard and appreciated. And I'll be meeting up with you guys who have been trying to get me out of my apartment as soon as I'm certain this Austrian Cold is no longer contagious. You guys are the best, and my only resolution for 2007 is to be a better friend to all of you. (and to get a job.)

Knitting Content: I got a ball-winder and swift for xmas, so all the yarn I brought home from Stitches is now fair game. I splurged on "Victorian Lace Today" so expect some serious lace knitting updates. I tried Midwest Moonlight with the Brook Farms mohair, but I didn't like the way it was pooling, so I'm gonna try something else. Maybe a variation of the Irish Hiking Scarf - whatever works for the stripes. I'm currently on the first repeat of the Arctic Diamonds Stole from the latest Interweave, and I'm enjoying that. And Kiri has been completed, but no photos for obvious reasons. Oh, and the red scarf is past the 1/2 mark and should be finished on time. I think that's about it.