More big news!

Just when you thought we couldn’t cram more excitement into our lives…

The FI was offered a position as a firefighter in the town where we grew up!

This might seem a little random for most of you, so I’ll explain. About 3 years ago, shortly after he graduated from college, the FI realized he was missing something. Most of his friends commissioned as officers into various military branches and shipped off to start their training, protecting the United States and doing their civic duties. Though he thought about the decision a long, long time, I think there was a part of him that wishes he did the same. He still felt that he had a lot to give back.

After more discussion, he decided to take the civil service test to become a firefighter here in Massachusetts. After taking the written test and the physical test, he (we) started the waiting game. If you’re not familiar with the process, it breaks down like this: the state analyzes everyone’s test scores and ranks candidates on lists by town. Preference (and thus ranking) on that list is given to females, minorities, veterans, family members of firefighters (especially those injured in the line of duty), and residents of the town.

I’ll just take a quick minute to point out that the FI is a white guy who has no active military service and moved away from his hometown (but still counted as a resident since we moved less than 3 months before the tests). No family on the force, nothing outstanding. To the state, at least.

We thought he might have had a position back in January, when he was ranked 5th or so on the list, but everyone above him was a vet, and the town hired according to the list. Fair enough, but then we got nervous. We also found out that he missed the cutoff for registering for the next test (the lists expire every so often), so once this list expired, that was it.We had gotten our hopes up the last time around, so we decided that we’d wait and hope and pray (lots of praying by lots of people) that he’d get another postcard.

And he did. And this time he was hired.

I can’t even begin to tell you all how proud of him I am and how much he deserves this. I know he’ll be the best firefighter this town has. We’re working together to keep his business running, which has been a really interesting experience (in a good way!).

The only downside (and I’m really not even convinced it’s a downside) is that he might be attending the academy, a 12-week program, starting in October. Of course. He told the chief about the wedding, so he’ll be able to have that day off, but we’ll have to postpone the honeymoon if he’s chosen to go to the October class. More time to plan and save, if you ask me! I’m just so happy he’s finally gotten the job that I don’t care when we go on the honeymoon!

And now for a happy, smiling picture of us at MOH K and M’s wedding:

…And then I quit my job.

My last day at my job was Friday. Well, to clarify: my last day in the office was Tuesday, and my last day working (at home) was Friday.

This really isn’t a surprise to anyone– not family, not friends, not even bosses and co-workers. You probably shouldn’t be surprised, either.

What sort of surprises people is that I’m not leaving to go to another similar position. Oh, no. I’m leaving to work in a bakery. Also, not really a surprise, but no one really expected me to leave my cushy corporate job with benefits and whatnot for a 60% pay cut (based on working 40 hours a week, which I wouldn’t be doing anyway) and no benefits.

And I’m happy. Daddy-O sent me an email on Monday, after I’d given my notice on Friday, to see if I had any “resigners remorse.” Stifling laughter, I told him not a stitch. The FI asked me on Tuesday morning if I was sad that it was my last day in the office. This time, I let myself laugh out loud and told him he was silly– I couldn’t wait.

That’s not to say that I’m glad to be rid of (most of) the people I work with. On the contrary, I’ll miss chatting with (most of) them daily. Sure, there are some I won’t miss, and those were the people who, when they found out I was leaving, acted like it was a personal affront to them and were so rude I couldn’t believe it.

I won’t be missing them. Or the mandatory 55+ hour weeks plus another ~15 hours per week commuting.

The whole process was a little weird and a little unnerving, and it was definitely a bit uncomfortable, especially the part when my team found out when my last day was before I did. Side note: it’s fun to call people out when they don’t handle a situation properly. I suggest you try it someday.

But now I’m free. I’m starting the new position at the bakery (at the end of my street– hello, 2-minute walk to work) on Wednesday, and plan to pick up as many hours as they can throw at me. I’m a little nervous about making ends meet in the beginning and figuring out what I’m going to do about health insurance (thank you, state of Massachusetts [and President Obama for the rest of the country] for making health insurance mandatory and therefore allowing me to maybe go back on one of my parents’ plans until I’m 26), but I know everything will work out.

As J.R.R. Tolkein said, “Not all those who wander are lost.” In my case, I’m in the midst of the next great adventure.

And then I got to thinking…

Starting at the beginning

A year ago today, I was laid off. As you might imagine, that’s made today a little hard to swallow, seeing as I’m back at the same company, sitting at the same desk, miserable as I was 365 days ago. Except today I had hot water in my shower and I only currently owe the IRS $318 (damn 2008 tax return still coming back to haunt me) as opposed to the just over $700 I found out I owed last year.

365 days ago, my day went something like this

• Wake up at 6:45 (I think I was taking the later train then, which ironically is my early train now)
• Turn on the hot water for a shower in my spanky-new bathroom, only to find the pipes frozen, meaning I have to shower in the craptastic old bathroom
• Sit on the train for over an hour
• Start drudging through my day
• Find out I owe over $700 because I was claimed as a dependent on my parents’ tax return, promptly flipped my sh*t
• Got an email from HR at 9:55 a.m. or so, seeing if I have time to meet (not that out of the ordinary)
• Called into a conference call at 10, only to get an IM from my boss saying the call was canceled
• Told HR I was available to meet, and she asked me to head to a conference room (red flag ahoy!)
• Sat down across from the HR rep, who looked like she was about to cry, who then told me my boss was on the phone (not in the office, mind you. On the phone.)
• Got laid off, which included me telling them I wasn’t happy and was looking anyway, so I’m really not that surprised
• Was told to not tell my team where I was going
• Lied to my team and told them I was going to the post office
• Sat in South Station for a few minutes to gather myself, called the FI, Mum, and Daddy-O
• Took the train home
• Changed into my pajamas, made a cuppa tea, and cracked open Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, because what the hell else are you supposed to do at that point?

The next day, I said “Welp, better get job-hunting f’realz now,” and updated my LinkedIn profile, sent a big ol’ email to just about everyone I’ve ever known, and started filing for unemployment.

Where I am now

I mentioned in my last post that I just started reading Escape From Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur by Pamela Slim. I’m a big fan of Twitter, and I’d been following Ms. Slim for some time, so I tweeted that I was reading it and that it was “scarily relevant,” including the author’s handle. She replied, said she was glad I was reading it, and that “scarily relevant” is a very good thing. I was blown away that she’d acknowledge it, so it put a big smile on my face.

This morning, I tweeted “A year ago today, I was laid off from the same company I work at now. Really makes you think.” It was more a statement of where I was emotionally than a “hey look at me, I got laid off” thing. At any rate, it got some reactions, thanks mostly to Ms. Slim. See, she re-tweeted my tweet, which means that she sent it to everyone in her network with a comment saying “Indeed!” From that, I had responses from people I’d never talked to, people I’d never heard of, but people who related to what I had to say– including another woman who left her corporate job to open a bakery!

One person asked me “What does it make you think??” And to be honest, I didn’t really know. I wrote it because I’ve been really frustrated the past few days, wondering if it’s all worth it. But his asking the very simple question forced me to really consider it. And I couldn’t put what it made me think into 140 characters, so I tracked down his email address and sent him my thoughts (I explained the circumstances surrounding my layoff before I dove in here).

6 weeks after being laid off, I had an offer from the same company that let me go to have me come back in another position. I was flattered, but burned. I thought long and hard about going back. In the end, I went back because I hadn’t heard anything from the nearly 100 jobs I’d applied for in my absence. I went back because I needed a paycheck. It was probably one of the dumbest things I’ve done in a long time.

It hasn’t been a complete loss, but I haven’t been happy in my job since I came back and have been looking, with varying degrees of urgency, ever since.

What makes me think is “what the hell was I thinking?” I’m feeling taken-advantage-of in my current role, that what I was hired to do was a gross misrepresentation of what I’m actually doing. I’m working 10+ hours a day, plus 2.5 hours total in commuting. That’s a lot of my life dedicated to something I really can’t stand. This week, coming up on the anniversary of being laid off, has been particularly hard.

It makes me think about what is really important in life. My fiance and I had a good talk last night about this, and we agreed that the resentment I feel toward my job is hurting our relationship– I bring home all the stress and bad energy from my job, and in trying to get it off my chest and vent, I make him anxious, which leads to us having petty arguments. We agreed that we need to take a good hard look at what we need to make as a couple to pay rent and utilities and college loans and go from there. We decided this weekend that after our wedding in October, I’m going to go to pastry school, something I’ve always dreamed of doing. We’re taking steps to build a life together based on a solid foundation– financially, realistically, and with respect and admiration for one another.

What matters

The conversation the FI and I had last night was invaluable. He reminded me that he’s always here for me, that he wants me to be happy, and wants us to work together to build the life we’ve been dreaming about since we first started dating. He reminded me that he really is my best friend and my biggest cheerleader. I really don’t know where I’d be without him, and I’m so blessed to have him on my side. Three cheers!

Big decision

I’ve mentioned it before, but if you’re new ’round these parts, you should know I love to bake. And cook, but baking is my true love. Back in November, I talked a little about a local culinary school and how great it would be to go. Last month, I had one of my daily meltdowns about my job and did some more research.

As it turns out, the Le Cordon Bleu, Julia Child’s alma mater and the oldest cooking school in the world, just opened a school in Boston. Cambridge, actually, but I’m not being picky. I put in a request, expecting to be sent a brochure via mail/email and that be the end of it. Hardly. I got a call from an admissions counselor, and talked to her a little about who I am and what I’m thinking. I gently let her know that it’s a pie-in-the-sky idea right now and that I was just starting a little research.

Fast forward to last week. I got another call from another admissions counselor, and I had just had another meltdown. So I took the call and chatted with the counselor for about 15 minutes about me and why I went to college for business/marketing and not culinary arts, even though it’s something I’ve had in the back of my mind since 6th grade or so. She said I sound like a really promising student and that she’d like me to come in for a tour and formal interview this past Saturday. Oh, and she told me to bring the FI. I knew we had plans at 2 in Cambridge anyway, so said I was free at about 11 and set the appointment.

That’s right. Admissions interview at Le Cordon Bleu. I almost died right then, before even getting there. Anyway.

We showed up, chatted a bit more about me, my commitment to going to pastry school, why I want to turn a hobby into a career, and my support system. We took a tour, where I salivated over the spanking-new teaching kitchens, the class descriptions, and everything overall. When we were in the Advanced Baking classroom, I mentioned the Jeep cake I made for the FI for his birthday this summer, and the counselor was impressed. What I didn’t tell her is that the insides of our fridge will never be the same thanks to the black and hunter green frosting, but that was another story. I need to learn food storage, ok?

After the tour, she gave me the rundown of the programs. Of their three available programs, I was able to determine (easily) that the Certificate in Baking and Patisserie was for me. It’s a 9-month program, with a 6-week externship. They start every 6 weeks, alternating day and night course times.

Then we started talking finances. And my balloon deflated. LCB, to me, is the Yale of culinary schools, and it unfortunately has the same price tag. That’s not to say I don’t think it’s worth it. Far from it. I think a pastry education from LCB would pay for itself in the quality of training and facilities, not to mention the networking opportunities.

Lucky for me, I have the most amazing man by my side, who told me afterward that he wants me to be happy. He wants to see me enjoy my job and wake up happy during the week. He said that he’d be willing to push off buying a house so that we can make this happen. Knowing he’s on my side is the best feeling in the world.

So I’m doing some more research, looking into other local programs, trying to gather financial and value data. I asked one of my aunts (FG L’s mom) if she wouldn’t mind grabbing some coffee to talk over her own experience and her impressions of the local programs based on the people she’s worked with.

This is the decision: after the wedding, I’m going to pastry school. I’m not waiting anymore. Once we’re back from the honeymoon, it’s application and financial aid time. I’m really going to do it. And I’m so excited about it!

Lastly, I started reading Escape from Cubicle Nation: From Corporate Prisoner to Thriving Entrepreneur by Pamela Slim. I’m just at the beginning, but I’ve already learned so much and had so many of my gut feelings legitimized. I mentioned it on Twitter this morning, saying it was “scarily relevant” so far, and the author wrote back, saying she was glad I was enjoying it so much already. So cool. I highly recommend it so far.

That’s it! What do you think– am I mental for taking this on? What would you do for work if money weren’t an issue?

Wind, the bathroom, and big news!

So I’m sitting at my desk in our apartment, and the window in front of me keeps rattling. It’s an old house, so lots of things rattle and groan on a fairly regular basis, but this seemed a little weird. I thought it was the dumb neighbors driving like Andretti up and down their driveway again (I’m thinking this is their favorite hobby) or just sitting in the driveway, letting their giant SUV idle for 20 or so minutes. I opened the blinds, and to my surprise, it’s not the neighbors. It’s the wind, rattling all the windows and the vent to the dryer. But it’s sunny and warm, so I’m not complaining.

Speaking of the dryer, it’s fixed and up to code! Woooooohoooooo! Finally! The bathroom saga is coming to a close, or so we think. The dryer is finally up and running, so that’s out of the way. Evidently, the plumber (the third to come over) is coming back to “decomission” the existing bathroom eventually, and is installing a something-or-other to push more hot water to the heat in the bathroom, but that doesn’t have to be done until it gets cold again (there isn’t much by way of heat in there). I asked the landlord about the mirror (there still isn’t one, preventing me from doing my makeup and hair in the bathroom instead of the bedroom), and she said she was going down to the glass shop today to figure out what the deal is. I’m hoping that goes in pretty quickly, and then the BF and I will buy some baskets for the shelves we have in there and finally organize all the stuff we’ve been stashing all over the place. We’ll put the linens in the bathroom, then we’ll put what little booze we have (beer in the fridge, of course) in the little built-in cupboard we’ve been storing the linens in. Whew!

And, finally, I have some big news. I got a call from my old company, and they said they want me back! It’s a different position with a different boss, and at this point, I’m 98% sure I’m going to take it. I’m probably going in to meet with a few people on Monday about the position (subbing fell through for that day) and make my final decision then. I’ll be going back on April 13! Sayonara, unemployment! Interestingly, I’ll likely receive my first unemployment check the week I start working again. A friend of mine, who was unemployed earlier this year for a while, said his check took 6 weeks, and there we go. It was a month ago yesterday that I was laid off, and it’ll be 6 weeks when I start back up. Go figure.

Unemployment updates

Well, it’s been 2 weeks and 3 days since I was laid off. I finally have been able to get rid of all the dang boxes I had from my old company in my apartment, which freed up a lot of space. My severance came through, even though my unemployment pay is still in the works. I’m slightly in awe at how many hoops I have to jump through to sign up! I suppose it makes sense, though, considering the number of people who try to file fraudulently (there are a lot of people trying to do that, right?).

I’ve been working part-time, as I’ve mentioned before, with a photographer who does some fabulous work. I’m learning a lot and keeping busy/getting out of the house, which is nice. I haven’t been able to keep up with my Google Reader (at over 1000 unread items) or Twitter much, which makes me sad, but it’s kind of nice not being tied to the computer all day, every day.

When I’m not working with Rachel (the photographer), generally 2 days “off” per week, I’m scouring the web for jobs and career fairs. I try to apply for at least 3 jobs at a time so that I have plenty in the hopper. Based on my recent job search (you know, the one that lasted from October to April while I was in college, desperately trying to find a job by graduation), I know HR departments aren’t generally too quick about getting back to you. So while I am enjoying not having to wake up at the crack of dawn and spending all day in the office, I know I have to be pretty proactive now if I hope to have a job anytime soon. And I need a job soon. Starting to get a little scary, not gonna lie.

I’m going to a career fair on Monday, though, so we’ll see how that goes. I generally hate career fairs, since you have to wait in line behind a million and fifteen people just to get 2 minutes of a company rep’s time, hoping you can find something in that 2 minutes that makes you stand out. We’ll see how it goes. Anyone have any suggestions?

I’ve been battling a nasty cold (at least, I think it’s a cold) for the past few days, and it’s seriously kicking my butt. I’m coughing, sneezing, blowing my nose, and trying to keep my head from exploding allllllll day and alllllll night. I slept for 13 hours the other night, something that felt really weird to me.

On a fun front, the BF and I bottled our first batch of beer on St. Patrick’s Day! It’ll be ready to drink in 2 or 3 weeks, and I can’t wait!! Let me know if you want a sample

Laid. Off.

I was laid off at about 10 Tuesday morning. I hesitated in writing this post, since I didn’t want it to seem either overdramatic or blasé, since my reaction is somewhere in between. It’s not exactly a secret I wasn’t in love with my job and looking elsewhere. For me, this is definitely a mixed blessing, but I am being uncharacteristically positive about it. Even my landlord said something about how happy I seem.

Which is the strange truth– I’m happier now that I’m unemployed than I have been in months. How’s that for ironic? The thing that so many Americans are dreading is a welcome change in my life. Rather than being scared, I’m taking it as an opportunity to evaluate what it is that I really want to do with my life. I can tell you one thing for sure– my last job wasn’t it.

So I filed for unemployment in person today, sat through an orientation session (which was very helpful, since I had no bleedin’ clue what I was doing), and got crackin’ on updating all my job search web sites. I sent out a mass e-mail to lots of friends and family yesterday, and I feel so blessed to have the support I do. I can’t believe how willing people are to help me out! Not that I’m a bad person or lazy or anything, but people are taking time out of their days to send me job postings, ask for my resume, and give me updates on where they’ve circulated my resume for me. I love all these people to bits, as I did before and always will.

I’ve applied for a few jobs, met with Rachel at mergeweddings.com about my assistant position– I’m her official Marketing Manager!– and some hours I can pick up with her, helping her organize her office and projects and whatnot. I’m super-excited! I have a lunch date with my fabulous ex-boss from an internship/contractor position tomorrow, another lunch date with my awesome ex-coworkers from my most recent job on Tuesday, and I hope to visit the family I used to babysit at some point next week, too.

I’m very lucky that I was laid off when I was. I don’t have kids that I have to worry about, I have savings tucked aside (I was hoping to use them for a down payment on a house or a wedding, but we’ll see), and I only have to worry about rent and student loan payments for the most part. The BF has been incredibly supportive of me and has been really patient with me, and I can’t thank him enough. I think he’ll get sick of having me around the house all the time, though! He’s gearing up for the start of landscaping season, so I’m helping him with his customer mailings.

Well, that’s about it, really. I thought this was kind of a major update for you, dear readers, if you’re out there. More updates to come!