I'm not even supposed to BE HERE today!!

So in case you don't know, I have temporarily relocated to New Jersey. 

My search for employment has led me to take a short-term contract project from October-thru-January in Philadelphia, with the company who has hired me putting me up in a bed-and-breakfast over the bridge in New Jersey.

Yeah, in time for the once-in-a-lifetime freakish storm to hit.  Frankenstorm the media is calling it.  Seriously.

Something about the confluence of Hurricane Sandy and the usual nor'easter and the full moon bringing the tides in to the max.  All that equals some sort of what the hell am I doing here in time for this complete freak-of-nature weather system?!

As if I wasn't already feeling out of sorts, homesick and confused about what the hell direction my life is going in?  Now I have to wonder if in the next 24-48 hours if I will be caught up in some jacked up thunderstorm to end all thunderstorms?

Gotta tell you, I had a moment of WTF, followed immediately by what was true, hysterical laughter....wherein I decided I would be wearing striped tights for the next 2 days, in the event that the old Victorian house (the B&B) happens to fall on me....so that my family can come from Illinois to identify my body and say...."Yes, that's her.  The house fell on my sister!!"

Eastbound and a little down

Ok, so in our last dramatic episode, we'd learned that our intrepid heroine was about to be unemployed, possibly without a place to live and certainly panic-stricken about her life circumstances....DAMN YOU STINKING SATURN TRAVELING THROUGH MY LIBRA SUN SIGN!!!

Well, the upside is that Saturn has finally moved on into Scorpio, which according to the astrologists I know and follow, that's supposed to finally, finally, FINAL-freaking-LY mean that some of that quicksandy, wheel-spinning, going-nowhere-fast feeling is about to abate, allowing me to find some firm life footing and begin moving forward in a direction.  Hell...any direction at all would be nice, eh?!

Thus as of 10/5, obstacles would finally begin falling away, and that date happened to coincide with a job interview I was on in Texas.  Everything seemed to go really well there.  The company had good things to say, the personnel personalities and I seemed to click nicely.  Not altogether thrilled, I admit, with moving to a 'red state' and into an area that boasts a very vocal Baptist Christian bias, but if these folks are going to pay me enough to not only survive but thrive, I can probably muster the inner fortitude to keep my mouth shut and my broomcloset door well-lubed with some cosmic, karmic WD-40.

Things appeared good, but then, they've delayed on making the offer, citing the desire to wait until next year when they can safely budget to "afford me."

This came a little bit as a shock (to both myself and the headhunter who lined this deal up), but the interviewers caught wind of the fact that I'd also been interviewing with a couple of companies out on the east coast, one of which said they could hire me for a short-term gig immediately after my present gig ends just before Columbus Day.

The short version of the outcome is this:   Looks like I'll be headed to the City of Brotherly Love and Cheesesteaks for awhile, starting at the end of this week.  Then I will have to wait to see if the Alamo remembers me enough from my recent video and in-person interviews to offer me a permanent home come the first of the year.

Or, who knows?   Maybe ol' Chi-town isn't done with me yet?  Stranger things have happened.  Wouldn't it be nice if one of these local companies would find it in their hearts (and wallets) to find a way for me to not have to leave my family, friends, deep dish pizza and the motley crew of this Midwest melting pot pagan community after all?

Then again, I might win the lottery too....anything's possible.

Whirlwind of WTF

Wish I had a good excuse for not posting much....again....and I sort of do.

Thank the gods I'm nearly at the end of this "year 42" where I'd asked the Lord and Lady after my last birthday to help rearrange my life to get me on the proper path I should be on.

Wow.  Be careful what you wish for....yes!

So as you'll recall, I've been divorced, moved out of my home and into an apartment...then comes this latest bit of "AAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH!!!" this month, just to wrap up the final few days before my 43rd birthday later this week.

September Recap:

• Had a small car accident involving the parking situation here at the apartment complex.  No serious damage, but did jack up the custom paint and gave my door a few dings, which I cannot afford to get fixed right now.
• The reason why I cannot afford it is because I was informed just after Labor Day that the place where I've been working for the past 8+ years will not be renewing my contract and as of October 5, I will be unemployed.
• As a did just come through this divorce and moving thing in recent months, I have zero in the way of a nest-egg saved up, and so it looks like it is a good thing that I never fully unpacked in this apartment, because I'm going to have to leave it since I won't be able to afford the place anymore.
• Have been sending out resumes and interviewing like crazy, but my niche-type job is such that there isn't a likelihood that I will find something local anyway, so it looks like I will be moving to PA, TX or FL in a matter of two weeks.  Either that or wind up sobbing on a friends couch while I contemplate how to give my two cats up to the Humane Society since I probably can't bring them with me wherever I end up.

And so, as you can see, I've been a little preoccupied.  Insomnia, mild panic attacks and low-grade depression have been the ghosts that haunt me and have my writing muse hiding under the blankets of late.  Just not in the mood to rant about all things witchy when I can't seem to rouse myself up for much more than watching reruns of RuPaul's Drag Race and eating what's left of the canned goods in the pantry so that there will be less to pack.

I'm somewhat joking/exaggerating, but only just so, when I say that I'd thought my midlife crisis was supposed to be about bemoaning the lack of a second childhood...not being fearful of having to eat Ramen because I don't have a job or a place to live or a romantic love interest or a frigging clue as to what sort of regimen the Mighty Ones are trying to kick my ass with for opening my big frigging mouth when I blew out the candles on my cake last year.

Well, gonna ride this out for another week and hopefully once that happens, I'll have a better grip on where I'm going, what I'm doing and who may or may not be a part of that.

In the meantime, hope this Equinox energy balances me out too.  I could use something to stop the mental-emotional seasickness I've got going on.