I was going to start this post with a rant (the bad words that I have excused from the room for today) but decided that is not the way to start a new year, so I pushed it to the side. I'll rant another day. Instead, I'll join the chorus of Babel since it's said in most languages on the planet: Happy New Year!
Further, I have decided the time has come for a new look for this little missive. The old was boring. I hope the new is more appealing. I like warm colors so that didn't change much, but the overall look is a bit different and, I do hope, more welcoming.
I hope you woke up safe, warm and hang-over free this morning. Personally, I have long since decided the new year will arrive whether or not I wait for it, so I was in bed at ten o'clock last night. Sure enough, it arrived and didn't even miss me. I knew when it got here because a bunch of neighbors were outside yelling and screaming and shooting off fireworks. I think the neighbors are getting old, too, because it didn't last every long. Maybe fifteen minutes or so.
Thinking of that now, I can just about picture some toothless old geezer sitting in a wheelchair, a rug draped over his knees, the stench of cordite swirling around him, his hands blackened with gunpowder. He's looking up at the night sky, chest heaving from the effort of striking the match, "Yep, it's here all right. That was exhausting! Ready for your prune juice Mabel?"
I also thought this morning about my chicken factory analogy from yesterday. That came a couple of years ago.
In 2012 I was let go after seventeen years working for the company I had been with. For the first three months after being "laid off", even the temporary market was barren. I got no calls - not even for something that would pay far less than my minimum. In hindsight, I suspect that it was because there was such a vast labor pool looking for temporary work but few opportunities, they cycled people through. I was at the end of the line and had to wait my turn. Once I started working, I worked fairly regularly.
In October 2012 I interviewed for a job. They wanted me but were in the midst of a restructuring. That lasted all of November and December (does the word 'frustrating' have meaning here?). I finally started working right after New Year and was doing well there.
Then, two months after I went to work there, Congress passed sequestration. The company for which I was working, a military contractor with contracts with a bunch of other military contractors, suddenly found itself holding contracts that were worthless. The companies with whom they had contracted had been hit by sequestration, too. End result, our general manager, my boss, was let go as part of a restructuring. This news came in the form of a division-wide meeting and it was while we were on our way to that that I first commented upon it being a chicken factory.
My 2012 chicken factory experience wasn't the result of my failing at my job. Instead, it was the result of competition - which is a fair basis for deciding which chicken gets hooked to the line with a Bad End. I worked for the CEO who was grooming his replacement. He wanted to step back and retire. It just happened this came at the same time that the company was suffering and needed to lay off a bunch of people. In the case, there were two chickens - one with stronger skills, the other with an 'in' with the manager needing support. The manager needing support had hired the other chicken and they had worked together for ten years. No contest and this little chicken was the one who got The Hook.
Looking back, that was probably the best thing that could have happened to me. I had been there long enough that I was getting stale in my job. Nothing was new, everything was routine, and I was getting bored (truth to tell).
Getting the boot (in the nicest possible way - they did invite me back for a three week guest appearance the year after letting me go) meant that I had a chance to try new things, see new things and learn new things. I may be an 'old dog' but I can learn new tricks and I enjoy it. It's another case of something 'bad' happening means a new opportunity arises.
So there's my backward look. My forward look is to new opportunities in personal life and in work life. That is one thing that is guaranteed. What is today won't be the same tomorrow or the day after.
Looking forward, I am making plans, deciding what I will do when the time comes and opportunity arises. I've even given thought to next Christmas and what I would like to do and have for dinner. It's pre-planning to the extreme perhaps, but it gives me a prize to strive for, something to work toward.
Life will take some major changes next year in all probability. MIL will celebrate her eighty-seventh birthday. My work situation is morphing - first into an aspect of A/P, more recently into the realm of A/R and who knows what might come next. There's the transfer I've requested and what might happen there. It's exciting to think about. There are other things, too, still private things and, when the time comes, they will become fodder for my blog so stay tuned!
In the meantime, I hope you and yours are well, safe, happy and healthy. I wish all of you only good things in the coming year - cheers!
Best~
Philippa
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