tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048140020977743259.post4759557362024891771..comments2023-10-30T01:45:42.035-07:00Comments on Always Musing: Fifty years old, and UnemployedCathyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17741905761159593241noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048140020977743259.post-85219657149389995302009-12-30T12:32:08.692-08:002009-12-30T12:32:08.692-08:00Cathy,
I am so happy to "meet" you. I ...Cathy, <br />I am so happy to "meet" you. I found you on She Writes, and reading this first post on your blog has me hooked. I'm in a very similar boat as you, finding myself unemployed at 40 (and still unemployed at 42!). Not having a job has forced me to define myself in new ways, beyond what I do professionally. It hasn't always been easy, I used to be "important". I've come to realize though that my work didn't make me important, it's who I am and what I have to offer this world that makes me valuable, although I am still trying to figure out exactly what that is. <br /><br />I am looking forward to following you. <br />AngieAngiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18382509338018770593noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048140020977743259.post-51901222121403836482009-12-22T11:42:24.406-08:002009-12-22T11:42:24.406-08:00Hi Jessie!
Thanks for your thoughtful answer. ...Hi Jessie!<br /> Thanks for your thoughtful answer. My email is at the bottom of this blog...faffage@aol.com. You can email me...put kindred spririt as the subject line!<br /> Hope you have a merry holiday despite your hardships,<br /> CathyCathyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17741905761159593241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048140020977743259.post-17387549238494499562009-12-22T11:02:12.928-08:002009-12-22T11:02:12.928-08:00Hi Cathy. I think you may be a kindred spirit! I a...Hi Cathy. I think you may be a kindred spirit! I am a 31-year old, boisterous creative-type who has always wanted to be a writer. After getting degrees in history and music in undergrad, I made the horrendous (and in hindsight utterly idiotic) mistake of going to. . LAW SCHOOL! Everyone thinks I am the most unlawyerly lawyer they have ever met.<br /><br />A year and a half ago, my body more or less rebelled against the practice of law. After four years of long hours and high stress at one of NYC's top firms, I ended up in the hospital with a four-month long migraine (largely thanks to my work on a Sydney deal that required me to be on conference calls at 2, 3, 4 a.m. each night). <br /><br />It was not the first time my work had landed me in the hospital. It was, however, the last straw. After getting home, I located a job with much better hours and a flexible schedule so I could pursue my dream of writing screenplays and young adult novels. I gave notice at my job and happily waltzed out of my 43rd-floor office and its view of Midtown Manhattan.<br /><br />Unfortunately, my transition to writing did not go as smoothly as planned. The economy went into a nose-dive right after I left the firm, before my new job started. My new employer pushed off my start date several times and ultimately told me that they didn't have work for me after all. Next, the Department of Labor told me I couldn't get unemployment benies b/c I had left my old firm voluntarily.<br /><br />I managed to float myself for over a year by running through all of my savings and temping for a tiny fraction of what I used to make.<br /><br />But now the gigue is up. My current contract attorney job has ended and there is nothing on the horizon. I find myself unemployed, penniless, and with no place to go except my parents' apartment in Dallas. My parents are wonderful people, but after Williamsburg, Brooklyn, Dallas feels a bit like a death sentence.<br /><br />I have spent so much of the past year trying to survive that I've been lucky to write 5 pages a week. But now I will have the gift of empty days in a city of strangers. It is exciting. It is terrifying. And it is here: sink-or-swim time. I absolutely MUST produce and sell something soon.<br /><br />If you ever want to vent to (or swap pages with) a fellow unemployed, recovering corporate-type-in-transition-to-becoming-an-authoress, feel free to write a comment here and we can figure out how to connect. Sending lots of good thoughts your way!<br /><br />JessieJessienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048140020977743259.post-32518828773751760292009-09-10T18:05:02.234-07:002009-09-10T18:05:02.234-07:00Thank you all, you're very kind. Well, I have...Thank you all, you're very kind. Well, I have two under my belt, now it's time for number 3. Thanks all so much.Cathyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17741905761159593241noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048140020977743259.post-63166382402951967782009-09-09T23:33:16.668-07:002009-09-09T23:33:16.668-07:00If I were to describe Cathy Voisard I would not us...If I were to describe Cathy Voisard I would not use any terms such as accountant. What comes to mind at the moment is INQUISITIVE LOVER OF PEOPLE AND LIFE. <br /><br />To Renee's "more please" , as they say in parliament "Hear Hear"<br /><br />The original form of this expression was hear him, which was usually repeated. This imperative was used to call attention to a speaker's words, and naturally developed the sense of a broad expression of favor. This is how it is still used today, the Oxford English Dictionary noted around the turn of the century that hear, hear "is now the regular form of cheering in the House of Commons, and expresses, admiration." XOXOUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00404639024320948609noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048140020977743259.post-86723893956083334922009-09-09T14:20:14.996-07:002009-09-09T14:20:14.996-07:00Delightful to read...and I say, YUM, more please.Delightful to read...and I say, YUM, more please.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03216737050763739535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048140020977743259.post-78591654274529951072009-09-09T07:28:31.737-07:002009-09-09T07:28:31.737-07:00Well, Rambling Kat, or should it be Cat?, that was...Well, Rambling Kat, or should it be Cat?, that was a refresing review or your b-day: Gave me goosebumps when I got to the part about the poem you wrote at six. Very nice, very touching. You are a special gal. Of the 100s of people I connect with every day on my silly box, you're the one I always look forward to reading. That you are a good writer helps, but it's the things you write about--your life---that attacts me. You are what Steve Martin referred to when he would say: "We are a couple of wild and crazy guys." Except, of course, you are one wild and crazy gal.<br /><br />And 50 is for many a time for rejoicing. Thirty is the hardest birthday; it's when childhood is obviously over. Though for us boys we manage to cling to it sometimes forever, but for most we refuse to grow up for at least another decade.<br /><br />Happy 50th Cathy, looking forward to seeing you at the reunion.Rob Tillitzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04546827960676662046noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4048140020977743259.post-49413924217128965042009-09-08T19:01:29.761-07:002009-09-08T19:01:29.761-07:00I read your blog and wondered at what point in you...I read your blog and wondered at what point in your life will you say to yourself, "hey,wait a mintue"<br />all of these things I have chosen, experienced or not experienced...they start to add up to the makings of an extraordinary life.<br />Of course you are still in the midst of making this extraordinary life but still, you are on the path you should be on.<br />I laughed to myself when you almost apologized for being an accountant. I see that solitary kind of work as being the one place where you could perhaps turn off all of that creativity and energy and just do something ordinary. Some people can do that easily, some cannot. For those who cannot it is vital to find a place where they feel safe and comfortable doing nothing more than to perform a task that has a beginning, middle, and end no guess work. The numbers are the numbers if you know what I mean.<br />You are an unconventional,kind, creative, silly woman with a most interesting past, a wonderful "here and now" and a limitless future. ENJOY IT ALLMerryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15011589065786600573noreply@blogger.com