'Lo These Days Ahead

Hello from somewhere! Much has changed of late. I was let go from my job. I knew I was being let go as of Monday, July 9, 2012 and my last day was Tuesday, August 7, 2012. Yes, that's a little weird and it was about as strange as it sounds, but there was reason behind it and it was done with some amount of compassion. I think? I'm not very sad to see this happen. Okay, I'm probably not sad at all. I didn't enjoy the work and I wasn't quite performing up to my full potential. There's a euphemism in that statement but I'll be damned if I'm gonna spell it out for you. Let's just say, as cliché as it sounds (and is), that it's all for the best. I've been wanting to leave for quite awhile and this was far from the worst way for it to happen. Looking forward, I'm going to work on becoming a teacher. This came out in discussions a couple months ago and it sounds like a good direction. It feels good. Or I think it does. I know it's something I'd be good at and.. part of me.. wants to do it. I'm hoping it's a job I can maintain and at which I can succeed. Unfortunately, there's really only one way to tell for sure... In the meantime, I am living at home and attempting to be frugal. For some time now, I've know this was coming. The final date was unclear, as well as the ultimate circumstances, but I've felt it coming. So the frugality isn't quite new, more like a further extension of existing thoughts and practices. The first week was easy. I had a half day on Tuesday and I went to visit relatives that Friday (8/10/12). Easy to bridge that gap. Came back on Sunday (8/12/12) for a SL commitment that didn't need me. Spent the time from then to now being very non-productive and learning that I reeeeeeally need to make a schedule and adhere to it. This is not new information per sé, but it's always fun to relearn things. I have things to do yet and a number of goals. I've spent the past 5 years or so "surviving" and it's about time I started "living" instead. The worst thing about this is that I'm probably going to go without health insurance for some time due to the cost of COBRA. This is akin to a 50-50 roll of the dice for me. I'm not exactly the healthiest person out there and with my preexisting condition it's not as though I can just pick it up again on impulse. But I simply can't afford it so not much wiggle room really. What am I doing next? Well, the ultimate goal is to become certified for teaching math/science for grades 7-12 or thereabouts. Short-term? Substitute teaching, piecemeal patent work if I can, unemployment, whatever other work I can find. And to work on changing my lifestyle. I'm due. I'm still involved in SL fairly heavily with some commitments coming due very soon. Playing board games from time to time. Playing computer games - stopped with Diablo 3, stopped with The Old Republic, Path of Exile, waiting for Guild Wars 2. So we'll see what happens. I'm still very hopeful though admittedly it's early yet. I'm hoping to use this time productively, even if that means long overdue housecleaning or watching movies/DVDs or reading (more). It's going to be interesting, but I'm looking forward to it! P.S. Please don't post any comments until I get around to swapping back to Google comments. The Haloscan one is going bye bye very soon.