Recovering Baptist

Let’s be honest; being unemployed sucks. I have tons of time on my hands, but that doesn’t mean that I’m free. For starters, I don’t really have a lot of spare cash lying around for extracurriculars. But I also feel bound to stay close to home so I can make calls or look for new opportunities online. I know there’s nothing for me online, but it gives the appearance of action, and that has some value.

Days like today, though, are very tough. I’ve received some feedback on my resume that it needs to be strengthened. So my wife and I have spent all day working on it. The problem with working on a resume is that every critique hits you twice. First, your document is put under a microscope, which means that your writing and organizational abilities are in question. Then, as a natural result, your career is being reviewed, as well. Even when good things are brought to light it reminds me of all of the negative things which happened. I feel as if the last three years were a professional waste, and days like today serve as a reminder. Add to that the fact that my wife cannot work with background noise and I cannot stand a silent room, plus the constant ringing in my ears, and I’m about to go bonkers.

Several weeks ago the in-laws told us of their plans to join the rest of their family in North Carolina for the July 4 weekend. My father-in-law’s family is generally fun enough, so I thought we would probably join them. I’d rather stay home, but there are some times you just go with the flow. A week or two later things got better, the in-laws offered to take the boys to the reunion, leaving my wife and me at home for the long weekend without kids. Oh yeah, we can crash at their place which has the best hot tub and pool backyard I’ve ever seen, plus there’s a pool table, sauna, and a stocked bar. Now THAT’s how to spend a holiday weekend.

And things were looking great. Last weekend rocked, but both my wife and I noticed that our sinuses were starting to act up a bit. “No problem,” we figured, “it should be through this in a day or two.” Alas. The boys went to the doctor this week; one has an ear infection, and they put the other on antibiotics, just in case. Meanwhile, I spent a whole day in bed, and I couldn’t sleep through the night because my throat hurt too much. Today we headed over to the Minute Clinic (which totally beats a normal doctor, btw) to see what we could find out. Go figure, it’s strep and an ear infection for me and a sinus infection with exposure to strep for her.

So instead of an alcohol fueled weekend in the pool, it looks like we’ll be spending the weekend drugged up and lying on the couch.

Happy independence day. I’m hoping yours is more festive than ours.