Last Day

so I am now officially unemployed.  it is exciting and scary at the same time.  I'm going to do whatever I want for the next month and clear my head. 

Last night, i packed up all my work clothes and now have only Play clothes in my closet.  This is going to be fun!

Irony

When I’ve talked to co-workers about quitting, I’ve joked that I was going to watch lead-based paint dry and like it.   I was not expecting to actually do it.

Yesterday, I had a guy come over to fix our garage door.  As he put a coat of primer on the finished door, I realized I was literally watching paint dry.   And I have to say, it was fantastic.

one week left!

next week is my last week of gainful employment.  it has been harder than i thought to leave.  i want to control my stuff & how someone else does it.  i need to let this go, but it is tougher than i thought.  i really do care and don't want to leave a mess behind.  so it is just harder than i expected

Norway

is this kismet or what?  i have been stalking this trip to hike the fjords in Norway for a few years.  i saw the trip in a catalog and it sounded so fantastic.  so ~2 wks ago, when i told a friend i had quit, i mentioned the trip and she said she wanted to go to Norway this year.  then yesterday, i sent an email to reserve the trip and right after was shopping on Amazon.  i was searching for a puzzle (a very midwest thing to do) and the first photo up was one of the Norwegian Fjords.  i think this is kismet.  it is all falling into place.....

Male characters outnumber female..

so now that i have time on my hands, i actually get to read the various articles in the Wall Street Journal.  Last week, there was a series of articles covering a conference hosted by WSJ on where are all the female executives.   The interview with Geena Davis caught my eye.

She founded an Institute that has done research on G rated films and TV series.  The study found that for every 1 female character, there were 3 male characters.  and that the main goal for the female characters was finding romance.  whereas, this was never the aspiration for the male characters.  isn't it interesting, with all the female writers out there and all the social change, writers are still stuck in what they consider to be normal.  i doubt anyone realized they did this, but it does set the tone for the children, both male & female, when these are the examples they remember. 

Blogging

OK, so I started a blog to chronicle my journey as I leave my corporate America job and look for 'something different'.  I'm not a touchy-feely person by nature, but I thought a blog would be therapeutic and keep me honest into not wasting any of the time I'm planning to take off.  I now have 2 weeks left of employment and I still haven't done my resume!!  I promised myself I would at least do a draft so that I didn't forget anything when I did ultimately look for something new.  Maybe writing it here will motivate me. 

I am a planner by nature and I told myself to stop thinking about what is next and instead have fun.  So I have been actively trying NOT to think about the next career move since I have nay-say'd alternative careers all my life.  So I'm determined to not do that again.  wish me luck...

It Begins....

well i did it.  i stepped off the corporate treadmill.  my last day will be end of April.  my head is whirling and i have to decide what to do next.  many fun plans are circulating in my head -- travel, cooking, hiking, etc.  i thought i'd start a blog to record my time off the treadmill