April 08, 2006
It's been a while. I've been battling back problems and the resulting treatment; suspending my thesis while I get on top of that; starting a new job outside academia now that my scholarship is dunzo; looking for a new abode a little closer to the action, yet still able to accommodate Luke's need to make a racket on his drums. And some other random stuff. Just nothing that inspired me to document it here.
Now things seem to be settling down, and I'm starting back work on the thesis before officially recommencing my (part-time) candidature in May. I'm so desperate to finish it this year. I need closure in a big way.
I was planning on 2006 being a better, more positive year for me, but it feels like the uncertainty is greater than ever. Two people lost their job where Luke works a matter of days after the IR reforms came in (one of whom had just announced that his wife was having another baby) and I'm feeling especially sensitive to the change in the entire system. Everything is much more tenuous and unpredictable now. Even if you work hard , there's no assurance there'll be anything for you in a week, a month, a year. I had been looking forward to escaping that after several years of sessional teaching and the pitfalls of that kind of work. But it's not just my employment that is the issue here for me - when everyone is a little unnerved and anxious at the possibility of an end to a stable livelihood (for those that had them in the first place), there's an uncertainty in the spaces between us all, and frankly, it's bumming me out.
Comments
i hope it all turns out ok. i'm going through a similar period of uncertainty... just resigned from my full time, well paid gov policy job to move to sydney... where i have _no_ job. it might sound kinda trite but i really do believe things work out as they are supposed to.
amen.
after 8 years+ of security, routine . . . doldrums, i threw it all in, quit my long-term job of said 8 years and in the past 18months have packed my bags, gone o/s, come back, given up my "hobby" business for an indeterminate tenure and have progressively made my way through 4 jobs in no less than 7 months - some of own volition, some where I was pushed [read: blindsided].
i have never felt more in a holding-pattern or more transient in my life - especially considering i made those big changes in an attempt to solidify where i thought i wanted to be.
i feel like i'm approaching my twenties again with all the promise of what's to come, with brand new foundations being set; instead of where i thought i'd be approaching my thirties with solidarity and an already strong cornerstone of what i want to achieve.
ack.
thanks katy, this was handy for me to vent :)
yvette, i agree with your 'trite' sentiment and have been spouting it about of late - although of in more recent weeks the longer i have to wait for the pay-off, the more it really does seem like something we tell ourselves to try and gloss over reality, while we get through testing uncertain times
whoa. long. maybe time to resurrect/recreate my blog . . .
thanks for the responses, folks.
It seems that a day doesn't go by when my work colleagues discuss - with some depression - the state of employment affairs. I think we're all pretty much safe since it's a small enough firm that a loss of one highly skilled person would really upset the workings.
But it's the stories in The Age everyday and the long-term prospects which are so troubling.
as a worker with an agency, i don't face unemployment as such. but in looking for a full-time job i couldn't be more worried. the new IR laws make it hard to really plan your life around your job and your income. making big purchases, i.e car/home/holidays etc would be nerve racking. will there be any longevity guaranteed in any position anymore?
it's a really sad fucking country to live in right now. i can't believe the government was allowed to do this.