Finding my way

Today I went for my first in-office session at the outplacement company which is supposed to assist me in finding a new job. I chose to have my first meeting with my consultant in the actual office, even though I could've done it on the phone. This is largely due to the fact that my daytime cell minutes have recently become an issue (SOUR). Since I'm not working, I talk on the phone more during the day, and most of these people are not Verizon customers and thus are not IN, meaning I do not have unlimited minutes. An example of the SOURness -- my bill is usually $55 a month. Last month, it was $120. This is very SOUR for someone who is about to have $0 income.

Anyway, I decided to go to their office in Charlotte. I got directions on mapquest (God I want GPS. I really, really do, but the lack of income prohibits this). So I was doing fine. I-85 to Billy Graham to South Blvd to Tyvola which becomes Fairview. I knew the office was a suite in a building. So naturally there are several big office buildings, and after turning around twice, I saw 6100 and turned in. Now, there are no identifying features on the outside of these buildings. And they all share parking garages and visitor lots so I was confident that I was going to roll up into the wrong one. But I pushed forward. After one semi-awkward situation at the revolving door, I was in. I approached the digital directory, which was pretty cool, and typed in the first letter of the company and holy shit peeps! There it was! I was so freaking pleased with myself that I thought about leaving right then and calling it a successful day! But I did not. My point in all this is that I considered it very SWEET that I figured that big city shit out all by my little self. Moving on.

SWEET: I have some really good resume tips for anyone who wants them.

SOUR: Directly from the lips of my consultant: "It's not like we expect you to spend 40 hours a week on this. But most people spend abouot 20 hours or so." What! Good God! She gave me a timeline and I have to do stuff by a certain date. Yikes.

SWEET: Yeah, I'm lucky to get this for free. Thank you, former company, for laying me off and giving me three months of this service. I am being totally sincere. Uh huh. OK, really, it sounds like it'll be very helpful if I really just take full advantage of it. Gonna do my best.

SWEET: Drinks and dinner with former work peeps at an Italian restaurant in Hickory. we ate on the patio, and it was lovely. Had two glasses of Pinot Grigio, salad and some dish that involved sauteed shrimp, clams, mussels and squid in a red sauce.

SOUR: Spending $40 on said dinner. God I don't do well on a budget.