The Vestibular Monologues: Pottery and Pilates

Well, then... you'll just have to come to lunch, and that's all there is to it!

Yup. What's it gonna be, MeAndTheBoys? :wink:

Mon, Tues, Wed work best for me next week.

Posted By: SOParentPeggyC, if you are free for lunch one day, let me take you up to Saffron on Rte 10.

Can I join you too?

Peggy, I'm on my last day of vacation tomorrow but would love to go with you and SOParent (who turned me on to the delicious Saffron over a year ago (when I was unemployed). Now I'm not saying that the combination of SOParent's personality or the wonderful food at Saffron was the cause of me getting a job, but I didn't stay unemployed for too long after that first delicious meal there.

Please say you can "do" Saffron tomorrow. Please. I need an excuse to overindulge on this delicious food.

I'll send you both emails.

Oh and congratulations! :bigsmile:

Peggy,

You've been so kind and gracious to so many people -- even those of us you don't know personally on this board -- that I have to feel the same good stuff will come right back to you. I laughed out loud at your "dementors" crack -- a perfect description for my place of work. Unfortunately, probably a perfect description for many workplaces. How sad that people who lose their jobs work in such crappy places that they're actually relieved to not have to work there any more.

I look forward to hearing what great things life has in store for you. Please keep us informed!

Posted By: PeggyCYup. What's it gonna be, MeAndTheBoys?

I am not "FREE" until next Thursday--when the kids GO BACK TO SCHOOL! Actually I'm free Friday. Thursday my schedule is full, catching up on "stuff" and "appointments" I haven't been able to take care of all summer. Looks like it might be a challenge juggling everyone's availability!

Emskware, thank you so much... that's so nice of you to say that! :heart:

And MATB, you're right, juggling everyone's schedules is going to be interesting, but we'll do the best we can.

Posted By: wendyPlease say you can "do" Saffron tomorrow. Please. I need an excuse to overindulge on this delicious food.

I would love this, but tomorrow and Saturday are days I've kind of hallmarked for getting through a lot of the tough early job search stuff, forming a strategy with my husband for how we're going to go forward in the near term, applying for unemployment, etc. So believe it or not, I don't think tomorrow is a very good day for me. I know how weird that sounds, coming from the newly unemployed one, but I think I need to get all my ducks in a row, and the sooner, the better.

Sorry to hear about this, Peggy, but I trust that you'll land on your feet and find your niche. You deserve it!

Sorry to hear about it Peggy.

Have you tried working linkenin.com?

Posted By: PeggyC

Posted By: metaphysician

Posted By: soorladyPC - I would love to join you, Melissa & Meta for lunch - but I am on a time limit of sorts and wouldn't want to impose my schedule upon any of you (I was serious about not moving my car!).

I think it's a good guess that our schedules are/will be pretty flexible, so no need to worry about an imposition.

What he said.

What they both said!

So Soorlady which day is best for you? Mon, Tues or Wed?

Posted By: wendy

Posted By: SOParentPeggyC, if you are free for lunch one day, let me take you up to Saffron on Rte 10.

Can I join you too?

Peggy, I'm on my last day of vacation tomorrow but would love to go with you and SOParent (who turned me on to the delicious Saffron over a year ago (when I was unemployed). Now I'm not saying that the combination of SOParent's personality or the wonderful food at Saffron was the cause of me getting a job, but I didn't stay unemployed for too long after that first delicious meal there.

Please say you can "do" Saffron tomorrow. Please. I need an excuse to overindulge on this delicious food.

I'll send you both emails.

Oh and congratulations!

I am pouting! Why do I have to go to work???? Oh yeah, I remember three hungry mouths to feed and property taxes,.


Peggy, as we discussed I am really delighted for you! This is an exciting opportunity!

I once had a job (or should I say , it once had me) It was a soul-stealing awful place peopled with the devil incarnate. I was so miserable-- I lost condience, and so much more. I resolved to quit. I had no place to go, but that didn't matter remaining intact, physically mentally and spiritually was ll that mattered.

So, the day that I screwed up my courage to just say I quit and suggest some interesting contortions they all might try, I was fired! It was so liberating! (and then I sued the bastards---but that's another story) At that particular time in my life , it was the very best thing that could have happened to me. I hope you take some time to re-group,re-cast your resume in several different ways and explore your options and contacts.

And then, follow your bliss.

Posted By: EmskwarePeggy, You've been so kind and gracious to so many people -- even those of us you don't know personally on this board

Hey, hey ,hey, enough of that, she has work to do! :cool:

Posted By: DEFCON CreatorHey, hey ,hey, enough of that, she has work to do!

Hey, knock that off! I have some serious esteem-rebuilding to do here! :fierce:

:wink::wink::wink::wink:

Calli, I know exactly what you mean. The Dementers had me convinced that I was worth a little less than a plug nickel. They had just about every member of the staff convinced that THEY were worth less than a plug nickel. I don't think I've ever seen the other editor they laid off today happy until they let him go.

So I'm wondering how long it would take me to take enough credit hours to get my teaching certification... Back when I was still getting my PhD (which ended at a Masters degree) I thought I was going on to teach at the university level. I don't suppose there's any reason not to go back to that idea after a very long detour...

Depending on your field, it may be quite possible to get a position teaching at the college level with only a masters degree, especially if you go the adjunct route to start. If you are lookimg to get your certiification at the high school level, a masters is all you will ever need but it would likely have to include or be supplemented by some education courses.

Peggy, really, you have some awesome Karma coming to you. I'm sure of it. I'll be praying for you. For real.

Posted By: joan crystalDepending on your field, it may be quite possible to get a position teaching at the college level with only a masters degree, especially if you go the adjunct route to start. If you are lookimg to get your certiification at the high school level, a masters is all you will ever need but it would likely have to include or be supplemented by some education courses.

joan, I don't know if you know this but adjunct professors get paid very little. And 999 times out of a 1000 doing the job of an adjunct is not a route to anything but being an adjunct. As far as high school teaching I didn't see anything that suggested that Peggy was interested in that. However, there may be some community colleges which hire professors without a PhD, depending on the area of expertise.

Posted By: wendyAs far as high school teaching I didn't see anything that suggested that Peggy was interested in that. However, there may be some community colleges which hire professors without a PhD, depending on the area of expertise.

All of these are distinct possibilities. I was talking to my mother last night about getting my certification. She used to teach English, French, and Spanish. So this is one of many things I'm going to check out, starting today right after I file for unemployment and apply for every job I've spotted lately that seems appropriate for me.

It's so interesting that almost NONE of the jobs I'll be applying for have anything to do with magazine publishing, which is what I've been doing since 1990. And that's good. Very good.

Ah, PeggyC. Sorry to hear you're having this "greatness" thrust upon you. But, hoping you find some new directions in a timely fashion. Let me know if there's ANY way I can help.

Thanks, Cynicalgirl. I appreciate it.

Hey Peggy sorry you got laid off but if it leads to bigger better things then congrats!

Peggy:

What a perfect day for a bit (or a lot) of goal restructuring and arm chair job hunting. Best of luck.

Wendy:

Adjuncts do get paid very little for the work they do but if a person has never taught at the college level before, doing adjunct work for a semester or two will give one a pretty good idea of whether college teaching is something they would want to do full-time as a career. I know a number of persons who teach as adjuncts in addition to their regular full-time employment and a few who have picked up enough hours at a combination of various colleges to make a living out of it, at least short term. There are advantages to doing adjunct teaching: the work fills spaces that could otherwise be holes in one's resume, the hours are frequently at night which leaves daylight hours for job hunting and other pursuits, being on campus gives on access to full-time staff who can give pointers on additional credentials which may be needed (or not) and possible leads/advice to full-time employment, even if not at the institution where one is presently teaching. Most important, it is a productive pursuit which will get one out of the house on a regular basis. I never suggested that Peggy pursue this direction (or not), simply offered it as a way to try some college level teaching if she had no more than a master's degree. The community college teaching suggestion is a good one but I don't know the level of education most community colleges demand of their instructional staff these days.

The last I heard, most community colleges accept masters degrees, but that could have changed. I'm going to be looking into all of this.

Good luck and please keep us posted on your progress.

Peggy- So sorry to hear about the layoff, but I'm certain you'll land on your feet.
I'll keep my eyes and ears open, and will put out some feelers to some of my "print" contacts. Will let you know if I hear of anything. Meanwhile, hang in there, and try to enjoy the free time. :flowers:

Sorry to hear this, Peggy. Let us know if we can help in any way. I'm way behind in reading MOL and am lucky I caught this thread. There are many I haven't read at all and probably never will.

Thanks, Tom.

Peggy:

How did yesterday go? Were you able to draft (or at least begin drafting) a plan? Did you find any promising leads?

Mr. PeggyC and I talked about the possibilities for "cottage industry" type businesses we've been talking about for years. Now seems like an obvious time to try to put something in motion. So we have at least begun setting the groundwork. Most of that is based on HIS skills with wine and food, but I would be a great help in marketing, set-up, delivery, front-of-house, etc.

I applied for unemployment (money first) then applied for a couple of jobs that are still very closely related to the editorial/writing work I've been doing for nearly two decades. I also reached out to ALL my contacts from previous jobs, as well as friends I've made through my work at other companies, to line up the network and scout for freelance opportunities. I'm probably going to write a piece for the blog of a friend in my most recent job. He's a very well known researcher in the field, so that will be nice visibility for me, although I have to come up with a topic without access to all my old notes and the stories I wrote that were on the server on the old job. H'mm. Maybe a friend from my ex-job could send me some of that stuff. Shouldn't be too hard.

Next, I need to work on an alternative resume, to emphasize skill sets rather than specific, chronological job history. That will help me set the groundwork to transfer what I can do into work I haven't really done before.

And then I will start scouring the net for companies that might appreciate my skills, and local schools where I might take some courses to brush up dusty skills and develop new ones. I think I will pursue teaching certification so as to have that option in my back pocket. Certainly, I will have some conversations about it with a few local schools. It could turn out to be a passion I wasn't really aware of, and deserves investigation.

This is more of a full-time job than the one I just left! :shocked:

But I think I am going to take the weekend off, for the most part, and work around the house. I've been neglecting a lot of things here because the job was exhausting me emotionally, which made me feel really lethargic. And I might go take a long walk in the rain to clear my head and kill a few calories.

Thanks for asking. :bigsmile: