Funemployment...yay...

Raina does the Thriller dance!! SHAMON!!! =-p

Being laid-off blows monkeys for pesos in a Rosarito cantina's skanky old bathroom after some fat f*cker named "Lalo" just took a massive chorizo n' eggs dump in the very stall you're blowing said monkey in. That being said, I'm ready to go back to work already!!!

I've been out of publishing for nearly a whole year now and while Obama gears up to extend my unemployment benefits (thanks Mr. President, bigups to the Chi!!), I continue to reflect on life as I knew it pre-"Funemployment," lol.

In my "old" life (i.e., my life as the editor of a kick-ass luxury lifestyle magazine in the 90210), I spent soooo much time working and loving it! If I ever felt bored in the evenings or when I wanted time to myself, I would just work late. Yeah, the money I made in no way reflected all the heartfelt time and energy I put into the magazine, but it really didn't matter because I was lucky enough to finally be doing what I love.

Now, I know there are a lot of folks who are in way worse shape than me, so I'll try to keep my b*tching at a minimum (loose emphasis on "try"), but I've been out of the game for so long and have seen so much sad stuff happening in my industry (Conde Naste laid off 180 people, NY Times & LA Times rumored to sell mid-page ads, Lindsay Lohan tweeting the news, etc., etc.) that I'm starting to wonder if I even want to go back to what's left of it!

So, what's the answer? Grad school? Law school? Opening a weed clinic?? ...sigh...I know plenty of publishing professionals with grad degrees who are out of work. The industry as a whole has been drying up where jobs are concerned. With all the twitter bullsh*t and citizen journalism going on, there 's not much job security for anyone with a professional journalism background anymore, including those with graduate degrees. And law school no longer is the fall back career since thousands of law firms and solo practioners have been hit just as hard as publishing has in this economy.

I know in the wheel of life that everything is a cycle and nothing is permanent, so the job market in publishing is bound to shift for the better, but when?? And will it be too late for me once it does? Meaning, I'm thisclose to going back to school for a career change next year and I'm going to be crushed if publishing turns around and suddenly starts oozing profits sooner rather than later! But then again, the chances that traditional journalistic money making models are going to be reborn and kicking ass any year soon is as likely as Joe Jackson signing Ellen Degenerous to play a post-Thriller MJ in an ABC tv movie of the week...wait, that's kinda likely...awkward...

Anywho, speaking of MJ, I better wrap this up by saying that since my last post, I did learn the whole entire original Thriller dance!! And since I have much time to practice these days, it looks like my kitty Raina was even able to pick up some of the moves!! Check her out, above!!!