The rains have come: another change of seasons and I am still unemployed.

Truly scary. While I was on vacation, the seasons changed on me and I came home to lower temperatures and higher humidity, loud cicadas and rain squalls. Over five months later I am still unemployed and I don't know if my benefits are going to be able to be stretched any longer. It's almost terrifying. I have an appointment with a staffer at the School of Natural Resources on Tuesday to discuss a job opening entailing writing website copy and uploading .xml files, and that's only ten to fifteen hours a week and probably minimally-paying, but it would be something and it would work around classes. It would also be a resume builder. Carl and I experienced a jarring conflict that made us realize that if we are truly committed to each other, then our very relationship depends upon his contributions to the job search. So we're enacting a plan to run our household like a business office, which is actually something we've tacitly wanted to do for a while but never thought to mention it out loud to each other. We have a new filing system for important papers, we're instituting some kind of a job board (for now, a job clothesline), complete with job tickets for tasks to be completed, and we're going to get up early and really compartmentalize our day. At the same time, we'll make more effort towards getting all that we can out of our one income source, paid petitioning for a nonprofit, and I'll see how long I can extend my UI. We also applied jointly to another storage facility onsite management team position. On August 1, we'll evaluate our plan and see if it's increasing productivity and progress, and we'll accordingly amend it or scrap it. If we scrap it, we may have to move into separate living spaces and hope that our relationship survives it. Kind of makes me lose some faith in that song I love so much, "Love Will Keep Us Alive". Money is essential to survival too. Sigh.