New Path

(From another site)

I had completely forgotten I had this blog. I'm still not certain I can make a go of it, but it's worth a try. Here's why: My first blog explains a little of what is no more. I still have my iPod. I use it for drumming actually, because it has tracks on it I am learning. So that much hasn't changed. What has changed, as of last October, was my bosses viewpoint and hence my job.
 

What would you say about an employee who had work that didn't need redoing? One that was a positive image in the community and hence his employer because he was a volunteer firefighter/EMT, that even responded to two calls directly in front of the office? A worker bee that brought in a job that was over a half million dollars, the one who knows what the bosses standards are, and had been with the company for 8 years? One that put in over 8 hours a day that were never reflected on the time card? If you're my boss, you'd say that employee is too costly to keep around. Because all of the above is what I brought to the table. When I was hired, I got 3 sick days, and after 5 years, three weeks of vacation. Health insurance was and still is a given. After the downturn in 2008, we lost a day of sick pay. No announcement, no anything. I was in fact the one that told the crew members what had happened, because I noticed it on my check stub. There was some surprise to this, as we are a small crew of eight, so the gross effect for the boss was in the neighborhood of $1600.  Hardly seemed worth it. Had there been a note, or announcement of some kind, we might have reacted differently. Then the new guys came on board, as some projects were deeming a few extra bodies. And lo and behold, no more three week vacations. Two was the new limit. Hmm, said I. The boss is cutting employee benefits. He's getting guys who will provide all their own tools, work for fewer benefits, and less per hour. And then he got himself into that spiral of needing a job done before another permit kicked in, and the layoffs started. Well, THE layoff. The highest cost had to go, even before new guys who had all the tools and no insurance yet.

I guess I was too slow. He claimed my work needed to be re-done, so I checked with the supervisors which work I had ostensibly done, and as it turned out, except for 1 job of the 4 mentioned to me dating back several years, which was still questionable, none of the work in question was mine. Indeed, one of those jobs was my work at dismantling a window trim operation that was done poorly and re-doing it correctly. Maybe my boss didn’t like being corrected.

Water under the bridge now, so where does that leave me? Still "unemployed" officially, but I am in that position of being in new territory career wise. I'm still incredibly active in volunteer activities that affect our community. One of those activities might actually turn into my next career. Because of a Christmas day incident, this was born. And I am a Co-Director of this nonprofit which we aspire to make a national reality. I have never done anything like this, but why not? I get to serve people. It's something I believe in. And, I actually am a paid writer now. How cool is that? In fact, I get paid to listen to the blues, and then write reviews.  I mean, c'mon. Can it get any better? Maybe if it was full time, yea, But considering I had no experience doing this, I'm willing to just get my feet in the door and start small.

So I'm wondering how many of us are in these new territories? Pondering if maybe pursuing our passion might actually be where we need to be? That it can pay off. Apparently Salon found themselves there. After becoming an aggregator news source, they shifted gears. A daring step in news world these days. Gannet is looking to shed 665 of 785 people in the news division. Salon decided to produce less, but more original news. Increased traffic numbers says it was the right choice. I am in that new territory, as I wrap my head around doing new things now, and not identifying myself by what I did for over two decades. It isn't paying all the bills yet, but that means I just need to keep working at it. Madison, the Arab Spring, and Occupy indicate to us that a consciousness shift is awakening the world over. Business as usual no longer works. In some ways, I got pushed into it by being laid off. Or maybe I attracted it. Either way, here I am. Where are you? Where would you like to be? If we don't want to be part of business as usual anymore, let's face those fears that prevent us from looking forward, moving in that direction where the future is completely unknown, into the vast uncharted universe of our lives. Because the freedom it allows is that we can make up our lives any way we want, individually and collectively. As we know, any journey begins with a simple first step.

Shall we walk?