Soon to be un-unemployed

So this is a post that I started writing last week, but didn’t like the flow per se. So I stopped writing it, and left my blog for a few days, hoping that the creative juices would once again start to flow. Since that hasn’t happened, and my cousin Roshan sent me an email about this topic (since he was unable to understand my FaceBook status), I figured that it was time to throw caution (and literary creativity) to the wind and go ahead and write it.

Which leads me to this post – I now have a job. Scratch that, I have a job, but I haven’t started working yet. It’s a 12 month contract in Charlotte, and I was supposed to start on Tuesday, but since my background checks haven’t completed, I will start on Wednesday or Thursday (hopefully). After being unemployed for more than a year (I don’t count my 2 months at the dealership since it was a non IT job), to say that this was a welcome relief would be the understatement of all understatements. To be perfectly honest, if I hadn’t been able to find a job by the end of January, then I was going to put my house on the market and move back to the UK. That was not what I wanted to do, but I just couldn’t wait any longer. Look at it from my perspective – I can go home (the UK) whenever I want to – if and when I go back, it should be because I choose to – not because I have to. It may sound like a male ego sort of thing, but I can assure you that it isn’t. I moved here 9 years ago, and to be forced to go back would be tantamount to failure – in my own opinion of course.

When the call came about the job – that the client had accepted me, I was stunned. It was about 20 minutes after my 2nd interview, and it was around 5pm on a Friday evening. My recruiter (a really nice lady called Shannon) called and asked me “Would you like to hear some good news?”, and it was like a great big burden had been lifted from me. No tears, no smiles. Just relief. For a while, not feeling like a failure, not wondering what I am going to do tomorrow, not analyzing every single decision that I have made over the last 10 years and wondering what my life would be like if I had chosen differently. As I said, relief.

The first call that I made was to my parents. After me, they were probably the next in line of a long line of people who were worried about my future. Maybe even more than me in some ways. I guess you never stop being a parent, no matter how old your children are. I could feel the relief coming over the telephone when I told them. My mind wandered over 3700 miles to their house and I could see the relief in my minds eye. It was a good feeling. I was at a loss for words after I told them, my mind a turmoil of emotions. Relief – one of the best emotions that you can feel, believe me.

Anyway, the past week has been one of patience. I signed the contract with the recruiting company on Monday. However, since the client is a Bank, I have to have my background thoroughly checked. They require 10 years of background, and since I have only been here for 9 years, they have to do an international background check. That’s what I am currently waiting for. Once I have that, I can get a start date and then I have to start commuting to Charlotte every week. It’s not too bad, as Charlotte is only two and a half hours away. So my plan is to drive up early on Monday mornings and spend the week there, and then drive back home on Friday nights so that I can spend the weekend at home. My friend Bejoy made a comment about commuting which I think is very apt. He told me that commuting would remove any lethargy that I may have lingering throughout my being. He was right. I’ve spent the past year at home, sitting and waiting and applying. Getting out and about and not having to fly is the best thing for me.

So I wait.

Last week, I saw the movie “The Soloist”, starring Robert Downey Jr and Eddie Foxx. It’s the true story about a homeless man by the name of Nathaniel Ayers (played by Foxx) who is interviewed by a reporter named Steve Lopez (played by Downey Jr). Lopez hears him play the violin, and discovers that he used to be a student at Julliard in the ’70s. It’s a story about a man who was on his way to become someone, but a mental illness derailed his journey, and left him homeless. Lopez starts out as an opportunistic reporter who is looking for a quick story. It develops into a rocky friendship with Lopez reporting about Ayer’s predicament. One of his readers, an elderly lady who used to play the cello, but had to give it up because of arthritis, actually sends her cello to Lopez to give to Ayers, after Lopez writes that Nathaniel actually loves to play the cello. It’s a very nice movie, and one that highlights the plight of homeless people in Los Angeles. I would like to echo one of my earlier posts – how about a war on homelessness?

Anyway, one of my favorite lines in the movie, comes when Foxx is sweeping an area on the street where he plans to sleep. Lopez is asking him about the areas that he selects to sleep, and he utters something like this:

“I used to sleep on Wall Street, but I don’t any more. It’s too dirty.”

Awesome line. Just awesome.

Oh, and so true, too!

So I am sitting here, and writing this post while watching “I love you man”, starring Jason Segel, Paul Rudd and Rashida Jones. It’s a very funny movie, and had me in stitches quite frequently! If you get the chance, you should go and watch it. Oh, I mean get the DVD, or watch it On Demand, as it is not in the theaters!

Ah, now it is time to select a song. Decisions, decisions.

Got it!

Another one bites the dust by Queen!

Peace!