I made a plan after I'm laid off.

[Touchdown]

I most likely won't last the year at my current job. The "rightsizing" and Chimpy's economy has finally caught up with me. Nothing is official yet, but there's something in the air.

Eh'. I had a good run. 12 years with the same company, a sizeable cash balance to drop into my next job, and 7 months of severance. I have no right to complain considering others have fared much worse.

Which brings me to life after ****. Since I have so much severance pay, and my next job will probably not have vacation for at least another year, I have decided to put my resumes in, and leave for a month. I have no spouse, children, or responsibilities to anyone else, except my cat, and she likes the neighbor down the hall anyway.

I'm going to spend a month riding trains across Europe. Stay in small guesthouses, hostels, find little laundramats and re-discover what it's like to be alive. No TV, no computer, no phone. Just my camera, iPod, a change of pants, and a sense of adventure. Hopefully I can get up the nerve to talk to total strangers like I used to.

This job, although pays well, is an emotional drain on my spirit. There's no tangible satisfaction of a job well done with working a network by remote terminal. At least if I built cars, I could point to the parking lot and say "I built those today", but this? Something gets fixed, I'm still too far away to touch it, and sometimes I forget what these white and chrome boxes look like. It's all in cyberspace, and the satisfaction is as virtual as the duties.

By the time I get back, I may have some passion for happiness back, and psossibly a new job offer on my answering machine. If not, then what good would it have done me to stay at home by the phone, using up my severence pay anyhow?

Actually, I feel a sense of peace with this. Why panic over a job loss, when you have no control over the outcome in the first place. All this was decided (or is being decided now) by some nameless executives, in some imaginary teak lined boardroom, and I am just as virtual to them as the equipment I work on is to me. Acceptance can be liberating. Anybody else feel the same way?

[Vincardog]

1. Why not write a little book while you are there?

[Touchdown]

9. You mean like a journal or diary?

...or do you mean something more introspective like philisophical ramblings that I do to myself from time to time?

I suppose I could do both, hell why not? Thanks for the tip.:hi:

[Vincardog]

18. First write down all your expenses. It will offset the royalties..

You do not have to decide on the nature or name of the work until you get published. The important thing is to fill a page every day. The rest will work it self out. :hi: :hi:

[madison2000]

2. you're lucky

When I've been laid off its been with little or no notice; little or no severance pay; in a lousy economy. My plan was trying to survive without enough money. 16 months once. 4 months which will end after this week, thankfully.

If I were in your situation I would take a very long break and see what the world looks like afterwards.

[DS1]

3. wow, I'd call 7 months severance a Touchdown too

:wow:

[OldLeftieLawyer]

4. Brilliant plan

I think you've got everything nailed, Touchdown, and your plan sounds absolutely scintillating. Tour Europe now, while you can - although the state of the dollar makes any venture much pricier - and have a lifetime of adventures.

Talk to everyone while you're on the road. I've had some grand experiences and met some marvelous people just because we smiled at each other on a bus or started a conversation in a bar or I tried my bad Spanish or French or Italian on them.

Get off the beaten track and find places that aren't tourist destinations. If you have the time and you end up in a place you like, stay for a while and get a feel for what it might be like to live there. You might find a whole different world - and life - opening to you.

You might find love. Stranger things have happened. Keep your head up and your heart open.

And, since you're already quite proficient with the written word, I urge you to keep a journal. Write everything down, even if it's sentence fragments. You would be amazed at what you forget as the years clutter up your memory. Take pictures, take the time write it all down, and take every risk you can.

Gobble it down whole as if you were starving, Touchdown, and have the trip of a lifetime. I envy you and I wish you everything wonderful and true.

[Droopy]

5. I don't feel the same way about my job

I am very limited in what I can do. I need to have a job making at least $800 a week gross and the only way I know how to do that is in trucking. If I were to lose my current job it would mean that I would have to go back out on the road more than likely. I currently do a short haul and get home every night.

If you get laid off and do the Europe thing, consider trucking when you get back if you don't have any job offers. It's an adventerous job and you get paid to roam about the country. Most companies will let you take your cat with you, too.

[candy]

6. Do it,do it,do it! Mys son did it and had a great !!!!!

I shipped him his winter jacket, gloves, and hat to a friend he had in Europe at a pre-appointed time.He left in warm weather and came home in cold weather.

He threw all of his clothes away just before heading home(they were quite worn after 3 months) and picked up a souvenir for all of us and put it in his backpack where the clothes had been.

[bleedingheart]

7. Murphy's Law....you won't get laid off...

I too have a plan...have had a plan for four years...and yet the company keeps me... my coworker and I both have had the "feeling" for so long...

Now I could quit but to be honest it would be silly because I have a significant amount of time in, a pension and I would get severance if I got laid off...

...so I bide my time...

[Touchdown]

10. Heh. You're probably right.

We've had scares like this before. This time though, there seems to be a finality to the mood around work though. We had a sister office in Atlanta that was gutted and cleaned out last October. I honestly don't see them sparing our place here, but as you say, stranger things have happened.

I most likely won't see myself getting the axe until maybe June or September, so there's still plenty of time to think this over.

And yes, I would stay too if it doesn't come around. I hope that doesn't sound too hypocritical considering the musings of freedom I just wrote up there.

Hell, what do I know? In my twenties, I knew everything. Now, I'm not sure I know anything anymore.:shrug:

[babylonsister]

8. Go for it!

My only suggestion might be to head towards Asia, as it's much less expensive so you can stay longer! Bangkok, Malaysia, Bali, even Australia. Your $ will go further. Good luck!

[Longgrain]

11. I both empathize and envy you Touchdown...

I empathize because I've had some unemployment problems in my family. My brother was let off from his job three years ago. He's so desperate, he even applied for a job at Wal-mart...the shrubs economic plan must really be working :eyes: since even they weren't hiring...

I envy you you for being able to take the European adventure. I hope you find your peace of mind there...

(and take a lot of great pictures :hi: )

[mcscajun]

12. Go for it!

I've been on severance for more than a year and half now (I had decades in before offshoring hit my job) and I haven't returned to work yet. Mine's an extreme case, but I say taking some time is a wonderful thing.

Do what seems right now...worry later.

[B Calm]

13. Check out the red light district in Amsterdam..

you'll love it!

[B Calm]

14. There is a great hostel on the Greek Isle "Corfu"..

[NNadir]

15. I was laid off last year, and was out of work for months.

I do have a wife and kids and a house etc, and I was very worried, but you know what? I got another job, and though I make less money, I'm infinitely happier. The best part was avoiding the endless travel and getting to know my kids, especially the little guy, who I hardly knew before then.

My old boss was a big drinker (and expected me to drink with him all fucking night) and, except for his skills as a politician and ass-kisser, pretty much incompetant. I was able to get a new job much easier than I would have been able to get a new liver.

Enjoy yourself.

[miss_kitty]

16. Try to make it more than a month, if you can

you'll just be getting SOOOO into it then-I wasn't super ready to come back after 4 months:)

[Touchdown]

17. Hell, if I say that long, I might just get a green card

..and find a job. I hope all the Irish are employed. I hear they take Irish first, immigrants second.

Nothing is out of the realm of possibility. I would just HATE driving on the left side of the road though.:crazy:

[miss_kitty]

19. If you can prove you had an Irish Gramma

you can get an Irish passport. Then the EU is all yours. There IS a boom going on in Ireland.

I was unable to prove an Irish gramma-my last gramma born in Eire was 1816 and that makes her too many generations away.

[underpants]

20. Sounds great

Have a good time

[catzies]

21. Keep in mind your $$ may not go very far in Europe right now

because of the dollar's woes.

But other than that, vaya con dios, bonne chance et bon voyage and auf wiedersehn!

[babylonsister]

22. Saw this in Sunday paper and thought of you.

Might give you some insight from a guy who is on his second round-the-world trip.


http://www.elliotthester.com/

[Touchdown]

23. That guy's living the life!

Now he is someone to envy. What a cool life.