Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Happy ^%*#$ Holidays

Well, the economy is dumping on everyone, it seems. The thought is handily illustrated by the lovely origami piece to the left, an original design by Won Park (*orudorumagi11) and you can see more of his awesome dollar bill origami on his deviantart page.

This week I found out that I am not getting a holiday bonus. The holiday party was cancelled. And to top it all off, the office is closed without pay on December 24 and 31. So I get to flush nearly $200 down the drain, right at Christmas when I need it the most. 

I am grateful to have a job. I am grateful to have a great boss who will go to bat for me and my coworker. I am grateful to have wonderful coworkers and a job that I enjoy doing, every day. I am grateful for an opportunity to work at a newspaper, express my creative freedom, expand my portfolio, have a flexible schedule... 
But damn, does that $200 loss feel like a kick in the teeth this time of year. 

NPR, my eternal companion, isn't doing much better. The excellent and very informative daily show, Day to Day, was cancelled, and Madeleine Brand, the host of the show was laid off today. Along with two other excellent reporters. 

I'm so upset. Happy holidays, humbug! My Etsy sales have paid for Christmas presents this year, and I'm shopping with the thought of struggling craftspeople in my head. I bought all but two of my presents on Etsy this year, and I have more to buy if my day job pays me some back mileage checks and boosts my budget a bit. I took the handmade pledge a few months ago and I did quite well! 

You'll remember the little garden I'm starting from the photos I put up in my last post. I'm sure glad about it. I now have rosemary, licorice basil, carrots, bell peppers, spearmint, beans, peas, spinach, lettuce, and some bee-attracting, pest-repelling marigolds and chocolate flowers. So in a few months I should be eating largely from my own garden. Hooray! Just about all my food comes from the farmers market now, and my grocery store shopping is all for staples like rice, beans, soup supplies, etc. 

Sigh. I hope all of you are doing better... Christmas looks to be pretty dismal this year. Best of luck to you, friends. 

1 comment:

Kiley said...

I think it's rough for all of us out there right now. I'm about to leave for a long planned vacation to Germany and I am very concerned that by the time I get back my boss will have decided that they can do without me as they did okay for the two weeks I was gone....
My plan is to go- have a good time- and try not to think about it..

I'm also very saddened by the loss of day to day on NPR. I listen to NPR all day at work and I can't imagine what they are going to replace it with. At least I'll still have science friday's to look forward too.