After a rather long hiatus, I have finally decided to come back to my online life. Let me catch you up to speed on the past three months: I WAS LAID OFF. One would think this would allow plenty of time for blogging activities, but sadly most of my free time has been spent begging the DUA for unemployment checks interspersed with random panic attacks (you know the kind: how will I pay my rent, what will happen to my credit cards, can I still afford that ski trip I planned months ago, I have $20 left in my checking account - can I bear to use it up on groceries or should I leave it there for a real emergency, yadiyadiyadi...). For those not residents of the Communist-wealth, DUA stands for the Department of Unemployment Assistance. But don't let the word "Assistance" in the department's title trick you in to thinking that this state agency provides anything along the lines of help. Think of it more as a word in a mission statement; I don't doubt it's something they strive to do, they just have a hard time coming through. I have finally, however, managed to secure the weekly funds that were promised to me when I was laid off, and all is now well.
So here I am, able to eke out my existence and still have a small bit of fun every now and again, and in a state of mind that allows me to blog like I used to. Being laid off couldn't have come at a worse time: winter. This past winter was pretty rough, even by New England standards. Most of it was spent buried under 70" of snow that rarely melted away between storms due to a pretty deep freeze that held December, January, and most of February hostage. You'd think this would bode well for a skier like me, but it turns out that our winter was so harsh because the majority of storms tracked further south in New England, leaving the North Country mostly dry. Complicating matters further, temps in the single digits in Boston meant temps in the White and Green Mountains dipped well into double-digit negatives: not ideal for a day on the slopes. And then we come to the matter of money... when you're laid off, you don't have any and, sadly, skiing's not a cheap sport. Not being able to ski in the winter means days are spent at home cleaning and making hearty foods and window shopping for exercise (no money = no gym membership). But even window shopping was a chore, courtesy of a massive recession that has left the shops on Newbury starving for any customer that walks through the door and refusing to leave them alone until they either walk out or buy something. Long story short: I didn't leave the house very much.
But we're midway through March, and although we're still sitting comfortably in the 30s in sweaters and wool coats, I know summer's not far around the corner. And while I'm frantically looking for jobs, a part of me secretly wants to stay on unemployment so that when the sunshine hits, I'll be able to spend most days lying on the beach (free and much easier to get to on public transit than the mountains).
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A new part of my posts is going to be getting people up to speed on new music that I have a knack for coming across. This post's pick: "Walk Like a Zombie" by the HorrorPops. First of all, this isn't a specialty song. This band is actually called HorrorPops, and their music tends to fall in a genre to match. Mostly, I like how a group in today's modern times can bring back the original sound of pop music that we came to love in the 80s and 90s in a playful way. Think The New Pornographers with a Munsters theme. Check it out - you'll have the song stuck in your head and a bounce in your step in no time.
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