unapologetic slacking and a tardy road trip

After having applied for lots and lots of jobs, but having had zero luck landing any sort of work - including contract/freelance - I'm beginning to think that my age really does matter after all. But I'm still not panicking just yet, I've only gone through two-thirds of my unemployment payments. And I've actually found two recruiters who seem to know what they're doing. So many of them simply gather resumes, throw them at HR departments (who are usually equally clueless), and hope one sticks. These two are actually doing the research.

Two weeks ago I took my drive to Tennessee to visit my aunt. She lost her oldest son (my cousin) unexpectedly last year to a brain hemorrhage, and her second husband is now in hospice. But she freely admits she's depressed, and we had quite a few adult conversations. One thing that surprised me is what she told me about my parents; namely that my mother's sisters were all quite angry when my father forced her to go from full-time mom to full-time store clerk. I was finally able to admit after decades that it had made me angry as well.

I'm kind of tempted to move near her, as her bird feeders have an incredible variety of visitors and the mountains are beautiful. I took my bicycle and was embarrassed to find myself walking up hills a good part of the time. Sometimes I think that a job with little responsibility would result in a more relaxed life. Starbucks always wants help.

Cincinnati* is still talking of my next visit - namely all the semi-naughty things he wants to do, and that I want him to do as well. But he's having some odd health problems (headaches and vertigo). The cause of all this is still not diagnosed. So I'm fine with waiting a while longer, especially as I need to lose about 15 more pounds.

* See The Usual Suspects.