. . .

[queerbychoice]

. . . Guess who got laid off from work today?

. . .

It's not as though I wasn't aware of the possibility. It was clear that the company was not doing well and it had laid off other people. But . . . I'm an optimist.

I mean, I'm not in any immediate danger of starving to death. I have a year's worth of salary in the bank and I qualify for unemployment from having worked there for over five years. Also, the company's financial problems had prolonged a hiring/promotions freeze for so long (and forced us to keep doing twice as much work every year because every time anyone left the company there would be no replacements hired or pay raises for those of us who took over their duties) that it was becoming just plain stupid of me to put up with the job and being laid off was probably the only thing that could give me sufficient motivation to endure the necessary interview process to get a different one. Only . . . I've never been unemployed while not living with my parents before. And being unemployed while living with my parents after graduating from college lasted nine months and was really really really horribly unpleasant.

But I'm stuck with it.

The person who told me (the vice president of the company) said that I seemed to be taking it well. I suppose she meant that I just sat there looking stunned instead of screaming at her, cursing her, crying, begging her to change her mind, or whatever else. That's because, see, when people do horrible things to me, I don't believe in giving them the satisfaction of a visible reaction.

At least they waited until after my birthday.

Comments

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

What's the rest of the story? What happens to him after his son falls off the horse?

[yourapple.livejournal.com]

Here's the story (it's quite long)--
This old guy's horse ran away. Everyone in his village was sympathetic but he was really optimistic about it and they said, oh, what a crazy old man; his horse is gone but he isn't upset at all.

His horse came back with a mate. When the village people (!) congratulated him the old guy appeared very pessimistic, and they said, oh, what a crazy old man; he gets a free horse but he's gloomy.

The old guy's son fell while ridding the new horse one day. As a result he was handicapped. When the townsfolks visited the old guy's family to give their regards the old guy was fine. Of course, the townsfolks said, oh, what a crazy old man; his own son is severely injured but he isn't grieving at all.

Then the country went to war. When conscription came, every able young man was sent to fight except for the old guy's son, whose handicap from the horse incident got him off the hook. The old guy and his family lived happily ever after. Whereas his neighbours either died on the battlefield or lost their loved ones there.
I guess this is supposed to be about always thinking a few moves ahead; it's not worth getting too caught up in what happens in the present because whatever happens next may be totally different and make the present seem completely irrelevant.

Now that I have retold the story, I realize it really has nothing to do with your entry.
Well, whatever, this is what came to mind. And you got a fun Chinese story.

[yourapple.livejournal.com]

The story seemed a lot longer in the Hotmail reply box.

[queerbychoice.livejournal.com]

The story seems vaguely familiar to me, although I'm not sure from where. I'm hoping that it actually has a lot to do with my entry, because it is true that I was not happy in my job and potentially I might now end up in a better one, and if so, I wouldn't have ended up in a better one if I hadn't been laid off first.