Winds of Change

So it's been over two years since I've posted. Not that I haven't thought about it. Even started a post once...blahblahblah

So Where's Pi Now?

Quick sum up since March, 2010 (like, forEVER ago)

I actually don't recall much from the rest of 2010, except a few bad decisions, but hey, we all make those from time to time. 

Course they were fun (married skydiver (MSD) at the end of his marriage and a co-worker (chef)) and I only regret one (the chef).

Sometime around June/July/August, I made a Decision.

I'm moving back to Chicago in September whether I have a job or not.

I was only slightly deluded as to how complicated that would actually be...

Yeah, yeah I said it before,(Ahem, see below...) I had my epiphany in July 2009 and set out on a mission, but lost my steam...

Course I didn't move back to Chicago that September, but I told everyone I was, something about accountability.

So I pulled away from one group of friends and cut my social circle down to a few people. 

I was nearing the one year anniversary of my first skydive so decided to celebrate by doing it again!

Fantastic. That's how I met the MSD.

I told him not to get too attached, that I was planning to move back to Chi-town and it was just a good fun time...

Course, they never listen.

I ended up breaking his heart in late January.

My job search was actually going quite well by that point, I had an interview with a company in downtown Chicago the week of my birthday.

The interview was on a Thursday, my bday on Sunday, the next day Valentine's day. The restaurant was sure to be busy that Saturday. Course, silly me, just wrote in the 'Time off request book':

Will not know if back in town for Saturday the 12th, please let me know if you schedule me.

I distinctly recall texting one of my coworkers about my interview on Friday night and thinking to myself, I should ask her to check the schedule for me, just in case.

I chose not to.

As a result, I lost my restaurant job.

I loved that job.

Sigh.

Not ten days later, Friday, February 25, 2011, ~8:30am I was on my way to work when my cell phone rang.

It was a guy calling from one of the Big Five Banks in downtown Chicago. He wanted to chat about the application I had submitted.

At the time I didn't even recall what the position was!

I do have MSD to thank for this, he works for this Big Five Bank and had told me what a great company it was to work for and that I should look through their postings...well for shits and giggles I checked their site and there was one random Administrative Assistant IV position open in Chicago. I thought, hey, why not?

We setup and interview for a week from the following Monday.

Later that afternoon ~3:00pm, my phone rang.

Can you come to the Executive Conference Room?

As I walked down the hall, I had a feeling...

The engineering firm laid me off.

I wasn't surprised in the least. I could see that business was slow and they saw that I didn't have a direction.

I received 2 weeks' pay and all my vacation which was another 2 weeks...

I have a mortgage, car payment, student loans, credit cards, a few grand in the bank, and NO JOB.

Shit.

That lit a fire under my ass and gave me the push I needed to do what I had been wanting to do for almost two years.

Move back to Chicago!!

I continued to hammer the job search and put a plan in place to simplify the amount of SHIT I had accumulated over the four years I lived in my condo.

March 8, 2011

I went to that interview, nailed it, was offered the job two days later and had accepted it by Friday.

Start date, March 25.

I wasn't out of work long enough to collect Unemployment Benefits.

Time to deal with all my Stuff. I purged. I took stuff to the dumpster, Goodwill, sold it on Craigslist, my friends, and even gave a few things away.

It was LIBERATING.

After several trips back and forth, my condo nearly empty, I moved 350 miles away... to Mom's house!

More on that later...

In hindsight, the timing of my ending a relationship, losing my 2nd job, and being laid off was extremely convenient. Clearing a path for something new.

Kinda creepy too.
could be that whole 'shit happens for a reason' thing

Can't promise anything,..but it's nice to be back :)