innerslytherin: (lotr - eowyn)
innerslytherin ([personal profile] innerslytherin) wrote2011-12-21 06:24 pm

Real Life Update

First of all, I apologize for comments and emails I haven't responded to. I confess, I have spent some time being utterly depressed, and some time being utterly busy, and some time being frankly lazy. But I am going to try to catch up over the next little while.

So last week I had my telephone hearing about whether or not I was eligible for unemployment benefits. It was unpleasant and by the end of that day I had managed to stress myself into a headache bad enough I nearly took a migraine pill. Fortunately the next day I felt better physically, and despite occasional fretting about whether or not I said the right things, I managed mostly to put it in God's hands and stop worrying.

Yesterday I got a letter from the state, informing me that the judgment was in my favor and I was eligible. And it turns out what the HR person from the former employer said worked against her, and the state feels the company treated me badly. It's so nice to receive financial validation in that way, and it means I can stop applying for dingy $10/hour secretarial positions at the university and start applying only for the jobs I really want to have.

On a new note, here is something I didn't post about at first because we weren't sure it was real, and then because we weren't sure how it would work out, but now the arrangements are made, so I feel comfortable posting about it. In January, my mom and I are going to Trinidad and Tobago for a week-long birding trip! She randomly entered a contest with a birding magazine she reads, and at first we thought the award email was a scam, but then her name showed up on the magazine's website, and then she started getting calls from the magazine and the travel people arranging the trip, so it's real! Our flights are booked, our suitcases bought, and we're very excited.

Incidentally, we have something like a 6-hour layover in Miami on our way home, so if anyone is in the area and feels like coming to the airport to get us, we could hang out for a few hours. :D

I'm doing handmade gifts for Christmas this year, but sadly they are not in the mail yet, so no one will get Christmas from me until after Christmas. I suck horribly at getting to the post office. :(

Also, the first trailer and wallpaper and movie poster for Part 1 of The Hobbit movie is out! I am so freaking excited! See them here. Part 1 is out in a little less than a year, and Part 2 follows a year later. *flails*