Day 4

Day four of unemployment:

Today I will be productive. Today I will send in applications to ambitious jobs. Today I will venture out to cafes and type and sip and look radiant in a linen dress. Today I will catch up and begin writing the things I should have been writing all along. Today I will figure out where I've been for the last 3 years.
Instead I get drawn into four IM conversations that require me to respond rapidly, lest anyone think I'm sullen or depressed. Everyone asks, "what happened?"
My work friend calls and I end up talking to her and filling her in on the last few days. We talk of a coworker who also got chopped the same week I did. Except, she wrote a blog for the newspaper's website and on it, decided to post about being laid off. It was rapidly removed, but since I have the cache of it, I was able to find it.
Scandalous! Actually it was fairly mild, considering what it could have been. It makes me feel slightly vindicated. I feel like people should know that we've been let go, that their trusty community paper is different now.
The woman two tables over looks at me scornfully when I hang up. I stare scornfully back - I no longer am a representative of the newspaper.