Well, it sounds like many things in your life are on the upswing. Just out of curiosity, are you taking a chemistry course or just reading up on it? Does your new job involve chemistry? I'm curious because I too have been looking into learning more about chemistry, and I even downloaded an APP on my new iPhone 4S called "Khan Academy Chemistry 1". Then I went and downloaded iTunes U, and from there I downloaded more chemistry stuff. If you were to describe chemistry knowledge and course level from 1-10, with 1 being a complete beginner and 10 being Einstein, then I am trying to learn courses starting from about level 3. But most of what I have found is either 1 or 8, with not too much in between, and so I've had to start at 1 and go from there.
I havent been technically unemployed for quite a while, but I wouldnt call it fully employed and the economy has definitely knocked my business down a few notches. Combine that with the fact that my customers are mostly elderly and they are unfortunately dying off. I lost one customer to lung cancer about 2.5 months ago at 88 years old, and he never smoked.
I have been able to pay my bills and all, but I am not saving anything at this point, so you call it living week to week. Thats why I cut back on hobby purchases like lights, with the exception of the SC52 I paid for almost 2 months ago.
But I remember what it was like to be completely unemployed, around Christmas time with bills to pay and presents to buy. I was in that situation during the recession of '91, and the help wanted ads in the city paper were literally only 1.3 columns long on 1 page, and most of those jobs were plumbers and bank managers and etc. So I was on my way home from a fruitless job search on about December 21st, when just for the heck of it I decided to stop at a local temporary service just because I spotted the sign and pulled in. I get in there, fill out an application, and the lady tells me they have very few openings, but then she looks over my app and sees that I had learned quite a few skills at my last job, one of which was phone collections that we did 1 night a week on thursdays from 5-7pm at my last job, so she tells me theres an opening at this bank, and the next day I get up, put on a suit(which I had never had to wear to work before) and I go to the interview. When I get back home, the phone was ringing as I opened my apartment door, and it was the temporary service lady telling me they had hired me. It turned into a 1 year long, full time position that paid the bills.
If you were or are on a similar boat I thought it would be productive to discuss.
