I've been keeping myself busy with various projects (mostly dumping every piece of paper related to my former job), but every now and then the reality of my situation washes over me. For a second, I can't breathe. I have to go drink water and pester the cat for comfort. It's all just needless drama, I know. There's no reason to panic. Things are very different now, compared to the last time I was unemployed. The last time I was unemployed, I had no reserves. I was living on a painful edge, one step from homelessness (or my parents' basement, which at the time was even worse than homelessness). But I still fret.
We reclined (me not quite relaxed) in too-small brown leather recliners in the naturopath's little office while clear liquid dripped down a long tube through a needle into her elbow vein. The sun was shining outside the big picture windows. Brilliant emerald trees fluttered in a gentle breeze. (I think the trees are greener in Beaverton. Is that possible? All the vegetation on the east side of Portland seems grayer to me, dustier, somehow. Like dust can't settle on the rich people's side of town.) We chatted for a while, while I tried to avoid looking at the little red plastic bucket full of discarded needles that sat on the floor between our two chairs. After about an hour, the naturopathic doctor came in and sat at his desk for the remainder of the treatment time. Conversation was stilted after that. I was facing away from his desk, toward Valentina, so it was difficult for me to include him in a conversation. I wanted to mention my naturopath, but didn't want to get into a contest over which naturopath was more... naturo. Valentina on the other hand, was facing toward him, and probably found it impossible not to include him in conversation. Whenever I craned my neck to look at him, he was always looking at her.
In this strange setting, time both sped up and slowed down. The time Valentina and I spent talking seemed to fly by, as it always does when I'm with her. Her knowledge ranges wide, motivated by a refreshing curiosity about life. We dig for the delicious irony in every topic. I love to hear her laugh. When she laughs, for a brief moment the weariness lifts from around her eyes. But I couldn't be fully present, because I was fretting about time.
The next event on my schedule was a workshop on developing my social profile (I have no social profile, but you can get a pretty good idea of my facial profile from the image of the chronic malcontent to the right of this post. It is surprisingly accurate, I'm told.) I anxiously watched the clock, then the drip, then the clock, concerned about moving on to my next engagement. I confess, I have a phobia about being late to things. After the treatment, we had a stop to make at New Seasons. (Valentina assured me her list was short.) Then I had to get from Valentina's place to a hotel near Portland State University by 1:30 p.m. with no clear idea of how to get there or where to park.
Fretting doesn't actually influence time and outcomes, I know, yet I can't seem to stop fretting without the aid of some serious metaphysical intervention. Yesterday, circumstances seemed to conspire against me. Things could have gone south in a hurry. I got stuck in traffic on my way to Valentina's, and then I got lost and had to navigate the winding back roads by internal GPS (rarely reliable). I'd like to believe I was led to her house by my continual chanting of the mantra of the lost: oh god, oh god, oh god. Somehow the time gods granted me the gift of punctuality, despite my propensity for missing freeway exits. We arrived at the clinic precisely on time.
And I was early to the afternoon event, which perhaps was not the gift from the time gods I assumed it was, as I was too early to get the free parking offered by PSU and thus spent 15 minutes circling the blocks around the campus searching for a parking space. I finally found a space, but the almighty meter granted me only three hours. If I had been late, I would not have had to walk three blocks uphill to the hotel. Nor would I have had to leave the event early to get back to my car before the meter ran out. I probably missed that one critical insight into improving my social profile, simply because I was obsessed about not being late. Because of that, I won't find a job, and soon I'll be begging my mom to put me up in her spare bedroom. Ahhhhhh.
Three days into unemployment and already I'm insane. The future is not looking good.
