it has other benefits?

Well, you spend very little time doing what other people tell you to do, so it is a good match if you don't like doing what other people tell you to do.

It's lower pay for longer hours , but most of those longer hours are spent looking into some idea you got at some point, so if the work is boring or unproductive (and it sometimes is) you have only your self to blame.

I'm sorry to hear that, Anne. Good luck to all of you with dealing with everything.

Nanita, if I ever start feeling stuck (or Congressionally laid off) I'll let you know. I like supporting astro because it was truly my first love (and staring at the sky is still my solace) and fuck, I've known the players and personalities and quirks since infancy. There was no learning curve there at all.

And it's a better option than my emergency fallback should I ever need temp work: call center help. I'm glad to be out of it (but still exercise the people handling acquired from it in current work) but I fucking rock it and Have Opinions (which is why when I get good CS, I contact the shit out of the CS, supervisor, company and sing high praise.)

So sorry Anne. Hugs and strength to you and your family.

Passover without potatoes or nuts will be challenging.

I've got a pretty good idea of what I want to do, but I can't find anyone who'll hire me to do it.

Passover without potatoes or nuts will be challenging.

Do you eat kitniyot?

Anne, much-ma to you. My family is going through the same thing with Dad, and it's horrific.

So sorry Anne. Strength to you and yours.

I'm very happy with the current iteration of the day job, which is basically financial compliance monitoring, analysis, and troubleshooting in a university central office. It's reasonably satisfying work, I love my coworkers, and I feel secure in it, given that my boss gives me rave reviews and the highest percentage raise allowed each year (not that it's much, but still). But the only logical steps up would be to either become a manager in my current department or go back to an academic department as an administrator, and both of those in different ways sound like hell to me. I'm much better at managing information and processes than people, so I don't want my boss's job, and if I were an administrator I'd lose the ability to go home at 5:00 every day and not think about work over the weekend. So...I guess I do this another 20-25 years? Maybe?

At the same time I'm rethinking what I want from my writing career. I still love telling stories, but I've become burned out on wrestling with the publishing industry in my current niche thereof. So I'm taking a self-imposed sabbatical at least till our European trip this summer is over to try to figure out where to go from here.

Anne, lots of ~ma for your stepdad and mom.