I am unemployed

They say the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem...

I'm unemployed.  I can no longer deny that I am unemployed; the recognized description is essentially anybody that is not currently employed but looking for employment.  I quit my job in October of 2009 to take the opportunity of a lifetime and travel to Ireland with my girlfriend.  The writing was on the wall at my company, funding was limited and even without knowing that it didn't make sense to employ 50 people in R&D when the company wasn't selling any products and knew it would have to wait through at least two years before market approval once the impending clinical trial began.  So I alternated  between spending some time in Ireland and some time back in AZ with my family and friends that I hadn't spent so much time with over the previous five years.  I had quit my job but was not seeking another so I somehow felt better inside, telling myself I was not unemployed since I was not seeking employment.  Then I started looking for a job but only because a job in Ireland would result in permission to stay in the country rather than a 90-day visa granted upon entry subject to the discretion of the immigration officer ("Subject to the discretion of immigration officer" leads to the creation of my blog ironically, and a later letter confirms I had every right to be in Ireland despite their "discretion").  So I convinced myself that I still didn't qualify as unemployed because I was only looking for a job to get a visa, not because I needed the money.  Then back to the US and only looking for something temporary because I knew I'd be headed back to Europe soon, no use finding full-time employment.  Well, now I am happily married but that means I have every right to work in the country I also happen to be living in; a rare situation as of late.  AND I'm looking for a job.  We're here, we're gonna be here for awhile, I've got permission to live here, I've got permission to work here, and I'm looking for a job.  Therefore, I'm u-n-e-m-p-l-o-y-e-d.  Period.  And turns out if one were counting I've actually even passed the 99 weeks threshold (assuming I qualified as unemployed from the get-go).  Don't get me wrong, I've had an absolute blast and most importantly it enabled me to confirm that my instinct was right about following my now wife to Ireland.  Had I waited an extra month to quite I might even have been laid off allowing me to gain unemployment benefits along the way.  I bring that up as a good "almost" story but in reality here I am still getting by.  I would've just been gaming the system to collect unemployment through all that, and probably many people needed it worse than I.  I had some savings initially and most importantly a great support network that kept me going and now a wonderful wife that is quite the breadwinner herself.  I started writing this blog about a month ago but couldn't bring myself to finish it, and somehow lost the progress along the way.  I think I have some upcoming news that makes it a little easier to revisit this now, but I just don't want to jinx it.  So this is where I'll leave it...   I'm currently unemployed.

The picture is of myself during a post-interview café latte immediately before I began to write the first and unpublished version of "I'm unemployed" blog.  I was interviewing for a social media internship around the corner from my flat rather than a full-time engineering position, hence the lack of tie.