The end of a chapter

This past Friday, April 2nd marked my official last day working at RealNetworks, Inc. Of course, I'm accepting all the normal range of emotions people experience when confronted by a layoff. I wasn't there very long, but 2.77 years can be a very long time for someone used to freelance editing at many different shops. Why does this job merit extra mourning? Perhaps, it's because it was in many ways a dream job. A full-time corporate job w/all the benefits implied and the added bonus of a great team of colleagues, ice cream cake, and wine Fridays. This really WAS the Emerald City complete with a gig allowing me to edit, produce live and studio events, TRAVEL, and most importantly give me a rest from the rigors of the freelance world. If you've never gone freelance and had to answer to yourself for EVERYTHING, you might think it's a walk in the park. You can wake up whenever you want, work out for hours, etc.

However, having more time means you have that much more time to worry about where your next paycheck is coming from and how you'll pay for your health benefits.

There is really no "good" part about getting laid off unless you truly were miserable day in and day out @ this job.

In my case, my world crumbled a bit thinking that I'll have to hope and pray that I rid myself of Lyme disease before my extended health benefits expire.

I'm also a jobless post-production professional in a town with very few job prospects. However, if I suddenly woke up knowing CSS and HTML tomorrow, I'd be home free. There are so many things I'd like to geek out on first before becoming a code monkey. I could easily geek out on Adobe, FCP, and Avid for ages before getting remotely bored.

In conclusion, I'll really miss my coworkers and friends. However, I will not miss the company protocol that has resulted in nothing but layoffs since I landed this job in 2007. 

I suppose like every other public corporation, it must be responsible first and foremost to its stockholders. After all, we do live in imperialist America. I do hope the numbers start to look up for them if only for the sake of my friends still holding on to the ship.




Pondering a move back to LA or NYC soon if things don't start looking up in the northwest