End of a Bad Year.

[Evilhalfling]

2009 Sucked.

I was laid off in February
The economy was in free fall for half the year.
The marriages of 3 friends imploded.
My wife's company laid off her boss, then her support staff.
She is still bringing in profitable work, so she won't be fired till they lock the doors. (hopefully)

My gaming group of six years disolved in December, when one member moved away. Three of us have kids under 3, and its just not working to game around them.

Tonight My wife's grandfather died. (1924-2009). At least his death was a mercy. After 3 years of coping with illness at home, (2 without his wife). He was sick enough to need full time care. It was like he deciced "nah." and died tonight, after only 3 days in the hospital.

And im spending New years with my non-drinking in laws, 400 miles from friends.

well the gamings been good, and I have enjoyed a lot of the time with my 18month daughter, and my wife is still gainfully employed. So its not all been bad, but tonight seems very dark.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Huzzah!

Hope your days are brighter in the coming year. I feel your pain, my 2009 was also bad.

- I celebrated the New Year with my non-drinking family 400 miles away from friends (sound familiar? )

- Been unemployed since March.

- Relationship imploded over summer.

- Some serious medical problem popped up in January, and another completely different one in October. Of course, no insurance to get it all properly diagnosed, much less treated.

- Not a single gaming session this last year.

- And I seem to have lost all my dice in the last move

Upside is the family's been supportive, they're all in pretty good health. I've spent a lot of time with new nephews, and had a blast. I'm financially secure for now, and might even get a house if I can find an interesting (albeit inexpensive) place to settle. Presumably a new job will happen eventually, likely with a career change, maybe even go back to grad school. So there's stuff to look forward to yet, before I'm a completely worn out husk

So Happy New Year, all. May your 2010 be brighter than 2009, whether it was good or bad...

 

[megamania]

This feels like a demented contest of topping the previous thread.... so my turn-

JAN
Wife's part-time job goes from 12 hours a week to eight.
FEB
My Primary job goes from 40 to 38. Resctructures time so that i am forced to lose hours at my other job- 33 to 28
MAR
Find out I owe 700 in Taxes
APR
My Diabetes gets bad enough that I have severe foot sores. Still can not afford medicine
MAY
Wife hits deer with car....450+ damage
JUNE
Timning belt and other stuff break on wife's car. Add another 2000 to the bill. The good news- Garage will take payments.
High light of year- Go to Niagra Falls thru a contest we won in 2008.
JULY
Wife's primary job drops from 40 to 35 hours a week. Officially behind on the morgage now
AUG
quiet month
SEPT
Informed that the last manager at secondary job was over looking rules of employment for me. I am not allowed over 29 hours a week. Health insurance goes up 19%. Forced to drop it.
OCT
Wife has internal bleeding. May be cancerous. Must see specialist... without insurance.
NOV
Make appointment with specialist. Cancelled the very next day since we have no insurance. Must prepay over 1000 upfront to find out if she is dieing of cancer or has pulips.
DEC
My car breaks out. Do as little as I can just to get it on the road. Need over 1000 to fix. After involving state and in-laws we get operation done. Now owe over 6000 and more related bills continue to spill in. Week of X-mas, a bill collector pits wife and myself against each other leading to a shouting match at midnight that awakens kids. Daughter tells me she wishes X-mas did not exist on X-mas Eve.

The flip side. Community learns of issue with wife. Teams up to get us food and gifts. Personalized gifts. (example- I got DnD 4e stuff).



So.... 2010 can't get any worse but I said that in December 2008 so I'm keepining my flippin' mouth shut.

 

[dragonis111]

I don't think I can top you guys, but my year was pretty bad as well:

1.Girlfriend left me because I apparently "didn't like her friends" lamest excuse ever as I was best friends with most of her frinds, then I was dumb enough to get back together with her only to find out she was cheating on me(guess how that ended)

2.My last real tooth on the right side of my mouth finally fell out, long story short I was attacked by my dog when I was 6 years old, completely messed up my right side of my jaw.

3. Trying to get everything together for college admissions, only to find out my junior year of high school doesn't count!!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?

4. I don't have a job to get laid off from (lol bad joke)

5. Many of my friends either have steady relationships or are already married, and I stuck here by my self.

 

[megamania]

rereading my posting- it looks like the intro to a reallt bad comedy.....

 

[jaerdaph]

I can't top any of these in 2009, but I can wish you guys and everyone else a better, brighter year in 2010. I sympathize with your situations and hope they turn around for the better - life has its ups and downs and I have seen both.

I always got a kick out of the song in this old sketch, especially when things were down:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt1fBjCm49g]YouTube - gloom, despair and agony on me[/ame]

 

[Infiniti2000]

Best of luck in 2010! I am fortunate and have no real bad news to give out (wife was reduced to part time is about all), so may some of my good luck in the last year rub off on you guys and help you out. Especially for any of you with health concerns.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Also had a sucky 2009. Laid off in January, April, AND December. Of course, they were all low wage temp jobs, so it wasn't unexpected. I really didn't expect that was the best I could do with a freaking Engineering degree, though. Was unemployed Feb, March, May-first week of October, and last half of December to present. I think that's over half the god-forsaken year.

Still living with my family, not wanting to be here and them not wanting me here (so fun!). My fiancee is now dependant solely on me as she can't really take care of herself and her family all but abandoned her. No D&D since my game collapsed back in September and then my personal life utterly imploded, no contact with friends anymore...I only ever really leave the house to maintain a tenuous connection with the IEEE, in the idiotic hopes networking will finally give me a job in my field a full 2 years out of college.

I can't find a job in RI. I can't get a response from applications in further states. I have NEVER, in now roughly three dozen of them, gotten a single job through interviewing. No one will even let me work for free just to actually do engineering work, because the cost of paying an employee to mentor me isn't worth it to them!

I've spent over half the year trying to get into the armed services, first the Navy, now the Air Force. After getting permanent disqualified due to medical reasons from both and a long fight to get a waiver, I finally did get one for the Air Force a few weeks ago, and was all set to take my physical. Except...when I got to Boston for it, the military doctor wouldn't see me because my original Navy submission had been used and processed through a different office, and now I need to repeat the entire process and get new waivers!

I got high honors and a full academic scholarship in high school, made Dean's list in college, picked a "good" major, annihilated my officer test, and yet...my financial and personal life is in utter ruins, I have no health insurance or other social safety net, am soon to run out of unemployment insurance, and every single day I have to take yelling and harrassment from both my family and my fiancee's, because she can't handle the torment (not that I can much longer).

2009.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

I always got a kick out of the song in this old sketch, especially when things were down:

I haven't seen that in years! Good call, thx

 

[Pbartender]

I only ever really leave the house to maintain a tenuous connection with the IEEE, in the idiotic hopes networking will finally give me a job in my field a full 2 years out of college.

Not to digress, but...

Some job listings you might be interested in where I work:

Fermilab Career Opportunities - Jobs
Fermilab Career Opportunities - Jobs
Fermilab Career Opportunities - Jobs

One of the most common thing to do here at Fermilab is for fresh-out-of-college scientists and engineers to get a job as an Accelerator Operator (second link) in the Main Control Room. You learn a little bit about everything in the lab working that job, and for most Operators it's a spring-board position that you later can use to transfer to a job a little more appropriate to your skills in a another Department. Plus, Operations is always hiring and if you're as qualified as you say you are, you shouldn't have trouble getting hired.