I'm on day two of a two-day outplacement workshop. I've got too much work I'm supposed to get done, no time, and a million thoughts swirling in the vast emptiness of my head. As I've mentioned before, when I am truly stressed, I fall asleep. Yesterday, Jer had to stage an intervention, or the evening would have ended for me at 6pm. I could have slept standing up, in fact, my eyes closed a few times while Jer was attempting a pep talk. A can of Diet Dr. Pepper and a list of things-to-do later, and I was packing my first (and only) box of the night. And in that box? Books. Lots and lots of books. There will be many more like it, but this was the first.

In our workshop we've been writing Professional Objectives and Vision Summaries and discussing Action Statements on our resumes. Today we will cover Networking and Interviews and Negotiating... If nothing else, it gets me in the right mindset. I can't pretend the site isn't closing, that I'm not in the middle of a mass layoff, and that I need to do a lot more work before this thing is done.

It doesn't help that we're scheduling our move and job search around a two-week vacation -- although I wouldn't feel too sorry for me. It is a trip to Hawaii, after all. I've never been but I think I might need to invest in some shorts and short-sleeved shirts. And maybe a few trips to the tanning salon, because I am see-through.

I like hyphens, but not hyenas. That'd be cockamamy.