Laid Off

As some you may have heard, I was recently let go from my position of Graphics Designer at Nomadic Display. I had been working there just under 10 months, so with the need for financial cutbacks, it was determined that I was the most expendable person in my department of 4 people. Hard to argue with, as there were other people there who can do most of what I did- except InDesign and Illustrator. But god help them if they need another catalog designed anyway.

I'm not taking it personally, as four other people were laid off, and several more cut down to ~20 hours per week, but, to put it bluntly it still sucks.

I'm not, however, going to crash. While any steady income is gone (save for VA unemployment) I recently got some money from the sale of property that my Mom had (who knew?) which will hold me over until I can find some new work. The only question is- now what?

I have been talking about a move west for a few months now, and while it seems like it will happen at some point, it's hard to figure out when. I have a lease that ends on April 1. I'd love to try to get a job out west first, but that seems impossible. These places require in-person interviews, and I just don't know if I have the portfolio strength to get hired. It feels like my best option is to move SOMEWHERE, get a studio space, and do freelance and competition work until I've garnered enough experience and attention to work in a place I really like. I have an idea for something called "insanity labs" kicking around in my head, which I'll explain in an upcoming blog post, but its rather unrealistic and fraught with pesky issues like zoning laws. But as of right now, it's got to be nothing but Industrial Design. I won't settle for anything less unless I KNOW it puts me on the right path to it.

In the meantime I'm back to C# training, should be picking up Objective-C in the near future, and messing with this little thing called arduino. Oh, and I've started lifting and running again so by January I can already outrun the New Year's resolution crowd.

Thanks everyone for your calls and messages, and I'll try to keep you all updated.