I had forgotten that they were trying to sell me on the parent company opportunities! It really does just make me roll my eyes, the whole thing. I still haven't received a copy of the written offer. She was telling me stories about what's happening at the parent company, a new email about layoffs everyday.

I think I AM going to ask for more money, too. I'm going to approach it from the position of having to buy my own health insurance. Before we were negotiating a fulltime job with benefits, now we are talking about contracting. When I quoted the original contract job, it was a one-off, low level work, discounted rate.

And I woke up at 3 AM this morning and started thinking about this place. They were awarded a big contract. They are hiring me on as part of the ramp up for that contract. What happens when the contract ends?

I will be part of the incompetent guy's department (guess I know who I will report to). I'm starting to wonder if they really want me to do work for that guy -- programming, not IT.

I have a feeling this is going to be short lived. Maybe it won't start at all, depending on what the written contract says, if it ever even comes. My friend is really prompt about things, so I kind of wonder if she hasn't passed along the agreement because they changed their minds again!

That subtext exercise is really neat! Gosh, having acting classes, even if you aren't into being on stage, sounds so helpful when it comes to directing or writing. Even writing a novel, reminding yourself that the subtext of this scene is X would really help focus the dialogue/action.

I love that you were offered (and turned down!) a role in an opera And, yeah, it can be hard to get access to that stuff in a boring day job... although I guess it depends on the company? Are there other people who have outside interests like you do at your place?

My second-to-last job, I felt like such a freak - it was a small company and no one really did anything outside of work. There was only one other person who wasn't married with kids. At most of my other jobs, there's been at least a few people who had serious hobbies or outside-of-work pursuits.

It's so hard not to start spending this money before I earn it. There's a national pottery conference a few states away towards the end of March - and since I'm loving my pottery class so much, I'm thinking about going. I am so cheap that it's really hard to suck it up and pay the outrageous $$ for a hotel, but I think this could be a really interesting experience.