{"id":4400,"date":"2009-04-12T19:21:12","date_gmt":"2009-04-13T02:21:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/?p=4400"},"modified":"2009-04-12T19:24:59","modified_gmt":"2009-04-13T02:24:59","slug":"tough-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/2009\/04\/12\/tough-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Tough Times."},"content":{"rendered":"

We don’t want to leave New Orleans.<\/p>\n

But we’re preparing to do so.<\/p>\n

It’s been several stressful months here after Paul’s contract evaporated a few months earlier than expected.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s got a wonderful start-up in the works, but it’s a start-up… it’s not a job.\u00c2\u00a0 And it’s not close to being finished.\u00c2\u00a0 Our expenses, which are almost completely made up of three things (house, kids’ school, health insurance), have eaten through our savings… again.\u00c2\u00a0 This has happened to us before.\u00c2\u00a0 Job lay-offs have put us within 2-3 months of losing it all at least twice since getting married.\u00c2\u00a0 But we have always managed to work it out.<\/p>\n

And we’re trying to work it out.\u00c2\u00a0 We should<\/em> be able to work it out.<\/p>\n

But here’s the rub: while it’s hopeful that Paul will have 8 more weeks of billable work coming soon, after that…?\u00c2\u00a0 After that, the options are very limited.\u00c2\u00a0 There is no high tech in New Orleans.\u00c2\u00a0 My assorted jobs will not carry us — living in a high-expense city means that Paul must work.\u00c2\u00a0 What if there is nothing after this 8 weeks?\u00c2\u00a0 Then what?\u00c2\u00a0 The stress of that question alone is a pretty tremendous weight.<\/p>\n

We know we have to start preparing, just in case.\u00c2\u00a0 Which means we’re looking around thinking about what we have to do to get the house ready for sale, or possibly (hopefully?) lease.\u00c2\u00a0 We’ve canceled the extras.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re selling things (anyone want Impacto Zero<\/a>?\u00c2\u00a0 Or a double stroller<\/a>?\u00c2\u00a0 For that matter, email me if you want our house!)\u00c2\u00a0 We’re trying to see if Will can attend First Grade at an Immersion Charter School (since he’s 62nd on the wait list for Kindergarten), in the event we can work it out to be here in the fall.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe I can try to beg Kate into the one that takes 3 year olds?<\/p>\n

We’re debating.<\/p>\n

Overseas….?\u00c2\u00a0 Well, I’d need to find work.\u00c2\u00a0 It would be cheaper to live.\u00c2\u00a0 The kids would still have immersion in a second language.\u00c2\u00a0 Paul could work on the start-up full-time and we’d live off my salary.\u00c2\u00a0 I could only do it for a year or so because then I’d have to get back to finishing my dissertation, which I would not be able to do while holding a full-time job.<\/p>\n

Move to the NOLA suburbs…?\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 We’d be staying in the States and could keep the kids in an Immersion school.\u00c2\u00a0 Paul would still have to work somewhere, and we wouldn’t need as big of a salary… but he wouldn’t be challenged.\u00c2\u00a0 We’re not really suburb people, but it wouldn’t be as bad here as other places.<\/p>\n

Move somewhere for a job for Paul…?\u00c2\u00a0 This one scares us the most.\u00c2\u00a0 He could easily get a job in the DC area, but the thought of us moving up there hits like a death sentence.<\/p>\n

Move somewhere else for a job for either of us…?\u00c2\u00a0 The irony is that Louisiana is the best place for me — it’s the least healthy place in the United States<\/a> and ground zero for all my skills and interests.\u00c2\u00a0 But there is no work here (part of the reason our health outcomes are 50\/50 across the board.)\u00c2\u00a0 Where else could we go?<\/p>\n

It feels so odd for both of us to have so much promise, talent, and skill… and to have to struggle to put it in the place we want most to give it.<\/p>\n

The bottom line is that like so many others we are filled with uncertainty.\u00c2\u00a0 I force myself to ignore it, we’ve done it before and I can’t destroy myself dwelling on one more thing.\u00c2\u00a0 (I spend enough time worrying about house fires and driving into a lake.)\u00c2\u00a0 The high cost of living here?\u00c2\u00a0 It’s wearing us down, frankly.\u00c2\u00a0 Paul’s digestive system sounds like an espresso machine and my eyes look like I’ve been boxing without a mask.\u00c2\u00a0 How long until we break?\u00c2\u00a0 Do we keep trying to work it out, or do we bail?\u00c2\u00a0 And if we bail, we run out of here and to….?<\/p>\n

We just don’t know.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We don’t want to leave New Orleans. But we’re preparing to do so. It’s been several stressful months here after Paul’s contract evaporated a few months earlier than expected.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s got a wonderful start-up in the works, but it’s a start-up… it’s not a job.\u00c2\u00a0 And it’s not close to being finished.\u00c2\u00a0 Our expenses, which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[67],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4400"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4400"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4405,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4400\/revisions\/4405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.coldspaghetti.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}