Monday No. 1

Well, as of Wednesday, I am unemployed. Again. 

I don't want to go into the whys and what-ifs on the situation, other than to say I resigned and in the long run, it is probably the best thing for all parties involved. It just means I will be pounding the pavement to find the gig that works for me, and for whatever company, nonprofit, governmental agency, etc., that manages to land me. (always the optimist!)

But, as I lay in bed last night, considering the future, I also started thinking about the past. Have to admit, the death of Michael Jackson also lead to my retrospection. 

I was poking around YouTube, and found the old Pepsi commercials, when Pepsi was the "Choice of a New Generation." Realized that "generation" they were talking about is us, the Gen-Xers. So, then I decided to do some research on "our" generation. I discovered, to my horror, that there was very little about Gen X in Wikipedia. Not nearly as much as, say, our baby-boomer parents.

Although, my parents are not baby-boomers, really. They are a tad old for that. But whatever, I am still a Gen-Xer and I think I am ready to embrace that for the first time. Just wish the rest of the planet was as ready to embrace us. Cause in all honesty, I think our generation has had it pretty rough and we are still figuring out who we are.

As I consider my Generation X friends, I see a lot of very similar patterns. Most of my closest female friends are either never married, or divorced young. Oh, there are one or two that found "the one" and had their babies, but it isn't the overwhelming portion. I even know a fair share of the guys who never married. (and are not gay, either).

For the most part, tho, these friends are a lot like me, in that they are trying to "find themselves" and do something with their lives that is a little more rewarding than just making a buck, or buying the McMansion in the city or suburbs. Not that we'd say no, either.

I am not the first person, blogger or reporter, who has commented on how our generation has been through this economy before. Either in the stock market crash of 1997, when some just leaving high school or college found the job market suddenly dry up, or the recession/dot-com bust of the late 90s, when the people I graduated high school/college with found out that life could change pretty darn fast.

Hmmm. ... don't want to make my first post too long, or to introspective either. Just want to spend this time off figuring out a few things, and sharing some thoughts, too. More introspection to come.