getting caught up

So, since I've moved to my new house, I haven't had consistent internet service. I'll be kicking this off by posting some stuff I've written and photographed since I closed but wasn't able to post right away.

From May 24:

Sometimes, it seems like life decides to throw everything at you at once. I know that’s cliché, but it really is true. Three years ago, I was preparing to graduate from college, working on a short film for a ridiculous class, putting my portfolio together, and searching for jobs, when I was broadsided with bacterial meningitis. The timing was strange; I spent finals week in the hospital and spring break in my old bedroom at my parents’ house with an IV up my left arm. But in the end, I concluded it was a helpful experience for me, encouraging my growth as a person, teaching me that I could overcome whatever. It was all about trust. This week I was handed another stack of problems.
On May 18th, I signed all the papers for my new house, my first house, a little one bedroom cottage with a great weedy yard. On May 20th at 11 am, I was laid off from my job at Nike. An hour later, my realtor called to tell me she had my keys ready for me. The news of the layoff was completely unexpected. I have worked my butt off for that company. I put in a full year as a contractor, toiling away just so that I could have the opportunity of becoming a full time, salaried employee. My job there wasn’t exactly what I wanted to be doing long-term, but it carried responsibility and I was good at it. I got everything done that was asked of me. I was organized, my coworkers respected me, I was super efficient. That they would lay me off was a thought that hadn’t rationally crossed my mind, because it didn’t make logical sense. But I have now learned the hard way that massive multi-national corporations don’t make decisions based on logic.
I think was gets me the most is the shear unfairness and outright stupidity of it all. By getting rid of some of their best employees, Nike is really just shooting itself in the proverbial foot. They ended up laying off 3 of our 8 PAs, a blow that won’t be able to be absorbed by those left behind. Plus, the three they let go off were the three most efficient, youngest workers. All of us had planned to grow with the company and make our careers there. The whole concept was just stupid.
After I was told I was let go, I was sent into a room with a counselor who was supposed to make me feel better and help me calm down before I had to go pack up my desk. While I thought that was pretty dumb, I was grateful that I didn’t have to immediately face my coworkers with puffy red eyes and on the verge of hysterics. The one valuable thing she told me was to ask myself to identify the roots of my emotions. She said things like anger and fear had their roots in more rational feelings, and that by naming these, I could better understand and cope. I think the feeling I am most filled with is betrayal. I feel like the hard work I put into this company was for nothing, that the execs can sure talk all they want about “retaining the best talent” or “valuing the employees as an important asset”, but those are empty words, if not outright lies. I guess I’ve learned another lesson in trust: don’t you dare trust a company man. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see how this all turns out for me.