So much for my theory that it being Friday the 13th, I'd have something good happen to me. This morning I got a call from one of those two jobs saying I didn't get it. Besides the whole needing a job thing, it's actually not that big of a deal in that I interviewed at the place like seven months ago and have since then pretty much forgotten what the place was like, the job was like, and the people were like. Which, come to think of it, could have been the reason I didn't get the job, despite the fact they told me I didn't need to come in again because supposedly they remembered me so well (gee thanks). I'm only kind of bummed in that my dream was to get both jobs at the same time so I could play one off the other for gold, silver and coin, but that's not gonna happen. As if it would have happened anyways. I'm also bummed only because it would have been nice to know that seven months of thank you e-mails, phone calls, brown-nosing (two) HR types, constant refrains of "I really want this job" and months and months of searching to see when the job would be listed again would have paid off. So much for all that hard work and persistence.

Speaking of which, a friend's husband just got laid off this week, his second time in three years. That makes three people I know of who've been laid off in the past four months, months and months into what the economists call "a robust recovery." It's kind of interesting what's going on. Despite all of the great reports by economists, glowing praise by Greenspan, and a chorus of "super, thanks for asking" by Government hacks, the American public doesn't seem to be buying any of it. Just check out the current polls on Bushie. As I flip through the news channels during the day, it's kind of fun to watch all those finance/investment shows, especially on CNBC. All the economists, pundits, reporters, and investment types all talk about the economy with a tone of "the stock market's climbing, corporate profits are up, the sale of stretch Hummers are through the roof, employment is up in Bangladesh, and Wal-Mart is hiring left and right so why are the serfs complaining?"

"...the peasants are revolting"
"they certainly are"