Having had an unexpected glob of free time and half-watching the UK season finale of Wolverine and the X-Men as I started writing this (yay Canadian distribution rights!), now’s a time as any to update my journal.

So what’s been happening with me? Well, as expected, I was officially made redundant on 20 March; a week later than planned because my manager generously let me stay an extra week. The whole ‘temp-worker extinction’ thing unfortunately was a decision from upstairs, who wanted to keep the head count down during the Recession; even some permanent staff are being let go. Heh, a more sardonic me would think it was compensation for the big city boys having to cut back on their bonuses (in light of the row over Sir Fred Goodwin’s Royal Bank of Scotland £700,000 pension; indeed, Sir Tom Mckillop of the same bank is being begged to return part of his £16.9 million back into the economy) but the truth is, everyone’s suffering due to the global downturn (UK sportswear retailer, JJB, is the next casualty) and funnily enough, it’s only now in times of fiscal vigilance and penny-pinching that fraudsters are being found out. I don’t envy President Obama at all, with the weight of the world on his shoulders to try and get things back to normal (I’m of the opinion that the mortgage crisis in America has a part to play in the Recession; over there, you can move out of your house and the bank will repossess your home and not chase you for the missing money-- over here in the UK, a mortgage is a fancy way of saying financial prison. You WILL pay it back, no matter how long you’re alive. No wonder more people are renting these days.)
Needless to say, I’m already looking for work (not helpful is the fact that the big Jobcentre in town is now an empty vacant lot) but I can already foresee big financial repercussions coming. Oh well. Such is the way of the world. I’ll just have to take each day as it comes.

I was very grateful for the send-off I got at Barclays… Easter had come early with chocolate and heh, thanks to one of my old bosses, I’ve heavily gotten into the whole Twilight thing (not because of the movie) and now have all four books (I’m on the third, Eclipse. Thank god there are werewolves to balance out the pro-vampirism!). And, AND I unexpectedly got a signed copy of the first Viz (no, not the vulgar UK mag) Pikachu movie signed none other than the late Maddie (then Adam) ‘Meowth’ Blaustien and Eric ‘Brock’ Stuart! That’s sitting safely in our safe deposit box; I never dreamed I’d have such a thing in my hands, you know? But enough boasting, my heartfelt thanks go to everyone as human and fur, for keeping my spirits up at what would’ve otherwise been a very depressing time. I appreciate all the support and messages and stuff; it’s been an invaluable source of comfort for me and has prevented me from having another episode (I always seem to get them towards the Spring; last year getting fired, the year before being a manic depressive, blah blah blah).

Anyway, I’ve been in a bit of a continuing art block. Maybe I’m just getting lazy from lack of routine or commitment (although I’ve been out of work for just over a week now), maybe lack of inspiration enough to instigate me. OK, s I’m a little doubtful on that last part. I’ve finally caught up on the second US season of Spectacular Spider-Man, whose writing has definitely matured overtime (the season finale was directed almost like a live-action film I felt, something I’ve not seen since the 90s), Robin Hood (the BBC TV series that killed off Maid Marian), Windy Tales (a Japan-only fan subbed OAV from 2005), the Art of Bolt (that proves Disney know when to focus on developing the story and characters than do a Dreamworks and shove in every soon-to-be-outdated pop culture reference) and… a lot of stuff, OK.

Where was I? So yeah, I’ve had a bit of an ongoing art block but I’m hoping to overcome that soon enough to take advantage of the free time I’ve got whilst job hunting. --- I’ve certainly been paying close attention to monsters lately (yes, even succumbing to the level of ITV’S Primeval and Yu Gi Oh GX and 5D and the not-quite-made-it-to-British-shores Huntik and Chaotix). I don’t expect to be back in work within a month like last time. Heh, maybe I’ll even start doing commissions to pass the time? But don’t take that as a yes, I‘m going ahead with it, I still haven’t decided! Opening a Paypal sounds daunting… -_-;

Anyway, I’ve blathered on enough. Here’s looking forward to Easter (the once-only decent part of April, which has always been a crap month for me) and whatever may ensue.

To quote many an American beauty pageant contestant: ‘thank you, and God Bless’ (even though I’m agnostic).