I need a job

Once again my plans to visit the Downriver area (as a part of my job) were foiled and I was stuck in the office all day working on some projects I had open. Being the slight slacker I am, I decided to help the time pass by opening up AIM to chat with some friends. I went into a friend's chat room and had my head brought back to reality. No sooner had I entered the room that I caught a hold of this conversation (I'm paraphrasing here):

Friend #1: I'm so excited, one of my mentees got hired here.
Friend #2: who, John Doe?
#1: Yeah, and it's been killing me because I couldn't tell him. It became official yesterday. He got the OYD program
#2: That's great.

As I read this, my heart just about stopped. The program they were referring to, I had applied for it. And now, instead of hearing about it from the people in charge, I was hearing someone rejoice because their friend had gotten it. I could taste the slight tinge of hate boiling in my belly - but it was overwhelmed with more hurt than not.

Me: So, I guess that means all the positions there are filled, huh?
#2: Oh, yeah, Talia. Sorry you had to find out about it like this.
Me: It's okay. I guess I'll just have to get a real job now.

The topic fell from the discussion list. I minimized the window and went back to work. It took about all I had to stay focused on the words on my screen. I was starting to doubt myself because I might be good, but clearly, they found someone better. All around me, my friends were getting jobs. Naples. Daytona. Cali. Arizona. Not that the program was the only thing I was banking on, but now, things were getting real. I realized that the grind had to jump into high gear. And quick.

I took a walk around the building to clear my head. Watched the cars whiz by. Called some friends. Breathed. When I came back to work, I hopped on my J-O and I ain't talking about the one I get paid for. I went to all the job search engines I could think of and started scouring them for positions that would suit me. I'd been doing this over the past few weeks, just monitoring what was out there, getting my packets ready and the like. But this time, when I looked at the listings, I saw them in a whole new light. I opened up a Word document and named it "Future." Nothing was too small or too large to make it to my list. I started thinking about those recruiters I had met at conventions over the years.

"I haven't talked to XYZ in a while, maybe I'll shoot them an e-mail," I thought as I scrolled through the online classifieds at Editor & Publisher.

By the end of the day, I had a rack of job openings, an updated resume and fresh clip packets to go with my broken spirit. Ain't life grand.