After 1 week

Actually, it's been not quite a full week. But presuming nothing huge is different 18 hours from now -- though I won't mind if it is! -- I will presumably have been unemployed for a full week.
What I've learned so far:
1) None of us out here are alone, and there are constant reminders of it. Pick up a paper, turn on a TV, drive around and you're bound to see some sign of economic distress in a figurative sense, or the guy by the side of the road with the "will invest in non-toxic housing futures for a Christmas ham" sign. It's pervasive and you can look at it as either affirmation that it's not just you that turned the wrong corner onto unemployment street, or a grim reminder that bigger forces are keeping you away from your livelihood and a paycheck.
2) Our economy, especially right now, is constantly telling us we need to buy things. The message is so repetitive that it's jarring. When you're out of work and you see a commercial telling you jewelry is 50 percent off, it's hard not to muster a maniacal laugh and scream at the TV, "50 PERCENT!??!?! HOW GENEROUS TO DISCOUNT STUFF THAT PEOPLE DON'T NEED EVEN WHEN TIMES ARE GOOD!"
3) Optimism is free. You can always believe that the better job you want is about to be posted on a site, or that the no-hope job you just applied for is actually within reach. It's a tempered hope, and if I can use a baseball analogy, like hoping a team like the Phillies will win the World Series, instead of the Cubs. Tempered hope is believing it's possible but bracing yourself, like Phillies fans did this last year, whereas the hope of hysteria alllows you to believe the Cubs will win it all and you will be appointed Director of Pen Supply for the state of California, with full benefits and a 75K salary.
Don't discount the value of free optimism. Its price is fixed, resistant to market pressures and applied equally in all instances.
And an update on me, one week in? Perhaps better than it should be. I've done the first two post-layoff steps, which are severing ties with the old company (equipment returned) and filing for unemployment (how much? really?). The more tricky third step -- getting back into employment -- well, I'll just say I'm encouraged. Nothing's guaranteed, nothing is certain, but I'm hopeful and even believing that 2009 will weigh in as more up than down, and sooner than later.
To put it another way, I'm pretty sure this blog -- in this form -- will have a brief life.