Today's Advantage #6

I went closet diving earlier this week and unearthed a dress I'd long since forgotten about. It's grey, it has buttons, it has pockets. It's freaking adorable.

All it needed was a little iron and lint roller love, and it was back in adorable action.

I then did something with this dress that I would not have ever done as a ninetofiver- I wore it two days in a row. (Audible gasp from the direction of my Mom.)

If I had coworkers to face on a daily basis, this move would be out of the question. There would be the inevitable assumptions about my general hygiene (which is impeccable, I assure you), and comments what I'd been doing between quittin' time and punching in.

Instead, I ventured out into the world wearing the same adorable frock two days in a row and all I got were compliments.

Today's Adorable Advantage: Funemployed

image: Getty Images

Today's Advantage #5

There's nothing more delicate than a gal that shows up to work sporting a bruise, cut, or, godforbid, love bite!

As a ninetofiver the blemish will no doubt result in a flury of questions from coworkers who are eager to hear about one's life outside the cubicle.

For those of us who are terrible fibbers, it's often difficult to explain how such a mark has been procured ("well, I was kinda drunk and sort of stumbled up my front steps"; "well there was this guy at this party I was at, and he kinda reminded me of this one celebrity... yada yada yada" or the painfully truthful "I don't know") all while conducting oneself in a businesslike manner wearing a pinstripe pencil skirt and kitten heels.

However, with no office to report to, no prying coworkers to discuss the weekend's less-than-dignified events with, the wounds can simply heal in the comfort of one's own home, or at the Starbucks down the street, neatly hidden under a playful scarf.

Advantage: Funemployed


Hang in there, Z ;)

My Will Moment

There's this great scene in the film About a Boy when Will, played by Hugh Grant is walking against the flow of human traffic during rush hour on the busy streets of London's financial district.

Will is walking just as purposefully and is just as focused as the people he is passing, but his dress is much sharper and there's a slight grin on his face.

Will is wealthy beyond belief due to the large royalties he is collecting off his late songwriter father's success with a popular Christmas song.

Although I by no means benefit from such a financial situation, I did experience my own Will Moment today while running errands downtown.

I was coming straight from a semi-regular babysitting job, which I find gives me a joy in my step that only time with kids can induce. I, like the people avoiding eye contact, eager to get home, had spent my day working. But their desk had been my stroller. Their conference call had been my story time.

I don't know if I'll ever again be a downstream swimmer. I am certainly applying for enough jobs that would put me right back on that walk at rush hour 5 days a week. But for now, I'm enjoying swimming upstream, and finding my way through the crowd.

Today's Advantage #4

I had the opportunity today to do something that I consider a top advantage of funemployment.

I got to spend some time with my family.

Two of my cousins graduated this weekend, one from 8th grade, the other from High School.

In the past, Spring and Summer were filled with conferences, events, and generally business and busy-ness.

But today, instead of airport food, cardboard comfy hotel beds and climate controlled exhibition halls, I watched this...


Today's Advantage: Funemployed

Mazel tov to the Short Kid and the Red Head!

Today's Advantage

Let me preface today's Advantage by saying that I do have many friends who have been forced out of San Francisco post-layoff due to the cost of living here, so I am well aware of how pricey it can be to remain funemployed in The City by the Bay.
I, too, have made some major lifestyle changes due to my dramatic decrease in income.

However... According to Forbes Magazine, San Francisco only comes in at #18 on their list of America's Most Overpriced Cities.
(See a more SF-centric and light hearted take on the findings over at SFist.com.)

So when it comes to the #1 rule in real estate, Location Location Location:

Advantage: San Francisco Funemployed

Today's Advantage

I just received an email from Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey attempting to quell my fears and educate me about Swine Flu.

The most effective way to avoid contracting the swine flu is to limit human-to-human contact.

Luckily, I spend most days not in an office sharing dishes, doorknobs, pens and oxygen with other people.

Advantage: Funemployed.