Apply for unemployment benefits; it's quick and easy and makes you feel grrrrrreat! Then look into food stamps, which gives you a smug feeling when you think about all those losers who have to pay for groceries. Do not ruin this euphoria by checking out Medicare, which is depressing, especially if you're checking out Medicare to see if you can get treatment for depression.

Masturbate! If you're really good at it, it can be good exercise, and in any case it brings you closer to God (or for the theologically unsound, closer to Ceiling Cat).

Go for a walk. Especially in crap weather, walks remind you of how pleasant it is to sit inside, unemployed, doing jack shit and getting paid for it. Why, president Obama even gave me a raise a few weeks ago. I guess I was doing nothing, particularly well.

I read Stuff Unemployed People Like (ok, actually I just found it on Consumerist- and the actual site is dead).

Oh yeah, for reals, if you're stuck inside, while away your time playing guitar. Sing, if you like.

Now I'm catching up on Hannah Montana, yeeeeeehaw!

what am I doing to stay what now?

Janus - as always, good advice. My mandolin, sadly, is at the girlfrien's abode, in a corner, forlorn.

Perfect day to practice, too. I vow to get it back here to Chez LT for some quality downtime.

Already on top of the unemployment bennies.

I just went to the store and bought healthy foods, including a wild ziggurat-shaped bottle of Pomegranate-Blueberry juice. Delicious!

I'm not unemployed (fingers crossed, please keep me on please keep me on please keep me on), but I *am* very much still recovering financially from being unemployed, and I am therefore extremely poor.

After paying the bills that I'm able to pay, I have very little money left until the end of the month. That really sucks because it means I'm unable to indulge the daily 2 p.m. "Ooh, I want _____ for dinner!" But it can also be kind of fun, if you look at it as a challenge and a puzzle: I've got $3 that I can spend on food today. I know I have X, Y, and Z at home. What can I buy in the store, for less than $3, to make an exciting dinner, as well as leftover lunch for later n the week?

I find that when I look at it this way, it goes from being something I pity myself for to something I'm proud of. And with luck, I get a good and creative meal out of it.

I've been doing the things I like to do that I never seemed to make time for when I was working. I'm back to walking every day because I love it and feel so much better.

I used AskMe to get some recommendations for 21st century fiction, ordered some books from Amazon, and have been familiarizing myself with Junot Diaz and Michael Chabon.

Golf has always been my favorite hobby, but I haven't been able to play the last two years because of surgery on each shoulder. The shoulders are doing better now, so I've been taking 10-15 minutes each day to fine tune my golf swing getting ready for the nice weather.

That's not to say I haven't be doing my job search diligence. I've been to unemployment and filed my claim. I'm looking for and applying for jobs that are appropriate for me. But I'm trying my best not to let the job thing consume me. I need to also do things that are good for me, and that I like, to maintain my positive edge so I will be ready when the right job interview comes along.

Hang in there LT. Be well.

I don't know how motivated or healthy I am, really, and it changes day to day, but I am finding that living as well as I can helps me to get through the days. By this I mean very simple things:

- Making dinner and sitting down to it, rather than picking away at stuff without having an actual meal;

- Making a pot of tea and sitting down with a cup, with a cookie or two, rather than sticking a teabag in a cup, or even worse, just not bothering with this nicety at all;

- Going to bed at a good hour and waking up in the morning. The importance of this can not be overstated, but it has been a lifelong challenge for me so it's not as easy as it sounds;

- Cleaning and doing household tasks I've been putting off, so I can feel I've accomplished something;

- Resisting the urge to stay in bed all day, even if it means finding a reason to go somewhere. (Admittedly this is a challenge, because it's either difficult or rather demoralizing to be unable to spend even a penny on something.)

- Take it a day at a time.

it can also be kind of fun, if you look at it as a challenge and a puzzle

Oh, I do this too, and for the same reasons - too tight a budget for splurge indulgences. I think of it as playing 1930s Farm Wife. How far can she stretch that butter'n'egg money? Watch her plan and scheme scrimp and save, and still put an appetizing meal on the table come suppertime! I have to say that my pantry skillz have become pretty strong over the years. Sometimes it's just a matter of buying one oddball key ingredient ('I just need one tin of dry mustard!') to make something crazy good.

The only downside of the Farm Wife strategy is that I am relying way too much on potatoes, rice, and other carby stuff.

Laura Ingalls' mother (Caroline?) is another great cooking model. I used to love the meal descriptions in the Little House books. Ma would find some cornmeal and salt pork in the cupboard and somehow come out with some mouthwatering homey meal.