I received so much support after my previous rather gloomy journal entry that I ended up feeling bad about worrying everyone and thought that I should provide an update. I honestly don't like posting a lot of personal information in a public place like this, but so many people have been so concerned about me for a number of months that I don't like leaving everyone in the dark. I will start by saying that things are finally beginning to look up a little bit.

Even though I am cash strapped, I expect to be at Anthrocon. I long ago spent a fair amount of money toward the convention that I cannot get back, so staying home seems silly. Seeing a lot of friends will be a great lift to my spirits, and that's worth quite a lot. I continue to raise cash for bills through eBay and Craigslist, so unless my sales numbers plummet in the next two weeks, I should have enough cash to cover the convention and the expenses waiting for me when I return home. I am hoping for a big enough cash cushion that I can enjoy the trip relatively worry free!

My 34th birthday is on June 25. I was really overwhelmed with the attention and gifts everyone showered me with here last year, and it was truly heartwarming. (And about a week ago,  iceylynx drove all the way here just to see how I was doing, and he very graciously treated me to a rather lavish early birthday dinner!) But instead of gifts, what I really want for my birthday is just for everyone to continue to support me and make sure I keep my chin up. Beyond that, there is something very important that I'm sure a lot of people on this site can assist me with, which I will explain now.

Early this year, it became obvious that my résumé was simply not working. I was not receiving responses to my job applications, so I hired a professional résumé writer to help me completely overhaul my job application materials. When I decided to return to graduate school for my Master's degree, I put the résumé rewrite on hold, but after my education plans collapsed last month, I immediately contacted her to restart the process. We've been working steadily on it for several weeks and I expect everything to be complete by the end of June, at which point I am going to restart my job search.

Which is where I need help. I have been planning to relocate for work anyway (even internationally, if the right opportunity arose), so I intend to focus my job search on the game and animation/entertainment industries, since the bulk of my recent experience and most of my personal and professional interests lie in those areas. Considering the users of this site, I can't think of a better place to search for industry contacts. I can't do anything immediately because my résumé is not ready; I will post another journal when everything is in place, at which point I will invite people who think they can help to contact me privately so that I can provide them with my work history.

I can't do anything immediately, but it would be the best birthday gift ever if you could help a mid- to senior-level IT Director find work. I'll have more to say about this later. If I'm going to climb out of this pit, I'm definitely going to need help.

Thanks, everyone. I'm really looking forward to seeing a lot of familiar faces in Pittsburgh on the 4th of July weekend. It always makes me smile.