I'm back for a while

[ClingingToHope]

Coming back to the board for a while. Lots of changes in last six months. Lost my journalism job after nearly 17 years in August after getting back from vacation.

It was a long time coming. Lack of raises since 2008 and no place to be promoted to just sapped my motivation. I was burned out and sticking around because of the four weeks of vacation.

Got hired by a financial firm in November, passed my Series 7 and Series 66 and then went out knocking on doors to find clients. That lasted five weeks. The amount of Saturdays and holidays it was going to take to make a go of it would have severely cut back on the 40 percent of the time I have with my daughters. When I talked with the company about the work/life balance they essentially said "tough" and well, that was that.

So I've been looking for work for three weeks. There are some things in the fire.

And today the professor broke up with me after 2 1/2 years. It was a long time coming as well, but still I'm sad. There were a lot of things about her that were perfect for me ... still, I never ever felt the way I did for XW way back in the day.

When the relationship was easy, it was good, it was fun. Then over time it got complex. Finally, she said she wanted more from me and I wasn't going to give it.

So it's a tough time for me. I'm sad, a little relieved but also nervous about trudging back into the dating world.

D16 is staying the night at a friend's house. D12 has a friend over. I'm not going to tell them about the professor for a while. They liked her. The professor's 12-year-old daughter didn't like mine and that was a huge source of attention. But my daughters liked the professor.