This past year or so.
It's been kind of a rough year or so. Well, relatively; my search for an engineering job has been a pain in the ass. I was working a job as an Engineer for an automobile parts plant since around December of 13 but got laid off in June last year due to finances. So I ended up working construction from August to about March, where I was laid off again because that company got bought out and had a glut of people, while I was working through them through a temp agency.
I had to move out of my apartment, because I couldn't afford it with the pay the temp job was giving me. Thankfully, some friends of mine needed a roommate, (Thank you, :iconkristein: for your wonderful timing). And I've been on unemployment for the past few months, which I've managed to barely get by and paid some of my loans, while deferring with while constantly looking for work and running through interviews. I'm grateful my last job gave me enough to last this long, but it still feels like I'm mooching.
There was so much waiting. And one engineering job at another factory that strung me along, saying they'd give me a job offer, come three or four weeks later, never gave me a damn thing. So that was incredibly frustrating and disheartening. It was worse than my first search after getting my Master's degree because even if I didn't hear back from places I applied to, I wasn't strung along with the possibility of a job offer, and when I finally got one, it was actually done within a week or so (a few days, actually, if I remember correctly).
Needless to say, I was stressed as hell about it, and I was letting the stress and frustration get to me, and it was spilling over to the good things in my life (To my girlfriend, I'm really sorry. You've been wonderful and understanding this whole damn time.). Thankfully, with my girlfriend and my family's help, they've helped me take steps to help deal with said stresses, and to put things into perspective so the stress doesn't eat me alive. I'm still a little stressed, but it's easier to catch and try to do something about.
I'm not the only one in the same boat of being degreed and having an issue finding a job, often because of experience that you can't get because you don't have it and so on.
It's also been a learning experience on knowing when to just take the small things and do what you can. Because I still have to be an adult and sometimes that means I have to take jobs that aren't what I want to just keep going. I did that with the construction job, and applied for many others, though that led to people knowing full well that I was overqualified and probably going to leave for something I did care about, leaving it as a damned if I do, damned if I don't situation. Still, it's good to be able to be willing to do that.
But now I finally have a job. Pay isn't great like my old engineering job, but it's in the field I want, and will give me the experience I need to prepare for better ones, and to help me prepare for the Fundamentals of Engineering exam I've been trying to take since I finished my Bachelor's. I've missed a few classes, but I can probably still do it.
I've also let myself get frustrated whenever I've done art, only plodding through pieces, but I'm trying to fight that perfectionist urge and just do it. I won't get better by not doing so. Not quite at doing a drawing a day level, but it's getting there. Been doing an art trade with :iconPandaFox: , that I have not forgotten, but it's been slightly delayed due to my tablet pin not working, and having to wait for it to get replaced in the mail.
So, TL;DR; Joblessness sucks ass, finally have a job, and I'm drawing again.
