Late Life Crisis: First Blog

Last October I turned 61. I'd just been laid off from my job of 11 years a month before that birthday. Still, I really don't know what I want to do when I grow up.

I was thinking about some of my past, remembering things from all phases.

I think I might have had a mid-life crisis -- I married a woman 15-years my junior; I quit my career-job in journalism to go to graduate school; I earned a living as a busker (street entertainer) playing banjo and eventually played solo in clubs; my young wife divorced me; I dropped out of graduate school to join a band and go on the road.
It was quite a journey. Most of it happened before I was 40. Still, I didn't really think about having a "mid-life crisis." I just kept right on truckin'.

I regret leaving graduate school but nothing else. Going on the road with the band was like living a dream. It was something I had wanted to do when I was much younger. Being presented with the chance at age 38 was not something I felt I should pass up. That lasted for a little over two years.

I was living in the Washington, D.C., during that time. When the band broke up I returned to my home state of California. I had no plans to remain a full-time musician, nor did I want to go back into journalism. So I set my sights on turning my computer hobby into a new career.

That change certainly wasn't easy but it happened eventually. Ultimately I landed a job with a major company doing computer support for a particular group that was highly specialized. The company kept growing and the culture started to change -- not in a way that I particularly liked.

Eventually the company was bought out by a much larger corporation.

My boss earlier has warned me that my position might be cut. You see, my job was considered redundant because the bigger firm already had people doing it. That was in June. The actual layoff date was in September (because of a quirk in California law that requires a notification period).

So I've been unemployed since and finding a new job is certainly not easy in this economic climate. And REALLY not easy given my age. Age discrimination is illegal but try proving it sometime.

Thus, while I never thought of myself in crisis at mid-life, here I am clearly facing a "late life crisis." This blog will give me a chance to explore how I feel about that. I also will do some other writing that looks at my past, as well as some feelings I had leading up to the layoff.

This is my catharsis.