Unemployed!

Since 30 September I have been unemployed. For a month I have been waiting for a document to be signed in Washington D.C. so I can be hired back to do the same job I have been doing for the past three years. When I was first hired for this job I worked for a company that had a national contract and they had people in many states doing the same work I do, supporting the National Guard recruiters for their state. Under that contract we had to be renewed every year. We didn't know if that contract would be renewed until the last week of the contract. Sometimes we were told the contract wouldn't be renewed, then it was. In March California finally took charge of my position and rather than be part of the national contract they decided to put me under a state wide contract. The reduced the number of people that do my job from three to two, and put us under a contract that was already in place. They modified the contract they had for other people in the state that included the secretaries and put our position on it. The problem was that the contract specifically said we wouldn't drive, so it didn't cover what we were supposed to do. So, all summer I wasn't able to travel, which I should have done a lot this summer. When they changed contracts from national to state contracts I was out of a job for four weeks. I had work I had to do, so I still did it ... hoping I would be paid for it later. I wasn't, but the new contract paid me MUCH more money, because it took into consideration where I lived. For the first time in three years I was paid the same as the people I worked for. In September it was decided to go back to the national contract. I don't know why that decision was made, I wasn't asked, but they made that decision and they had been told by the national contractor that the contract had been approved and I would finish with one contract on Friday, September 29, and be under the new contract the following Monday, October 2. On Friday I was called and told that there was a problem and I wouldn't have a job on Monday, they expected the new contract to be approved within a day or two. After two weeks of not being employed the boss of the new company called me and told me they didn't know when the new contract would be signed and he was going to contact the state and suggest they put us under the old contract because not having a job was not fair to the employees. I realized at that time this was a bigger problem than I had thought, when the company is giving up their chance to make more money by having us work for them then they know they have a big problem. For the last two weeks I have been looking for a new job. I have a problem because I love the job I have been doing in the last three years. It is the ideal job for me and I don't really want to change jobs. I had one interview for tutoring jobs and they were very very excited to have me work with them. I turned down the job because I don't really want to work with young kids any more. I applied for a job in Japan, and I have an interview with that company in a week. It is hard to figure out what kind of job I want in the future. I have decided to take charge of my life and do the things I need to so I can improve my future. I just know I can't stay unemployed for much longer. I have applied for unemployment insurance and hope that can help me find a new job in the near future. I still stay involved in my old job, I went to one school yesterday, another one today and when I am asked for help I give help. Many people in the National Guard don't even know my situation. I need to work, but I'm not getting paid for it! I guess I really would do my job without getting paid, in fact I am doing that.