The lifespan of my  time at Cope Associates, just about 4 1/2 years.

I feel used.

The Higher-Ups had said we'd all weather the storm together. We were in a more stable portion of the sector. It'd be lean but we could get through it.

Then we didn't get the jobs we'd shot for. 2nd place is still Loser-#1. Add in the jobs that are still on hold in January because of spending freezing and you have a surefire recipe for disaster.

Me, another production-level Chris, and a project-manager Ty got "laid off" yesterday. I suppose it's because we can't bring in as much work as others, directly and that with the experience the 3 of us have we can probably get jobs faster than others.

Whatever.

I suppose it hurt so much because it's the first job I got wherein I could use my degree. There is hurt in there because the Higher-Ups weren't honest with us. Knowing up front that layoffs would be imminent should we not garner new work would have been refreshing and alert us to the possibility that this could happen.

There's also alot of anger.

At myself for being naive enough to believe them. At them for tossing me away. At the world in general for being so f'd up. *that's a constant and nothing new*

They'll miss our presence eventually. But as someone who'd hoped to be a "settle into one job and that's it" kind of person, I'll miss our presence NOW.

Simply cute. Mike found this comic from somewhere and it amuses me. 

I was thinking... (I know rare right?) Mimes are essentially a French version of Ninjas, maybe. Only less cool.

Two days ago, there was a little bitty piece of ice floating in the middle of my pond in the morning. It melted by that night.

Yesterday morning, there was a larger iceburg floating in the middle of my pond. It had melted a small piece by night but the water temp was just at about 34 degrees.

This morning I go out to my pond and both the fish holding portions had frozen over with only where the waterfall hit being un-iced-over. There were beautiful  icicles here and there over the perrineals hanging down the edges.

Surprisingly (to me anyways) the natural bio-filter (with the shallowest water) had no ice on any of the plants or the surface of the water. Just a couple of icicles hanging from the mechanical biofilter. Veeery interesting.

*night time additions!*


This one looks like the prow of a ship.



These look so odd with the greenery frozen in them.



Both together provide protection for the whole that my koi breathe through. We'll see how long the local "winter" is. I don't expect this cold spell to last much longer, thankfully.