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The two professionals are off the job -- but on the blog!
It has become a bit of an art form, being able to look busy while not engaged. That is the 'scarlet letter' of 2009, otherwise known as being unemployed.
"Yeah, it's definitely the cool kid club, now," said John Henion.
"It's almost like people are embarrassed to have jobs, now," said Tania Khadder.
Cases in point are Khadder and Henion. They are two laid off TV producers who have made joblessness work for them by creating a blog called unemploymentality.com.
"I think we say we know how to have fun, even when things look pretty grim," said blogger Tania Khadder.
They describe it as lifestyles of the penniless and downtrodden, with a double-dose of self deprecating satire.
Tania writes about becoming a connoisseur of daytime television, and John blogs about how not having a regular paycheck has forced him to cut-back on treats for his dog, Nando.
"He wasn't too happy. He stormed down the street and threw on a sign that said, 'Will work for snausages," said Henion
The expectation with a web site like unemploymentality.com is it might lead to something bigger. There has been talk of a book and a TV show. There has even been talk that all that talk is well – talk.
"I write from the point of view of Generation X and Generation Y, which hasn't had to struggle that much. And now we're in a recession, it's the first time we've had to work really hard," said Henion.
It's a unique lens, or filter they look through every day. When John saw businesses closing in his Oakland neighborhood, he wrote of the changes, but couldn't help also noting the Darwinian strangeness of those that survive.
"But there are eight nail shops that seem to be thriving. So we're losing our corner markets, but we all seem to have really nice nails," said Henion.
And so, this is a new art of finding self-assigned purpose and doing it prolifically.
"It fills what would otherwise be a gap in our resume," said Khadder.
A gap they might use, someday, as a documented ability to turn tough times into 50,000 hits a month.
Related link: Unemploymentality
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