My wife got laid off from her University job today.

[NNadir]

We kind of knew the University was on its last legs; as many private universities are.

Small private liberal arts focused universities are dying rapidly. Her university is still alive, but going down fast in the days of Covid.

Years ago, for the one and only time, I got fired, and I ran into an acquaintance, and told her I'd just lost my job, and she said, "That's great! This is a tremendous opportunity!"

I was polite about it, and didn't say the "Fuck you Lady!" that was going through my head.

But she was right. I left a wing of the industry which was dying - API manufacturing - because of Indian and Chinese competition, and went into another side where I learned so much more than I ever knew. Getting fired was just great for me. My life would have sucked if it didn't happen.

We are NOT watching the debates tonight. It's not like it matters; we're all Biden all they way for all the time and have no interest in watching that old senile drooling, drug addict in the White House try to take down someone who knows something he will never know; what it is to be decent, intelligent, and worthy of ones life.

Tonight we'll be watching Blade Runner 2049, celebrating that we are still alive, and yes, drinking a bit.

Life is beautiful and then you die.

Tears in rain.

[DonaldsRump]

1. The both of you have a wonderful attitude! n/t

[leftieNanner]

2. Best of luck to your wife on her next adventure!

[samnsara]

3. im sorry :(

[griffi94]

4. Thank you for posting this.

Best thoughts for yer wife in whatever she decides to do next.

[dem4decades]

5. I'm watching Schitt's Creek, seems appropriate.

Sorry about your wife.

[peacefreak2.0]

6. This year has turned on a dime

for so many of us. I wish you both quiet strength and peace.

[ihas2stinkyfeet]

7. sorry to hear that. what did she teach there?

fwiw, i hope you dont divorce her. my divorce worked out very well, but...

[at140]

8. At times like this, count your blessings

I am sure there are many! Then think about people in countries like Venezuela. I have friends in Philippines.
Things are really bad there, people literally without food due covid-19 related layoffs.

[NNadir]

12. We'll be fine. I am at a point in my life...

...when I wake up in the morning, it's marvelous.

I have never loved life more than I do right now.

And yes, I feel for so many people around the world who are truly suffering, unimaginably so.

I have had more joy in my life than I deserved; and my wife, despite being stuck with me, has much for which to be grateful.

[SharonClark]

13. Your positive will help you and you wife

with your next adventure. Good luck to your wife in deciding what she wants to do next.

[at140]

17. Bravo for your positive attitude!

[Sherman A1]

9. Best of luck to you both

[woodsprite]

10. Mr Woodsprite and I will be holding you and your wife in our thoughts.

We both work for a University and are going through the same thing. We opted NOT to take the early retirement offer (it would have been 9-10 yrs too early and we would have lost a lot). For now, the remaining employees are going to either reduced work hours or furloughs, but we have no other information yet.

Best wishes. It's hard to remember at times, but I have been told when one door closes, another opens. Right now, I'm having a difficult time seeing that.

[NNadir]

22. Some years back my sig line on this website was this, from Eleanor Roosevelt:

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

She, in my opinion the greatest Democrat who ever lived, did the thing she thought she could not do.

It's tough in the academic world; even some of the great universities with impressive endowments are struggling, more casualties of Trumpism. We are living through a triumph of ignorance, hopefully though coming to an end.

My son's university, from which he will get his degree in December - he will probably go to graduate school there - announced a $40 million shortfall this year, even with an impressive endowment. (They are going through an ill timed expansion, although there is no way they could have anticipated how the timing would work out.)

A friend of mine told me his daughter's College - Green Mountain College in Vermont - failed, but I certainly hope your university pulls through. I'm fairly convinced my wife's former university will fail; their bonds are junk status and they are surviving, as best I can tell, on debt.

I wish you the best, particularly since you both work at the same University. Hopefully things will change at your institution and you'll pull through.

I've always regretted in a vague way not pursuing an academic career - frankly I was ill equipped for one, given my emotional volatility when I was young - but I'm glad my wife and I are in different fields entirely.

Good luck. Experience tells me that doors do open; but I fully understand how difficult it is to see it. My wife at least has my experience on which to fall back.

[empedocles]

11. 'tears in rain'

[Ferrets are Cool]

14. Best thing that ever happened to me was getting fired. I became my own boss and have

never been happier. I hope something similar can happen to your wife.

[cayugafalls]

15. I wish you all the best.

That scene from Blade Runner is iconic and is part of the reason the film is considered one of the all time great Sci-Fi films. Personally, it is a favorite of mine, I've probably watched it 50 times, slow motioning certain scenes (I love special effects) and dissecting the message.

Life is beautiful.

[NNadir]

16. I watched it this weekend for the first time in roughly 20 or 30 years.

I watched it because that scene was on my mind, having stuck with me all these years, because I'm old and feeling my mortality - I have seen some incredible things - all of which will be lost in time.

Happily there are many people who will see what I have seen, as I have learned after having many "new" ideas, that turned out not to be new at all.

At the behest of someone here, I watched some of the "Making of" videos that came with the movie, and they deepened my appreciation.

[cayugafalls]

18. I saw your other response above and love your optimism.

I too marvel at each new day. I'm older and have seen much, ups and downs, but I have a love of my life and a wonderful bright son who fills me with joy just to hear his voice.

Little things mean so much to me now and just "being here" is a welcomed part of the journey.

The smell of fresh cut grass, my wife's hair, sun dancing in her eyes...love is timeless, while it may all end someday, getting there was a wonderful ride.

[eppur_se_muova]

19. Best wishes to you both. So sad to see what's happened to our universities in recent decades.

As regards your choice of entertainment ...

I had mixed feelings about the original BR. Partly because I had read PKD's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", and nothing PKD wrote has made it to the screen without pretty liberal "adaptation" (a common lament re Hollywood's treatment of SF). But PKD, as admired as he was, did work fast and sloppy (not to mention frequently, glaringly misogynistic), and his work is not sancrosanct. But that monologue made for an unforgettable movie, and the final product was easier to grasp than the book that spawned it. I haven't watched it in ages (I seldom watch anything twice) but am feeling tempted to now -- and to catch the 2049 version.

[NNadir]

21. Well, I can't say I've read the book. I haven't read science fiction, or for that matter...

...any fiction, since my 20's. (I am now working in a slow desultory way on translating Camus' La Peste into English but other than that...)

My sons pick on me about not reading fiction, but my oldest is a fan of Phillip K. Dick. He watched Blade Runner with us, and he approved of it.

The movie, in my opinion, now that I have had a chance to look at some of the background material, stands by itself as a work of art, I think, and I also think that the iconic last scene stands as one of the finest short evocations of what it is to be human there is. Rutger Hauer not only rewrote it very well on the fly, but he acted it superbly.

In any case, it would have been a great movie with or without the book.

I say this as a person who generally has a jaundiced view of science fiction in general, cinematic and otherwise.

By the way, the scene where Roy Batty confronts his maker, Tyrell, and discusses the science of extending his life was not nearly as bad as some of the "science" one sees in science fiction movies. It bordered a bit on silly, but far less so than most movies, and for a script written over 40 years ago, it was actually not bad at all. It does seem as if the screen writer at least opened a science book.

Modern gene therapy is very much connected with virology, particularly with the AAV delivery vehicle, so there's that...

[Laffy Kat]

20. You are right.

It seems like whenever I got laid off or didn't get a job I really wanted a better opportunity presented itself. It always worked out. There was sadness in missing co-workers and the routine of a job known well, but I never regretted leaving, at least not for long. Hugs to your wife.