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Yesterday was not a very fun one. I got a call from the recruiter at Coursera in the morning, and my worst fears were realized -- it was very unlikely I would get the job. According to her, the position was a contracted one before it had opened up for full-time work but the contractor wouldn't be leaving after all. My understanding, however, was that there was only one person doing the work at the moment and they were looking to expand the role so the workload wasn't all on that employee.

I don't like the fact that I have such a suspicious mind when it comes to employers, but at this point I do. It feels like I'm going to be lied to by default, and the thing I really need to work out is why someone feels the need to lie. That's a really terrible way to go through the hiring process, but at this point it feels like the way things need to be done. Assume that any potential employer is looking to screw you until given ample evidence otherwise, I guess.

I also spent a good amount of time on the phone with the unemployment office. A few items that I should have gotten by now haven't arrived, even though according to their records they've been mailed already. The phone conversations were productive -- supposedly, everything's worked out -- but you never can tell with these things. I'll only believe it once I actually get the things in the mail, and I'll need to wait until next week to be sure that's happened.

In the meantime, I applied for a few positions at Stanford and handled the laundry. I really didn't have much drive to do anything else; the Coursera news was a bit of a blow that took the wind right out of my sails. Also, I hadn't slept too well the night before so I knew it would be kind of rough to do everything I wanted to do.

Feeling a bit better today. Still fragile, but as long as there are no unpleasant surprises I think I'll be able to keep to the plan. Today, the plan is for a mix of everything -- exercise, writing, job hunting, burrow cleaning, reading. I had wanted to head out for a run early this morning before it got too hot but I couldn't quite manage that. Fell down a 'browsing hole' with an outfit called Upwork, this website that matches freelancers to available opportunities. It's...an intriguing idea, and a potentially good way to build a portfolio for writing and content generation. I'm not sure it would pay enough to make up for the loss of unemployment benefits, but it might be worth a shot between that and Patreon, right? And it'd be a great way to really refine my writing style.

I might create an account there and take a few small, short-term jobs just to see what it's like and build a reputation. I would have to be a lot more organized and better with time management than I am, so there's that to consider. But if I could swing it, it might actually be a pretty fun opportunity and a great learning experience. Fingers crossed, at any rate.

I'll also need to start putting in some serious time for the Pathfinder game. We ended on a pretty heavy note last session, even as the party was getting set for a new adventure. Let me see if I can write a brief blurb about the major events so far. :)

Four individuals from different walks of life -- a noble, a knight, a bard, and a stonemason -- were deputized by the sheriff of a small town to investigate the disappearance of his previous deputies. It turned out they had been murdered by a cult as part of a sinister ritual designed to throw the town into chaos. The four had managed to stop the cult, but not before chaotic magical energies changed them and a sizable minority of the townfolk into strange creatures -- beastmen, undead, elementals, monsters.

The group learned that this cult had been operating for generations, spreading their influence throughout the continent, and had been responsible for a number of magical disasters that had been cutting off contact between kingdoms. However, their attempts to alert the King and the Church of the Holy Trinity (the major religion in the kingdom) have fallen on deaf ears. With the support of a few secret contacts within the Church and the eccentric townfolk, they've managed to uncover and thwart further plans of this secret cult.

Recently, the group has been alerted that the Scale of Sslinosh -- the last physical remnant of a heretical fourth God banished from the Plane -- has been stolen by its Keeper. They're tracking the Keeper to the Northern Wastes, with a brief stop at the cabin of the bard's father just outside an abandoned forest hamlet. There they discovered his father had been collecting artifacts of the same wild magic that had changed them, and that cultists had slaughtered everyone within the town to build a horrific labyrinth of bodies beneath the local church with the hopes of summoning a demon. It had worked.

In the ensuing fight, the knight was killed. However, the consciousness of a werefox that had been 'riding' the knight's body took over -- she had been 'unstuck' in the Material Plane some time ago, but kept around for a mysterious holy purpose. The noble, who had been courting the knight, lashed out in his grief and geased the werefox in her sleep to find a way to resurrect the knight and leave his body immediately. Then, they traveled through a portal to the northern wastes.

It's all quite exciting. And a bit weird. :) I think a great deal of attention will be devoted to the inter-party fallout of the knight's death, but I also want to set up the threads that the party will need to follow in the Northern Wastes. The two players involved in the knight's death subplot have ideas about how the story will play out, and I want to give space for that to go down. I have no idea what will happen, but I definitely want to make sure things have a chance to breathe.

So yeah, a lot of time will go into that through the rest of the week. For now, it's time to meditate and then get some exercise.