Ah, Mojo!

Such an odd word....like so much in English, with many different meanings.

Curiously, it's also a Caribbean food...an oily, citrusy sauce that is mostly used to dress potatoes. (It's kind of icky.)

In English, mojo can mean many things, but here in America most of us are familiar with the slang definitions, to whit:





Being a victim of the Bush Recession has been a humbling and damaging experience...unemployment, bouncing from job to job, and a growing sense of failure and worthlessness haven't helped matters much. Even today, I still consider myself one of the lucky ones. I happen to live in a state with significant benefits (thanks to that "Taxachusetts" myth...you get what you pay for.), and we were lucky to have a significant amount in savings that we could raid to keep us afloat.

But why do I think things have finally started to turn the corner?

For most of last year, I was a contractor. The work was steady, but there was always that undercurrent of uncertainty...when would the assignment end? would I ever turn permanent? What would happen if it all fell apart again?

Last October, in what can only be called a serendipitous event, I sent my resume along to a growing healthcare billing agency a few towns over. It's one of those things...the hiring manager was astonished and called me in for a look, even though the process was just about complete for that particular position. I was just about hired on the spot.

But during the ensuing 90-day probation period, I became completely paranoid. Every little disagreement I had with everyone, every time HR or other managers were in talking to the boss...hell, even when I was outside on break and higher-ups would walk by and give me odd looks, I thought for sure I had done something wrong and the gig was up.

January 11 was my 90th day...benefits have kicked in, and I'm on the permanent list at last!

But it's taken even a few more weeks to feel like things are finally starting to look up. We've been working on about a month-long cleanup project with some billing issues, and the practices I have are just about done...and I've just received word that there is a large payor research project in the offing, something I was actually hired to do last fall. (I've been in production learning the ropes for all this time.)

Indeed, it feels like things are starting to turn the corner...I'm feeling like a part of the team at last, some of my co-workers are finally starting to open up, and my direct supervisor is at long last starting to lay off the micromanagement and is letting me do my thing. (A story in itself - I suspect the person that was here before me was a total schmuck and messed up a lot of things.)

Bob had a similar lucky break recently and is already moving on to a better job in the DC area....it's a curious parallel, what we and the country have been through these last two years. If our little family here has weathered the storm and have finally gotten things back on track, maybe there is hope for the rest of the country too.