Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:04:19 -0700
From: "Glenn Campbell"
To: "Newsletter Distribution"
Subject: Leaving Las Vegas

Last Thursday, I received word that I would be laid off from
my airport job with [an airline] beginning Sept. 6. The
airline is cutting half of its Las Vegas flights and laying
off hundreds of its employees here. This job provided most
of my income, my health insurance and the addictive free
flight benefits that I have used liberally over the past
year.

This may sound like bad news, but it isn't. It's like
winning the lottery! For the next three years I'll be on
furlough status, and until I'm rehired in Las Vegas (which
probably won't happen), I get to keep my personal flight
benefits. In other words, for one year of work, I get
four years of free travel. What a country!

I don't know where I'll go or what I'll do, but the
possibilities are endless. I will be limited only by the
fact that I'll be broke and will have to get some sort of
job to survive.

I have taken this as a sign that it is time to leave Las
Vegas. For one thing, the job prospects here look grim, but
Las Vegas has also run its course with me. On many fronts,
this seems to be the time for a change.

I will be mothballing FamilyCourtChronicles.com. The website
will still exist, but every page will be marked as "frozen"
and I won't be adding anything new to it. (However, I will
continue to correct errors, and upon request I will remove
information that is destructively out of date.)

Family Court Chronicles never got the outside attention I
had hoped for, but it was an excellent opportunity to hone
my writing skills. It was also a front-row seat on the human
condition that I might never have got anyplace else. For me,
it was like a graduate-level degree program in law, government,
divorce, adolescence and human tragedy. I will always value
the experience.

The website will probably remain on hiatus indefinitely, but
there may be the possibility of reviving it should some
funding emerge.

I'll be taking my other websites with me: RoamingPhotos.com
and KilroyCafe.com.  Kilroy Cafe is essentially the
successor to Family Court Chronicles. There I try to take
some of the lessons learned in Family Court and apply them
to the world at large.

I want to thank everyone who has supported me in the Family
Court project. There is certainly a need for this sort of
thing in every Family Court, but I don't have the resources
to keep it up.  Hopefully, I have created a model that can
be used by others.

What will I be doing now?  I haven't a clue.  My life is a
glorious blank slate right now, and I have 2-1/2 months to
come up with a plan.  Even then, it only has to be a
tentative plan. Thanks to divorce, bankruptcy and five years
of poverty, I have reduced my life to its bear essentials,
to the point where I can work at McDonald's and still get
by. It's wonderful freedom!

In fact, I welcome suggestions from my readers about what I
should do next. If you know of appropriate job
opportunities, I'd like to hear about them. The main
limitation is that I am looking for part-time,
low-commitment employment that doesn't interfere with my
writing. I'm not in the mood to start a new career, only
keep myself alive so I can continue to write.

My airport job (as a nighttime baggage handler and ramp
worker) was the best one I ever had. They paid me $9/hour to
work out and meditate, which was exactly what I wanted. I
wrote during the day then thought about what I wrote at
night.  It also forced me to interact with real humans every
day when I would otherwise be solely virtual. I was just
getting good at the job and feeling comfortable with the
people there when the ax fell. Nonetheless, I'm not unhappy
about moving on.

If I'm not rehired by my airline in Las Vegas, I'll probably
get a job with another airline doing the same thing. No
matter what state the economy is in, there's always an
airline hiring ramp workers somewhere. However, I'm not
ready for that yet. Now is the time for something completely
different, but what?

This is no time to get maudlin. It's not like I'm dying or
anything. With my flight benefits, I can drop by anytime,
and I'd be perfectly happy to sleep on your couch.

G