As much as it would like to believe that it's immune to the current economic "slowdown" (meltdown?), the Rock is finally feeling the effects.

We'll be saying goodbye to two good friends in the next little while. Once was 'downsized' and the other was just plain laid off. NOT the time to be making a career in hedge funds, I guess. It sucks, because once that job is gone, so is the work permit, and so is your right to stay here for any period of time above and beyond what they deem necessary to shut down your life and get out.

When we first started talking about moving here, it was initially going to be a one-year plan. One year. That's it. And then we would move on to bigger (obviously) and better (questionably) things. Now that we've just squeaked by that one year mark, I can't believe that we would have considered going through all of that, just to turn around and sell everything...AGAIN...and leave. One year? It took me eight months to stop thinking that we were going to crash every time Kurt turned a corner onto what I was perceiving to be the wrong side of the road.

One of our friends who is leaving, Hedge Fund Girl, has been here for awhile. She's gotten quite comfortable and built herself a whole life here, which she is now dismantling under extreme pressure because she needs to be off the Rock ASAP. It's brutal. You aren't allowed to look for another job until you apply for a special permit to be able to do so and, with a hiring freeze nearly everywhere, her chances aren't exactly fantastic. The alternatives she is considering are a return to her homeland, the U. S. of A. (where things are not exactly fantastic either), or moving on to another rock of the tropical and tax-sheltered variety, where things are marginally better. I don't know what she's going to do. It's just hard to imagine having to pick up and go and plan a whole new life in such a short period of time. We're going to miss her. We had New Year's plans. It sucks.

These are interesting times.

On a brighter note, some of her potential destinations are very attractive vacation spots.