Basically, it's like this, folks. Yesterday, I was an employee with the Indiana Supreme Court's Judicial Technology Automation Committee (JTAC), working as a Trainer on the electronic Citation and Warning System (eCWS) project. I was responsible for rollouts of this new software, which you can read about in public here, working with a small team of people, being sent around to places all over the state. This job has been keeping me extremely busy lately, which is why you haven't heard much new about PURE- that, and I've gotten to the final stages of cleanup on the Overmind, and I was hoping to start work on the other side before I released anything. Realistically, I no longer have time to complete the other side, at least until I am employed again.
Yesterday, I got fired, over something I thought was fixed. I had a suspended driver's license, from a speeding ticket that was nearly 2 years old. I found out I was suspended a little over two months ago, when I was pulled over because a headlight had gone out in my Volkswagon Beetle (like many Beetles, while it's a good car in most ways... I've had minor electrical problems- I lose a headlight every 6-9 months). When pulled over, the officer ran my license through our Bureau of Motor Vehicles and told me my license was suspended, due to my old speeding ticket, and he gave me a ticket for that.
Needless to say, I knew immediately that this was a big problem- this was just before I'd gotten hired into my new job, and I knew I was going to drive for a living. So, I got my mom to drive me up to the county courthouse where I paid for the old ticket, then I paid all of the fines, etc.- a very considerable amount of money, for somebody of my relatively low means. I was issued with a new driver's license, and pronounced legal.
What I didn't realize, however, was that the story wasn't over yet. Apparently, here in the State of Indiana, if you get two tickets in a 12-month period, you are now automatically given a 90-day suspension. So, for my double-ticket that started this whole chain of events (headlight out, driving while suspended), I was re-suspended. I didn't know, either, because the BMV is supposed to mail notice to you, and my address wasn't up to date, so I never got it. Not that that excuses my ignorance, of course.
Yesterday, while doing my job, I was required to drive to several police headquarters, where I was doing various things as part of my job, and I parked in the absolutely worst spot I could've chosen- some officer's favorite parking spot. He ran my vehicle's plate, then checked against the drivers' licenses associated with that plate... and I came up suspended. He found me, doing my job, and informed me what was up, and that as a professional courtesy, he wouldn't impound my car. Needless to say, I was horrified, and was going to spend today with the the Bureau of Motor Vehicles today, and figure out what to do.
If the story ended there, it would have been one thing. However, Fate was not so kind. The officer, knowing I work for the State, informed my office. Given that I was a contractor, and that I had to drive, I was immediately called and told that I was to surrender all equipment in my possession, and they even wanted to have an employee drive me home from where I was! I demurred on that, telling them that I'd have my parents come and ferry me and my car home (I wasn't about to abandon my car in a town nearly 50 miles from where I live, where there isn't anywhere you can legally park on public streets- it was a college town where practically every street is restricted or a tow zone), but shortly after that phone call, while I was calling the recruiting agency that officially employed me about everything, I was told that I was being fired- just like that. I have no recourse- my contract basically said I could be fired for any reason whatsoever, or none at all. I have no rights through State law, either- Indiana is a "right to work" state- employees have practically zero recourse if they've been terminated. I could get a lawyer, but it'd probably be completely futile, and I don't have any money anyhow.
So, I have no job right now. I got paid for last week, and I'm getting paid for this week- enough to pay the rent and some bills, but that's all. And, because my old job paid poorly, I don't have anything in the way of savings, so I'm probably going to have to get some help from my parents just to survive this. It's a terrible situation.
Where do you guys come into this, besides expressing yourselves about what happened, if you want?
Well, I have enough of PURE built that I can show it off. I've made a decision, and I will release it, so that everybody can see it, today. After that, I'd like to know if there's anything I can do with it that might help me find a new job, in the games industry. It's a long shot, and I know it's probably a waste of my time, but I've never really tried to get into the Industry, and PURE was starting to become really neato, so I'm tempted to put it out there and see what happens. At the very worst, I suck up a day with this on Saturday, when I'm very unlikely to be getting anywhere on the traditional job-hunt front anyhow. I know that many people around here have worked in the Industry at one point or another, or know people who know people... who knows? Maybe this will be a good thing. I have nowhere to go but up at the moment
