elfs | The prickly, sickening sensation that claws at your cheekbones.

First, the important news: I still have a job.

Now, the counterpunch: My office got RIF'ed today. Thirteen people got laid off. From my division of six, we lost two-- and those two were supporting me in developing ground-to-profile APIs so I could concentrate on turning the profiles into visuals in the UI.

When the announcement came through, I felt all the blood drain from my face, and then my manager told me that I was a survivor. That the decision had come from "up high" and was meant to make us viable for the next twelve months. That it was about economic projections and institutional knowledge and who was even vaguely redundant. That there was nothing personal about it. That the ones who were left were "just going to have to take up the slack."

I'm a little groggy today; only got about six hours of sleep last night because I had to drive the babysitter home and then get up for work. Not sure how I'd have reacted if I'd been better rested. Probably just the same... a little shocked, a little annoyed, very relieved to still have work after all.