Where is he now? redux

Like so many others these days, I am unemployed. It's boring, frustrating, lonely, and humiliating. But things could be far, far worse.

I am staying for free with my parents in Ottawa while I look for work. I have no income, but my expenses are very low, and there are good job prospects because the federal government is based here. I have no family to support, no fixed lease or mortgage to pay, no car payments, and no high-interest debt, so I don't need to work a low-wage job in the interim (although I do have one I can fall back on).

So far, I've been following the same script as I did in Vancouver: cook and clean to earn my keep, job hunt during the day, exercise, phone my friends, and read library books. After 6 months of job hunting, I'm really running out of ideas, so I'm down to 4-5 hours a week of that. I decided that I need to do something new before I lose my mind, so I'll start volunteering, studying Russian, taking aikido classes, and pursuing my research project. If this recession gets worse I may be un- or underemployed for quite a while, and I need to find some fulfillment and balance.