I had a temporary driver's job with UPS courier service in December with a firm prospect of full employment starting in February. The corporation is now panicking and has not hired me yet. 

So I am currently unemployed with a very good future prospect that has not materialised yet - and I don't know when it will.

Any time I see a job I'd like, but for which I'm missing a qualification, I research the qualification to see if I can learn it on my own. If I can, I do it. Recently, I've learned to type and to use Excel, Powerpoint and Photoshop.

A friend even gave me an old office-sized keyboard because they have bigger keys than laptops. That way I can practice on both size keyboards and be ready for either at a job interview. I practise around one or two hours a day by typing speeches. I've just finished typing Obama's speech to Congress. Last week, I wrote 50 words per minute, today I'm doing 60 words. My goal is is to do 90 words per minute.

I've got very few responses. Two months ago, I sent my resume to Vanity Fair and they answered me yesterday! It's otherwise like shooting a bottle in the ocean. But ever since job ads went online there has been a massive increase in the number of scam artists preying on jobseekers. I'm having to treat every return e-mail as possibly criminal until I prove otherwise.

If things get super dismal, I've heard that New York City tries to place people who apply for welfare in jobs first. I'm toying with applying for welfare not because I want the welfare, but because I want the job placement help. But the trick is to try everything and keep trying. I make myself more usefully employable every day.

I've dealt with it by living at the cheapest bare-bones level possible, and hoping for the best. I'm living like a monk. I don't go to restaurants, I don't go to the movies. What I'm doing is walking. I did a 15-mile walk in Queens this week. It was very pleasant. And it's free!"