For the last several years, after the tech crash and losing [1] a really
satisfying job in the corporate research center of Nortel Networks, I've
been hanging in from contract to contract, some literally micromanaged
at the level of hours. I've also run into the proverbial shaft when I
took a subcontract with payment tied to deliverables defined by the end
client, one or more levels of subconractor from me, and the end client
would change the definitions without renegotiating. The contractors with
whom I was doing business did not want to jeopardize their other
business with the main client, to argue about the redefinition.

For the last few months, I argued successfully with the subcontracting
firm that I was to receive progress payments, which, incidentally, is an
extremely common practice for government and some civilian contracts. In
other contracting situations, changing the deliverable rather naturally
means a formal change order and renegotiated compensation, usually
upward if the change was at the client's request.

In April, when I should have received a still-discounted progress
payment before the end of the month, my client's CEO decided, at the
last minute, to cut it in half because they hadn't been able to invoice
the customer for work done, because the customer had changed the rules
several times. When I protested, the response was that the contractor
had much more business with the client than my project, and they
couldn't afford to "play hardball" and offend the client.  I received
half the expected project payment, and, even worse, after the end of the
month so I couldn't even make a late-but-same-month mortgage payment.

A couple of months before, I had a horrible real estate appraiser slow
down my refinance, with a home that has appreciated enormously.
Yesterday, while I haven't seen the actual numbers, I got a different
appraiser who suggested she would give a much higher valueation.

Also yesterday, we had a progress report conference call with the
client, who again changed the scope of deliverables, and also reported
delays on things THEY were supposed to deliver to us (e.g., lab
equipment).

So I'm looking for purrs for one or more of several things to break
loose. First, I need the client to start paying me immediately for at
least one of the two projects on which I've been working full-time.
Second, for my house refinance to close before the end of the month, so
I don't hit 60 days delinquency -- if the client paid me even part, I
could get it back to 30 days; if they had paid what they should have in
April, I would have been 15 days at worth.

Third, that a very attractive permanent job for which I have applied,
had informal contact with peers in the group (but not the HR people),
and for which I'm highly qualified, comes through very, very soon.

As I mentioned, things do seem to be improving in many ways, such as the
reappraisal, and also what seems to be an extremely successful, very
nonstandard drug therapy for panic and anxiety.

[1] To add insult to injury, my manager at Nortel called me one day
   (I was a full-time telecommuter) and informed me I had been
   "optimized".  

   Did that mean, I wondered, that some magical personal trainer had
   reshaped my body without effort in the gym?  No, said my rather
   embarrassed boss. She said that was the official term from HR,
   but it really meant my job had been abolished.  "Downsized" I can
   understand. "Rightsized" is still understandable, although the
   tradition "laid off" or the British "made redundant" make more sense.

   "Optimized?"