Unemployment Blues

I've been unemployed for going on two weeks now, and it sucks balls. However, I shouldn't really call it "unemployment" seeing as in the television world it's called a "hiatus".

See the difference? Neither to do I. Either way I'm jobless. And it's in "hiatus" that I discover how much I can miss having a place to go to every day and that wonderful weekly paycheck. Ahhh, the weekly paycheck. I think that's what I miss the most.

The first time I was on hiatus I had no idea what to expect. I bought a bunch of books from Amazon.com and was reading almost a book every two days (some were thicker than others). I was also doing a crap load of writing, one sample of which resulted in my first true attempt at a spec pilot, (which now seems to be going nowhere so I've moved on to working on what will be my first serious attempt at a comic book. Wish me luck). That was fine and dandy at first, but then there were problems with my unemployment insurance that held up the money for a good two months and at the the time I didn't have wireless so I was tethered to my internet modem, which meant if i was on the computer I couldn't leave the couch. After about a month I thought I was going to lose my mind.

Having learned from my mistakes the first time I prepared for this hiatus. I called my employer to make sure all my paperwork was good to go (it was) and I bought a few more fun reads from Amazon.com, created an exercise schedule for going to the gym and splurged on a new (video!)and a wireless internet router, so now I can work on my computer from anywhere in my studio apartment. I'm finding I quite enjoy working in the kitchen and have made it into my little "mini" office. I guess sitting right beside a window (ahh, the breeze) where I can see outside helps the cabin fever.

Now all I have to do is hunker down and wait to see when the show I work for will be brought back. I have been told I will be asked back, so it's nice to have a bit of job security.

Any other tips for surviving "hiatus"?