Chuck and everyone else,
Thank you so much for your concern, kind words and best wishes!
I am greatly touched and appreciate it very much. Although not much, if anything, has changed in my situation, I thought I should stop by and acknowledge your kindness. Otherwise, waiting till I have some good news might have taken too long
As some pointed out on my behalf, my absence was not in protest to anything or anyone, just an attempt to concentrate more on my personal situation. In the meantime, I finished the jewelry project I mentioned a couple of months ago (you can see it in the Recent Professional Work thread, post #1317:
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=75783.new#new) and, yes, my tax return. Now I can concentrate once again on a highly futile and depressing job hunting. Yaaayyy!
Many thanks once again to everyone.