"...buoyed by severance, savings, unemployment checks and free Salvation Army blankets, the nation's new wave of hip funemployed do not spend their days poring over job listings. With no timeclock to punch, they travel on the cheap for weeks, bartering mix CDs or sterno or sexual favors for a fun cross-country boxcar trip. They study yoga and newspaper journalism, or grab a quick al fresco lunch at the neighborhood soup kitchen bistro. They participate in fun dance marathons and pole-sitting contests. And at least till the bank account dries up and the tuberculosis takes hold, they're content living for today.

"I feel like I've been given a gift of time and clarity," said Emily Horton, 29, of Austin, Texas. "And sometimes spare change."

Horton, who was recently laid off from her job as a ElectoChill D.J. at a boutique hotel aromatherapy spa, says lack of a daily job obligation has been "a godsend."..."

iowahawk: Hot New Trend: Carefree Hipsters Go For Funemployment, Starve-cation