It took 20 months of unemployment, most of which I spent scrambling, working as many contract jobs as I could get my hands on, and fighting tooth and nail just to get someone to interview me; but I finally got a job. Turns out all those itty-bitty short term contracts I did at Microsoft paid off, because I got a long-term (permanent-ish) contract through the sister company of my contracting agency at Microsoft.
The really sad thing is, 10 years ago I dropped out of college where I was working on my MIS degree because I didn't think I wanted to work at a company like Microsoft, analyzing data and such. Now, 10 years of working my way from a bottom rung call center rep to call center management and operations work (which was mainly data/business analysis work), and here I am, at Microsoft, analyzing data and such. /headdesk.
Oh, and to top it all off, the soul-crushing depression that I struggled with for four years finally cleared last weekend. Having a job with less pressure/responsibility and more reward (we're talking compensation and benefits here) is an amazing thing.