And so it came to pass ...

Not sure how to use this gift of time, but until further notice -- life has come to a grinding halt!

At one minute after midnight as the federal shutdown was called, I became expendable, and the days will be different until further notice.

Maybe it's time to take stock of what has been making up the balance of my life -- without that which is spent being a tiny cog in the wheel of a great federal agency.

Perhaps another trip to the north shore of Mendocino ... somehow the last one missed its mark ... I lost focus and came home less than whole.

... then maybe I need to check into submitting an unemployment insurance claim and maybe the food stamp program would be a good idea.  Well, maybe not yet.  I'm still solvent, actually, but it wouldn't take much to topple the part of the economy that exists in my immediate neighborhood; in fact, in my immediate household. 

Guess this is the prelude to retirement, maybe?  But I want to have my career end on my own terms and not at the whim of others.   Could that be what they're doing in Washington, just "whim-ming"?  I know that isn't a word, but maybe in this case it might explain a situation that defies logic or even common sense.  What ever happened to common sense, anyway?

Wonder if I'm ready?