Like about 65 percent of all those who work for [REDACTED] the foreign affairs department of the Washington DC area's largest employer, I've been furloughed.
Oh, no! What does that mean exactly? Well, I've been banished from the office, and from remote work, and even instructed not to use my official cell phone except to check for more instructions.
This must be what retirement will be like, except for the part about not being paid. My impression so far is that I can live with it.
In fact, this preview of My Golden Years has revived an earlier interest in making use of that retirement annuity lifetime federal fellowship to do something academic, such as researching and maybe even publishing something about a few pet topics.
For instance, public security measures can be studied as artifacts of material culture. Haven't you ever thought that anti-ram barriers in the city landscape might well unintentionally reveal something about our society and how it has changed over time?
But all that lies in the future! I have a late relative who worked at DOS for over 50 years, and happily so. I don't plan to break that record, although I now see myself coming rather close.
I say to you: don't despair, live frugally while we wait out the shutdown and, as 95-year old Clint Eastwood reminds us, the secret to a long life is to not let the old man in.