soon i'll be a stranger in a strange new place

Himself is a government contractor who has been declared non-essential, so he's home and not getting paid for the duration of John Boehner's current bout of dickfacery. I am barred from my office for arcane who's-paying-whom reasons but will be able to work from home, and will be paid, through the shutdown. So our mood this morning was Not Good to start with.

At which point I got the message that I'm to report to the Place tomorrow, and bring my keys and badge and RSA token.

So that's me laid off, then. I cried for about thirty seconds and since then have been worried about everyone else who's also getting the call. I only know of six of us total, and I don't think we can be the only ones - and of the six of us, four are at the assistant level, and it's my office mate (only been there about a year and a half) and me and the two other most senior assistants in the place. (I was #2.) (The two non-assistants I know of are a senior, i.e. full-prof equivalent, and an assistant, i.e. tenure-track-but-not-tenured equivalent, research scientists.) I'm sure everyone will be all right, but it blows.

And then, in much-needed good news, Himself got the call that someone wants to rent his house at last. So we went to review the application with the manager, and then stopped at the bank and then the grocery store, so I have two kinds of ice cream, which I totally deserve.

And now I have a glass of wine. I think I might have at least one more before the day is out.