Today, with any luck, is my last work day of the year 2022. I say “with any luck,” because the last couple of months have been awfully crazy and given where I am in the organization (basically management’s back-up brain and copy editor these days), I can’t rule out the odd phone call about where some document some auditor needs is hidden, where some parcel of money lives, or where some body is buried.

That said, I mostly expect to be left alone (unless the spending bill gets wrecked and I have to do temporary shutdown paperwork…again), and my general plan for the holiday break is to mostly stay offline, enjoy the quiet, rest, recharge, and refuel. We have very few official plans apart from a welcome couple’s retreat for NYE, and that’s exactly the way I like it. It’s possible I might open mic here or there at any of the various events around town, but maybe not? who knows. I expect I’ll be wandering my usual parks and trails, and probably sidle up to a familiar bar rail or three, but those of you who need to find me know how regardless. It’ll be a welcome unplug.

I usually try to do some year-end wrap-up sorts of posts in the interim, and I probably will, but who the heck knows…it’s not like I have a lot of readers in any case.

I should make mention, because it’s on-brand (as my VeryOnline™ friends would tell me), that I took 40 minutes or so after work yesterday to vote in VA-04’s “firehouse primary” for the Democratic candidate ahead of the special election in February to fill the late Rep. McEachin’s seat. It was quite crowded at my nearest polling place (the quickly-established, party-run event had relatively few locations), which in this form of government is never bad news. For the record, I voted for State Senator Jennifer McClellan, who’s got a great progressive record and is the odds-on favorite; she’ll be an excellent representative for the district.

So yes, exercising my responsibilities as an active citizen (as opposed to just asserting rights) is a thing I get good feelings about. You should as well.

Anyway – happy holidays, whichever you feel like celebrating.