Today, I went back to work*. Only 270 unread emails in the queue, and 240 or so of those were system-generated cruft. Only took me about 40 minutes to address everything and move on. No crises, no bad news, and even a few encouraging developments. Other than one of the systems I have to use deciding to pretend I don’t have a role I should (but that’s nothing new**), it’s utterly normal.

I’ve learned it’s safer to not lean into good omens or make unnecessarily optimistic predictions, but had I not learned that, I’d take the circumstances described in the previous paragraph as reason to feel positive about the coming year.

But, I’m fully prepared for someone to take a huge dump on the proceedings before long.

No huge personal developments so far in the opening days of the new year to report. The end of my time off was more of the same, really; enjoying the downtime. Just the usual sort of things, no big celebrations; We spent a nice New Years’ Eve hanging distantly with friends watching Mikey’s NYE online show, having a drink or three, and eating fancy cheeses. On January first, I took part in the Virginia State Parks’ “First Day Hikes” program, knocking out a few morning miles at Pocahontas, which was quite nice, and reminding myself that it’s a nearby resource I should avail myself of more often.

So what shall we be doing this week? Honestly (and it’s beginning to become a common refrain), nothing out-of-the-ordinary. The usual things. Remarkably normal.

I shall, of course, be keeping tabs on the latest crazy coming out of Washington; it might be fun if 45 makes the history books by being impeached twice, though I’m not holding my breath. I might, however, watch All The President’s Men again and fantasize a bit.

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* – Well, given current circumstances, I merely walked across the hall and opened up a different computer this morning, but, as we know, this the world in which we live. The cats are a little more worked up than usual because I shook up the pattern after two weeks, but they’ll get over it.

** – It’ll come back. They always come back, especially when the “request roles” function won’t let me request the role, because I already have it, but the front page won’t show it to me.