I’m funded, working, and got paid yesterday. I’m relieved and thankful, but I also feel exceedingly guilty about it, because 800,000 odd other public servants, including many good friends, haven’t been paid for a month, and there’s really no resolution in sight for fixing this stupid impasse.

In fact, in the paycheck I got yesterday was heavy, as it included my end of year “contribution bonus,” which I used to pay a car off a few months early, and bought some reasonably priced music gear I’ve got a legitimate need for, but still felt guilty about ordering.

Damn my Catholic upbringing, the guilt never quite goes away. I’m going to try to focus on the fact that it’s also compassion for my fellow man instead, and hope it salves things a bit.

Anyway, that out of the way, the rest of this week, apart from the whiplash-inducing temperature changes, hasn’t been all that terrible. At the office, my team made a couple of breakthroughs on this project (never mind that we have time to do this this because our partners in other departments aren’t available for crucial testing), and I’m making myself rather useful in improving the organizational bottom line by helping other divisions tighten up their acquisition documentation (one day, this sort of thing is probably going to end up being my full-time job). At home, It’s actually been kind of quiet; the weather’s stirring up sinus issues, so I’m taking it easy; I didn’t go out to open mic on Wednesday, in part because I wasn’t feeling great, and in part because the brewery’s put it on hiatus for a while, which sucks, but I kind of understand, as the last couple of weeks have been really slow. I need to get over there and chat with folks to find out if there’s any more to the story.

Oh well – in three weeks, I have my inaugural Open Mic hosting gig over at Castleburg, and I’m getting some good feedback from folks who are planning to come out and play.

Oh, and I got new glasses. I kinda like them, even if they look pretty similar to the old ones (I have a type that mostly works and I stick with it), though I can see better now, so there’s that.

That’s a high level survey of my life at the moment; all that’s left is the playlist. Very typical, swinging toward 80s alternative, but that’s cool.

1. “Dancing With Myself” – Billy Idol
2. “Sex” – Frank Zappa
3. “Dreams” – Beck
4. “It’s My Life” – Talk Talk
5. “Better Off Dancing” – The Donnas
6. “Fallen Angel” – Poison
7. “Fascination Street” – The Cure
8. “Infinity” – The xx
9. “Kissing Willie” – Jethro Tull
10. “Hunnybee” – Unknown Mortal Orchestra
11. “Rocket” – Def Leppard
12. “Pine Woods” – Korpiklaani
13. “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” – Eurythmics

And Oh Yeah – Pokemon Go: Level 40!