Shutdown Island, Survivor's Log

Survivor's log, Day 14:

The day passed quicker today - perhaps we've finally learned how to live more comfortably, or perhaps we're delusional with the unfounded hope of rescue. 4 of us still live on this island. Water source was replenished in the afternoon, though cups are running scarce. Quality of life has improved after we stumbled upon a forgotten bag of chocolate covered almonds, perhaps left purposely by the last inhabitants of this island, knowing the boon it would be for those who would inevitably arrive here after them. Ventured out, away from our office haven today - we found tacos, it brought much needed joy and excitement to our monotony. Glad we could enjoy one of the few beautiful days this island has seen since we arrived. Morale has been low since we found ourselves stranded here - it was nice to feel a sense of hope and optimism, no matter how distant or nonexistent it may be.

Found some work to do today, felt productive. But the hardships of survival got to us by the afternoon - had to come up with challenges and competitions to keep sane.

Now enjoying the blessed reprieve of evening. The hallucinations of ringing phones and angry people subside in the starry night and friends of old come and entertain me with stories and jokes and back scratches and smiles. Is it all a dream? A figment of my imagination? If so, I will not argue. Real or imagined, I will enjoy the company. For tomorrow is another day, and I need all the strength I can muster from those memories to make it through another day.


End of log.

All Work and No Play

I NEED THIS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN TO END!!!!!

I'm seriously going crazy. I can't handle it. It's weird, because it should just be business as usual - it's not like all that much is different in the day.

But there are fewer of us in the office - and those of us who have been there these past two weeks have really bonded. Which is great, except that a lot of our bonding seems to come at times when we think we're about to go insane, so conversation seems rather skittish and maybe more open than necessary.

It's like I'm both bored and over-worked. I'm exhausted and I just want a district work week where my boss goes to California and his district workers take care of him and I catch up on things and not worry about where my boss is at every moment and whether he'll make it back for his meeting or not, or whether he'll make it to votes on time or not (somehow he always does), or when he'll leave the office. They keep canceling our district work weeks, and I CAN'T HANDLE IT!

I'm about to crack, and I don't think I'll be the only one.

I really think there's just this stress of the unknown that's slowly (quickly) burning us all out.

And the people calling all the time, yelling at us about things that are far beyond my control as scheduler to one of 435 congressmen.

Is it too much to ask? Would you mind just being a little bit nice to me? I know life sucks right now and times are hard and everyone in DC is stupid and everyone in the country agrees with you that Congress should do this or pass that, and that it's just not that hard, and I'll let my boss know how you're feeling - trust me, I know that. But would you mind lowering your voice just a bit and not cursing at me? Your message is a lot easier to pass on to the Congressman when it's not filled with expletives - because I won't say those, so your message is getting distorted anyway.

To be fair, I've had a number of people calling who were frustrated with the way things are going, but who were very nice to me. I appreciate you all - you make my day much better. Thank you for that.

I've been straight complaining for 2 weeks now, and I just can't seem to stop. So I'm sorry to everyone I've traded more than 5 words with these last 10 days. You did not get me at my best. I'll try to be better, really. I've started looking at pictures of kittens and puppies again, so my spirits are lifting. And at some point, I will clean my room and get my non-work life organized, and I think that will make me feel better.

And I finally finished a really beautiful book, which I've been trying to find time to read for awhile. So now I can finally return it to the library, a month past the 30 day due date (oops). That is, if there's anyone not furloughed who can come pick it up right now...