Rant #2,298: Across the Universe

How was your weekend?

Mine was relaxing, or at least as relaxing as a weekend in my household could be.

I didn't do very much. I watched the New York Knicks game yesterday afternoon against the Philadelphia 76ers.

Watching the Knicks is often like watching one get leprosy, but at least on Sunday afternoon, the team gave it a good shot. They lost, but at least the game was fun to watch.

I cringed this weekend as I saw that the government shutdown is continuing, and might continue for a long time.

There is nothing wrong with erecting a wall or some physical barrier separating our southern border from Mexico. Although I don't think that is what is needed to quell the number of immigrants who are coming here illegally--I think that money for the wall should go to increased physical manpower security--that is not what upsets me about this whole episode. Many federal workers are being used as pawns in this entire escapade, and that is just plain wrong. How do you put food on the table, how do you pay your bills if no money is coming in--and some of the workers are required to go to work yet! Some compromise must be made by our legislators, and the sooner, the better.

And what about that horrific incident where a woman who has been in a nearly vegetative state in a hospital facility somehow became pregnant and gave birth to a child?

This is one of the most heinous stories I can ever remember, and now the search is on to find the father of this child. Every male who might have had contact with this woman--who has been in this state since she was a toddler--must be DNA'ed, and I would say that even women who have had contact with her should have their husbands and boyfriends tested too. How could the hospital not have known, and for that matter, how could the family not have known? Personally, I think there is much, much more to this story than has unfolded up to this point, and we will just have to wait and see.

There were other stories coming to the fore in the news, including kidnappings and very bad weather seemingly everywhere but where I live.

And as far as the weather, although we can all be cordial and say how horrible it is for people to have to go through a large amount of snow, let's be honest about it; we also say in the same breath, "Keep it all over there," and don't bring that snow to where we are.

So that is the true level of pity we have for those trudging through the snow elsewhere.

But then we look to the sky, and we know that anything can happen.

And we also know that due to the human intellect, we now have pictures of the dark side of the moon, as well as for galaxies that we could only have dreamed of.

The U.S. and China move on with their various space explorations, and it is fascinating to find that yes, we are only the third rock from the sun, and that there is so much out there yet to see.

And on a weekend like this, I could finally take all of this in.

Now, it is back to work, and the challenges that that experience generates for me.

Yes, my place of business remains, and I have changed my attitude about what is going on there as we march through January.

I just am now going to go with the flow. I look at myself as a contract worker, working month to month, and hoping for the best.

I have completely failed at finding anything else to do, and I am clearly too old--or thought to be too old--to get any other means of employment in the field--or peripheral fields--that I am in.

I will be 62 in April, and however long this gig lasts beyond the current time, if need be, I can go on Social Security and retire if I have to later this year.

I hope it does not come to that, but it takes a bit of the pressure off of me, and it makes things a bit easier for me.

It doesn't mean that I don't keep looking for an alternative; it just means that I don't beat myself into a pulp doing so.

And I also believe that it extends my very being not having to worry about such things like I have been.

I don't really have much of a choice.

So yes, this was a relaxing weekend. It allowed me to put everything more into perspective.

I hope your weekend was as satisfying as mine was.

What will the work week bring?

Who knows, but I think I am ready for it!