As anyone with a internet/cable/newspaper/not living under a rock knows, the federal government is shut down. Since I work for the Federal government I was deemed "non essential" and have been sitting at home since October 1st. I had never had a stay at home vacation so I was a little excited at the beginning to be able to do some house stuff as well as stuff that I always wanted to accomplish once I had more time. The one catch was that Federal employees didn't know if we were getting paid during the shutdown or not, so I wanted to make sure that I was being fiscally responsible while still getting some things around the house done.
I definitely have fallen into a bit of a routine: wake up, read in bed, watch the news for a couple of hours, try to be productive, then go back to TV and catching up on shows then eventually figure out what to make for dinner out of things I already had on hand - I'm currently determined to not go to the grocery store while we are shut down (I did go to a market to get fresh produce, have to be healthy!) I managed to clean the house, including cleaning out the fridge, vacuum, work on organizing my room, decorating for Fall and Halloween, and reorganizing the bathroom. Needless to say, I'm going slightly stir crazy - there's only so many times I can vacuum such a small apartment, but I haven't resorted to watching soap operas yet!
During the shutdown you can definitely tell that this city bans together, there's a certain "us against the world" for those of us who are furloughed. Walking around the city there are countless restaurants and bars that are offering discounts and deals to anyone with a Federal Employee ID, many of those same places that are offering discounts to employees also charge Members more for their meals :)
When I moved here I didn't expect to find a great sense of community however I have been greatly surprised that there is a huge sense of community. The bonding together of those of us who are furloughed and the business owners trying to help ease the burden is astounding and absolutely wonderful. Even though I'm going stir crazy I know I'm not the only one and that sense of community keeps me reassured. I never thought I would be able to write about the bond of community in this large city that I moved to a little over two years ago, but while this shutdown is awful for a number of reasons, the silver lining is getting able to see the great community that Washington DC really has to offer for all it's residents.
(Because remember the people that shutdown the government don't actually live here...)
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