The idea is to focus this online writing / interacting thing on the purposes of my four-week sabbatical. My employer grants four weeks every four years or eight weeks every seven, and I decided last Thursday to sign up for the former. I was able to decide at the last minute because my temporary job was drawing to a close Friday, and as as of Monday, today, I was employed but did not have a job. This means I get paid and all but don’t have anyone to report to or any work to do. It’s not as rosy as it sounds if you understand that if I don’t find a job in, say, four weeks, then in four weeks I will literally be unemployed. That’s unacceptable, but this time off is a gift, and it became clear to me last week that I needed to seize the gift now and take care of a bunch of personal business.
I did want to hold on to the eight-week version. I am eligible for it in only four and a half months. But truth to tell, I can’t assume I’ll still be at the same employer then. Taking the time off now actually increases the odds that I will.
Last sabbatical was the full eight weeks and though it misses a lot of detail, I did manage to post every day and include a picture taken that day. Sometimes only a picture. I’m glad I did. One wants to remember a little bit of how one used such a special gift of time. The link is here: Flip Side
It’s best read backwards, from the oldest entry on up. There’s no way to get Blogger to present it that way. This one will turn out similarly.
I write this late at night on the floor of a room in the Holiday Inn Express in Minden, NV. Sunya and three of her children occupy other spaces in the room, in various states of consciousness. It’s ten degrees too hot and there’s no thermostat. We’re here because of one of those free holidays that amounts to a sales pitch for a vacation timeshare package. A small price to pay to get out of town a few days. She really needed it, and it’s good for our relationships with these kids, school district truancy rules be damned. It’s been fun, and the packages were attractive. Not able to invest in any at this time, not by a long shot, but we knew that.
Regroup 