(Ongoing thread) Furloughed Day -1 : I technically will not be officially furloughed until Friday. I've decided to keep a running log of my activities during this time period.

I am doing this for a few reasons, but mostly because I am and always will be desperate for attention

Furloughed Day -1 (cont) you can imagine with anyone who knows they'll be losing their job for the foreseeable future, today's work was lacking in both quantity and quality.

Given my newfound free time, I decided to find a project to complete

Furloughed Day -1 (continued) While watching Lethal Weapon 2, I got to the part where Roger Murtagh finds himself on a toilet wired with C4.

That naturally led me to remember that my bathroom sink was draining slowly and obviously I had to take apart at 9:30 pm.

Furloughed Day -1 (cont):

I did what any suburban millennial dad with 0 home improvement skills would do

I watched a 5 minute YouTube video, said "that doesn't look so hard" and made a quick project take 2
hours

Mistakes were made

Things got wet

But the water now drains

Furloughed Day 0 - Today is my last day of work which means I have to send back my work phone, which means that all I am left with is my car less superior personal phone. I have posted this selfie to commemorate the loss of Portrait mode.

Please remember me with enhance clarity

Furloughed Day 0: Since you guys seemed to like the laughing pics. I took a few more. Even when times are tough, we still need to find a reason to laugh.

Furloughed Day 0: In need of a minor project to keep my restlessness and anxiety at bay, I decided to organize the pantry. Which lead me to discover a can of Progresso French Onion soup.

I added pierogis to the soup. If I am the first to do this, I may be a culinary genius.

Furloughed Day 0:

TwinzerMom: What do you wanna do tonight?

Me: Get drunk and file for unemployment?

Furloughed Day 0-

Emboldened by my successful minor home repair yesterday, I attempted to duplicate with the guest bathroom sink, which while no longer draining slowly, now drips at the trap

However, I did find a very well hidden tube of what I'm pretty sure is 20 year old lube

Furloughed Day 1:

It is my first official day of being furloughed.

My two biggest accomplishments today were making ribs and finding my nunchucks while cleaning out my closet.

It has been quite the productive afternoon.

Furloughed Day 1:

I cleaned out my closet today

We've owned our house for 6 years and I realized for the first time that there is a light in my closet

I may have to take some time during this furlough and tweak the portion of my resume that talks about my attention to detail

Furloughed Day 2:

I put on a denim vest today.

Things are getting weird.

Ok, to clarify.... it's my Comic Con vest and I only had it on for a minutes while I mourned the lack of cons I'd be attending this year

Furloughed Day 2:

Despite the urge to just pull a Cheryl and just burn the thing down, I spent the morning cleaning out the shed.

2 days into Furlough I have completed more consecutive projects around the house than I have in the last 6 years.

Furloughed Day 2:

Today has been a struggle. Not for any particular reason. Just a lot of little things building up.

My kids have been challenging, of course they have, their lives are just as much disrupted as ours

I'm feeling for my wife because this weekend is an important holiday for her. I know she is struggling with not being able to go to church and not getting to be with her parents

I am struggling with the loss of my job. It seems weird to say you have your "dream job" and dreams change and shape over time and some days were harder than others but I really did love me job. I was good at it and it felt like something I was meant to be doing

It may come back. In all likelihood it probably will. But it doesn't change the feeling of emptiness and lack of purpose.

I am a father & a husband first but my job was a big part of my identity and I am not looking forward to the road ahead should this furlough go permanent.

I'm also struggling with a feeling of claustrophobia. I went from spending hours alone in the car and several days a month in hotel rooms by myself to confined with 4 other people. I'm not an introvert but I'm not an extrovert either. My sanity lies in a careful balance of both

It's hard to brood right now. So many people are in worse situations than I am. I will be fine for awhile after a drink and some sleep. But every few days I reach the point of just needing to let off enough steam to maintain what I do.

If you've made it this far, thank you.

I truly am fine. I just needed a moment to type this all out and fling it into the universe. I'll make bad jokes within minutes of hitting "tweet all"

But I want you to know that it's ok to not be ok. It's ok to take a moment to find your footing before continuing your climb.

Just make sure after you pause to take a breath, you focus on the next step and keep climbing.

Always keep climbing.

Furloughed Day 2:

I started to tell my kids to stop licking the windows, but we all cope with isolation in different ways

Furloughed Day 3:

I checked the official unemployed and quarantined handbook and it says on day 3 we are supposed to make our own bread.

I made my own bread.