BristleConePine of Bluster
Mar. 7th, 2025 09:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ismoToday was my day to visit with Dragonfly. She was supposed to come to my house, but asked if I could come over there instead, because her cat was having issues. I was happy to do that. Sure enough, as we were chatting, the cat saw another cat out the window and freaked out. He's been having problems with his litter box, and on this occasion, he besmirched the braided rug in the living room. There was a conversation break while Dragonfly performed cleanup on aisle 2. He is a handsome tuxedo cat, but more high strung than tuxedos usually are.
We went out and had what would have been a pleasant lunch, except for the fact that my new Apple Watch started pinging my wrist. I don't normally field texts while eating with someone in real life, but the watch shows them to me. It started out as the other kids wishing the Philosopher a happy birthday, but ended with the revelation from him that he just lost his job. He works for a research firm that holds a number of government contracts. This isn't a personal layoff directed at him. There's been a little wave of layoffs in the company, of whom he is one. He says he doesn't know for sure what caused this. They've given out very little information so far. Not a very nice birthday present, for him or for us.
We are fortunate to have a little extra so we've been able to help the kids out on occasion, and there's no reason to think the Philosopher and family will need that. But no parent wants to see their kids living with insecurity. The Philosopher says he thinks they will be fine, and I believe they will. The Lovely Friend has a good job that is not at all Fed-dependent, and the Philosopher has many talents and will doubtless be able to make a connection soon and find other work. Still, it's a bit of a rude shock.
We went out and had what would have been a pleasant lunch, except for the fact that my new Apple Watch started pinging my wrist. I don't normally field texts while eating with someone in real life, but the watch shows them to me. It started out as the other kids wishing the Philosopher a happy birthday, but ended with the revelation from him that he just lost his job. He works for a research firm that holds a number of government contracts. This isn't a personal layoff directed at him. There's been a little wave of layoffs in the company, of whom he is one. He says he doesn't know for sure what caused this. They've given out very little information so far. Not a very nice birthday present, for him or for us.
We are fortunate to have a little extra so we've been able to help the kids out on occasion, and there's no reason to think the Philosopher and family will need that. But no parent wants to see their kids living with insecurity. The Philosopher says he thinks they will be fine, and I believe they will. The Lovely Friend has a good job that is not at all Fed-dependent, and the Philosopher has many talents and will doubtless be able to make a connection soon and find other work. Still, it's a bit of a rude shock.
