We're going to call spouse's current location Hogwarts. Before he left he mentioned the trainees had been divided in four groups and his was something that started with a "b". So I cracked a joke about him getting sorted into Beta House, but he got butthurt about that because apparently it is BRAVO HOUSE which is way cooler. Bravo house. Not Beta.

Since spouse has already been working for the govt he is busy answering questions and helping the other trainees with their paperwork, which is great because he loves helping people and it's an easy way to meet the others. He has a roommate that we will refer to as Ron. No funny stories about Ron yet. Spouse is trying to play it cool and keep the cat photos under wraps.

Spouse has been to Hogwarts before, but for much shorter training things. The facilities are excellent and they even have a pastry chef on staff, so he's probably going to be eating like a king. It's like a luxury boot camp, sort of? So don't worry about spouse, he's definitely not suffering. Hogwarts is very nice.

Cat, however, is suffering. We joke that Cat is spouse's horocrux because they have similar personalities and Cat has such a strong bond to spouse. Cat is smart enough to know what it means when spouse gets out the suitcases and starts packing. Cat has been in low spirits since Sunday. Didn't even come out for wet foods. I've been giving more treats and cuddles and he seems to be perking up finally. He curled up with me Sunday night and rubbed his face on my hand like "don't leave too". He keeps following me around the apartment. Poor guy.

So the next fun exciting thing is the threat of government shutdown at the end of the week. Everybody says they aren't worried about it but as far as I can tell, half our government is hellbent on driving off a cliff to spite the other half, so I have zero faith that they will avert disaster for the good of the country. In fact, the more pointlessly destructive it sounds, the more attractive it is likely to be. Shutdown in a pandemic? Sure, sounds fun, why not. I don't know what this means for Hogwarts. The "teachers and students" might be considered essential and expected to keep working, but the support staff (including pastry chef) may be contractors. Takes a lot of staff for maintenance and laundry and food services and such. If there's no support staff, will they put class on hold and send everyone home? I don't know if we will have missing income for however long shutdown lasts, or if we'll get reimbursed after (new job is salary). It's a fine mess. On the upside, spouse has squeaked in to Hogwarts before shutdown, which is way way way better than being in the limbo between jobs. Then we'd just be fucked, ha ha. I am expecting that shutdown is unavoidable. If we're lucky it will be short, because I doubt people have the patience to hang on for 6 weeks like last time.

I'm feeling crappy and hormonal. Bad sleep. I have to dose myself with potassium every 4 hours or so. I do get relief quickly, but it's draining. Too wired to sleep, too tired for good productivity. Sucks. No headache, though.

I've dug up an embarrassingly old project. I worked at a fabric store out of high school and I hoarded small remnants and cuts of cotton velveteens and corduroys in mixed colors and prints. I cut them into squares for a quilt, but never completed the sewing. Every couple years I drag it out, waste a bunch of time organizing the squares because I've forgotten my last plan, sew a little bit, have to move on to a new project and the quilt gets put away for the next few years. But I am determined, this is the last time I'm moving bags of cut squares (also I don't like our current bed covering and this will fix it for $0). I believe I have enough squares for a queen size blanket, and I want to do a stained glass looking arrangement with blotches of color that blend from one to the next, very loose and painterly. Calling it a quilt is generous - sewing squares together is not very hard. The hardest part is the nap of the velveteen/corduroy makes the fabric "crawl" when you are sewing it, so it's tough to get the points to match perfectly. But who cares anymore, I just want it done. I think the cats will really like it. I'm going to sew it to this plain duvet cover we already have, so I don't have to worry about batting or backer fabric.

So that's what I'm doing today while my head is half garbage.