I go out. Not the same kind of out that I quickly realize everyone else is doing, because it’s a Friday night and it’s time for them to let off a little steam. They’ve been working all week, they’re entitled to it. I’m only out to get out. 

I originally think I’m going to head south, maybe walk to Barney Circle of something, but instead I find myself headed west. Past the monied, well-heated and well-lit homes on Lincoln Park which are devoid of people. Past the house where, in 1986, I had a brief and passionate romance with Eric Frances Baker. The iconic sculpture outside his residence was sadly gone, yet it had been replaced with a smaller, not-to-be-seen-from-the-street sculpture, painted all blue and perhaps the same one that briefly occupied the 500 block of East Capitol during a summer blitz of temporary outdoor artwork circa 2004. Outside Eric’s place is where my car was stolen one night. Eric didn’t care about the car. Or me. 

I found myself walking half of my stride length, for no apparent reason, and about half of my normal speed. I was walking like an old man, not even moving fast enough to have my arms swinging. People stared. I didn’t care.

After Eric’s I passed the Apartment In The Sky, my first home in DC. It was up there that I photographed with a Polaroid the intersection of Sixth & Independence every month for about three years. It was also there on my little balcony that I strung up christmas lights and left them year-round. This is also where Rattle fell and I found her the next day, four doors down under the front stairs, waiting for me to find her. She had been lost before, she knew the drill: stay where you are, Pops will find you.

Down at Jump Street I looked up and remembered this is where Hum survived her cancer surgery of 2001 and later died five years on. Afterwards I came home to a house with only one cat and that was one of the worst feelings I’ve ever had. Rattle pulled me through it though.

I notice that there are quite a few houses that still have their christmas lights on while others still have them up but they’re not turned on. I see a penny on the sidewalk and actually pick it up, thinking “this is income”.

I pass one of two (that I know of) futurejunkie stickers that I put up over ten years ago. It tells me to become an addict. Behind the One Way sign that it’s affixed to, a full moon shines and teases us humans to dare ourselves to be astronauts.

From the AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) – The nation’s unemployment rate bolted to 7.2 percent in December, the highest level in 16 years, as nervous employers slashed 524,000 jobs, capping one of the worst years in modern history for American workers.

The Labor Department’s report, released Friday, underscored the grim toll the deepening recession is having on workers and companies. And it highlights the difficulty President-elect Barack Obama faces in resuscitating the flat-lined economy. This year has gotten off to a rough start with a flurry of big corporate layoffs, pointing to another year of hefty job reductions.

For all of 2008, the economy lost a net total of 2.6 million jobs. That was the most since 1945, when nearly 2.8 million jobs were lost. Though the U.S. labor force has more than tripled since then, losses of this magnitude are still being painfully felt.

With employers throttling back hiring, the nation’s jobless rate averaged 5.8 percent last year. That was up sharply from 4.6 percent in 2007 and was the highest since 2003.

While economists were forecasting even more payroll reductions in December – around 550,000 – job losses in both October and November turned out to be deeper than previously estimated. Revised figures showed employers slashed 584,000 positions in November and 423,000 in October.

The unemployment rate, meanwhile, rose from 6.8 percent in November, to 7.2 percent last month, the highest since January 1993. Economists were expecting the jobless rate to rise to 7 percent.

Losses were widespread in December. Construction companies slashed 101,000, and manufacturers axed a a whopping 149,000 jobs. Professional and business services got rid of 113,000 jobs. Retailers eliminated nearly 67,000 jobs, and leisure and hospitality reduced employment by 22,000. That more than swamped gains in education and health care, and the government.

All told, 11.1 million people were unemployed in December.

Employers are chopping costs as they try to cope with dwindling appetite from customers in the U.S. as well as in other countries, which are struggling with their own economic problems.

Not only are employers cutting jobs; they also are cutting workers’ hours. The average work week in December fell to 33.3 hours, the lowest level on records dating to 1964.

And the number of people who work part time – a category that includes those who would like to work full time but whose hours were cut back or those who were unable to find full-time work – jumped to 8 million in December, from 7.3 million in November.

Workers with jobs saw modest wage gains.

Average hourly earnings rose to $18.36 in December, up 0.3 percent from the previous month. Economists were expecting a 0.2 percent increase. Over the year, wages have increased 3.7 percent, although high prices for energy and food earlier this year made people feel like their paychecks weren’t stretching that far.

The U.S. recession, which just entered its second year, is already the longest in a quarter-century, and is likely to stretch well into this year. The fact that the country is battling a housing collapse, a lockup in lending and the worst financial crisis since the 1930s make the current downturn especially dangerous.

All the problems have forced consumers and companies alike to retrench, feeding into a vicious cycle that Washington policymakers are finding difficult to break.

Thank you everyone, to those that have wished me good fortune. If I could represent my gratitude in form of our obviously failing and economically outdated stock market, the ticker might appear something like this, in no particular order (and definitely not the exhaustive list):

AMN
F5F
BER
GLDY
HMD
KJT
SING
PHI
BLK
GXM
VLV
MOB
JFK
LAD
JOY
RAMS
MIL
BEX
ANY
EFP
KMO
ALC
NOE
DAD