Drifting whitefish? No! A symbolic shot suggesting even our 3 superstars need floating time.

After 3,000 episodes (and we KNOW you didn’t miss any!), we wave goodbye to our good friend, Ellen. That’s right, Ellen DeGeneres is taking an actual Career Break—”to Rwanda for the opening of her gorilla campus,” with a troop (which happens to be what a group of gorillas is called) of her peeps—who will meet up with a troop of gorillas!

Ellen D is heading to Rwanda for the opening of her gorilla campus.

THEY say Ellen “owned” her own show, which is what kept her from taking a more prestigious late-night slot, where Stephen and the Jimmies catch more eyeballs but pocket much less $. It’s also how she has allegedly amassed more than $500,000,000. Doh! 

BreakAway preaches saving money. So we are proud of Ellen for following our foolproof 11 Commandments of Fiscal Fitness…and wish her and her troops Happy Sails!

• Oprah touts the Great Mom Resignation

Oprah, who teared up during her farewell appearance with Ellen, posted a lengthy article on her site this week that digs into the millions of moms who have taken Career Breaks over the past two years. Covid, of course, started the wave. But the childcare crisis and America’s chronic lack of family leave support helped swell the tsunami.

Women left the work force at twice the rate of men in the past two years

The story details compelling cases of women juggling work, family, households, and the myriad activities that accompany that challenging chapter of life. Sad fact: McKinsey reports that 42% of working women are just plain burned out. Meanwhile, a new survey by Ohio State University reports that 66% of working parents qualify for parental burnout.

A defining sense of burnout is the sense that everything is meaningless.

One more disturbing factoid: 67% of women dream of quitting their job. And yet, as the article makes clear, life without work is rarely slam-dunk nirvana. After all, people need purpose, confidence, and a sense of personal success; hanging at home with the kiddos does not necessarily a balanced life make. 

Still, hats off to the hard-working moms. And let’s hope for legislative and societal support for this under-reported epidemic.

• Psy ends BreakAway; promises new product soon 

Have you been missing the sensation known as Psy? Well, he’s ba-a-a-a-a-ck! And we’ll see if he’s still got that Gangman STYLE. Gangman’s sabbatical lasted—wait for it—5 years! I guess that’s what 4.5 billion Youtube views will do to a guy—make you run to private spaces!

Does he still have that sort of star power…and luck? If so, you can be sure we’ll all not only hear about it over and over (and over and over), but likely burn out on his next smash hit!

We wish our 3 stars the best. May they find what they’re looking for and ample time for floating, too.