Wednesday, December 10, 2008

0 for 2

I play fantasy football. I have now, for like 15 years. It's fun since I can watch other games besides the Packers and still root for different players. I also enjoy the social aspect of the draft, when you can pick who you want on your team, and also rib others for their selections.

For probably every season I have played, I have always had a Packer player on my team...even back to the beginning when I grabbed this young pup named Brett Favre.

When I watched Brett play on Sunday, there was still the same sporty vigor ever present, but you could tell he is still feeling the slow tolling of age. I enjoyed watching the game with my friend, especially since she has season tickets 3 rows from the field. It was too bad, though, that while I was up buying garlic fries, that the Jets marched down the field and Brett eventually scored a rare rushing touchdown. Other than that, though, the Jets, and Brett, didn't have that good a day.

In my fantasy league, I just had to win one of my doubleheader games to move into the playoffs. Losing both games would also almost definitely spell any chance I had at walking away with not only money, but bragging rights with the girls and guys in my league.

And, of course, I went 0 for 2.

It's probably best, though, as I got very lucky this season. My total points were well below the other teams with the same record, and my points against were far below anyone else in the league. Seriously, I got very lucky.

For the past few weeks, I have known that two other things were coming, one of which was my mom obtaining the latest test results on her cancer today.

I had also heard rumors over the past week or two that job layoffs were expected. When I analyzed the conference room schedule for this week, I found an alarming amount of rooms booked by building admins for a good portion of today with the simple title of "Training".

Thus, my odds were on today. I just hoped that I didn't go 0 for 2.

My mom called me right before I headed off to work. The prognosis...partial remission and they were continuing her treatments, with the planned procedure to take place in February. Good news. Well, better than hearing the current treatments weren't working.

On to work.

Once I arrived, I walked past the meeting room where the "training" was supposed to be occurring, and it looked awkwardly conspicuous. After I made it to my desk, my boss says that he walked by the meeting rooms I noticed, and that HR was in there talking to people.

Sure enough, layoffs were in full swing.

Yesterday, my boss indicated that our group was being taken to lunch today. I wasn't sure if was because our schedules are sporadic the next few weeks with the holidays, or because of the layoffs, but either way, it was a free lunch.

Once seated at the restaurant, he said our group was fine, but others were still being notified. While I breathed a sigh of relief, I also have issues with survivor guilt. I've already had to shake hands with one guy who sat right near me who was released. He seemed like a nice guy, and it's unfortunate it happened to him.

Last night when I went to bed, I worried if I would have trouble sleeping due to what was expected today. Luckily, I was tired enough that it really didn't matter.

I've gotten some decent marks over the past year on a few different projects, so, while I wasn't too worried about work, there was still the possibility in the back of my mind that I would have to deal with it on some scale or another. And, I mean, I'm just waiting for the day when someone has a huge issue with working with a transsexual...but so far, that just hasn't happened. Sure, people have told me that they weren't sure about working with me, but afterward, they gave me excellent marks...and obviously felt comfortable enough to tell me their feelings.

There has been some of the same emotions with my mom. Obviously they wouldn't tell us that everything was fine and she was free to just go back to her regular living. She still has treatments, and the procedure in February, and a long way to go before she is considered cancer free. She is still managing through her treatments, though, and trying to keep a positive attitude.

Thus, for today, I went 2 for 2, on a bunt-single and a double, enough to keep me in the lineup for the games to come.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Survivor guilt is easy to get over. Just make a real effort to keep in touch with people. It will pay massive dividends in the future for you and them.

Anonymous said...

I made it past the first layoffs ,the next week cutback of all overtime and then i was called into the HR office 15 minutes before quitting time and told to clean out my desk it was my last day. Oh joy unemployment.