If you are or ever were a college student, you know that a lengthy stint of classes will systematically break you down, mentally and physically. For weeks, months even, I had been looking ahead to the month of September to save me, rejuvenate me and herald the beginning of a profitable and enjoyable work experience.So did the month live up to it's expectations? I can't help but feel that I'm almost satisfied, and that it could have lasted much longer.
With Drexel not being well known for its bountiful breaks, it was no surprise that I only had a week of time off between the end of classes and the beginning of work. Granted, I'll give you that I had the opportunity to wait an extra week to start, but considering how far behind I am financially, taking extra time off was something I literally couldn't afford to do. Entering the break, I was under the assumption that most people in the house would be around, but quickly discovered the contrary would be the case for most of the "vacation". While a lot of time was spent sleeping late, eating out and doing nothing, I have at least one accomplishment to hang my hat on: the construction of the greatest "built-from-scratch-for-less-than-$300" poker table mankind has ever seen.
Excuse me for a moment while I bask in the soft, warm glow of its legitness. It took me and Phil two days of non stop work, multiple trips to Home Depot (you wouldn't believe how impossible it is to find a set of folding table legs), and a spending spree at Jo-Ann Fabrics that would make Richard Simmons blush, but it was worth it. From cutting the wood out of crazy heavy particle board to padding and upholstering the felt and rails, everything was done by hand and by our hands no less. Once everyone in the house has a little bit of cash, a cash game or tournament will definitely happen so keep your ears open for an invitation.The only responsibilities I had over my break involved my soccer team. Unfortunately, not only did I net zero revenue from our blockbuster Ticketmaster deal, but the season started off pretty poorly. You may remember me saying last time how I thought our additional preseason work would help us get off to a good start and that some of the new kids to the team were looking better than I thought. Well, I thought wrong. It's not even that our team is bad as much as it is that we're not living up to our potential. I was riding solo in the coaches chair for our first game (I'll explain why later) and we were missing some kids, but we were tied 1-1 at the half and were playing pretty decent. Our demise came in the second half when the other team scored first and everyone seemed to hang their heads and submit. We were unable to practice the following week and didn't have much more success the following game. The kids played much better and finished out the game in a more respectable manner, but we still lost 1-0. It didn't help the following week when kids were goofing off at practice and I "informed" them of my "disappointment".
I'm hoping that we'll be able to look back on this past weekend as our turning point. We switched around a couple of players and we had a full roster to work with. The kids played great (especially one of the new kids who we moved up to forward) and we wound up winning the game easily, scoring seven goals in the process. Hopefully the confidence of a good win will carry over and we can keep playing at a high level because I can honestly say that we would have won our first two games if we had played in a similar fashion.
This win also had probably one of my top big brother/coach moments ever. I always say how good my brothers are at soccer (really, at any sport they play), even though both have very different styles. Before and after our practice on Friday, I was working with Mikey alone because Bobby had a fall-ball game. Basically, I was helping him find his range on shooting the ball because he has a very strong kick for his age, and I wanted him to not only get comfortable with taking shots from further out than everyone else on the team, but also to understand in what situations it works best in. Fast forward to early in the game Sunday, the game is scoreless and Mike is moving with the ball like a man on a mission. He gets about thirty yards out, sees that the defenders have closed the space and cut off any passing lanes, and just rips one to the opposite corner and over the goalies head. He spun around, with a big smile on his face, looked right at me and gave me a thumbs up from across the field as his buddies were jumping around him. Not only was it awesome to see him succeed using the lesson I taught him, but it was even cooler because he looked at me and knew that it was what we had spent time working on.
Ok, enough of the sports talk. Don't worry, I'm NOT going to talk about how good the Eagles look, or that they are in first in the division. I'm NOT going to bitch about the 4th quarter collapse and subsequent loss to the Giants, despite dominating them for three quarters. I'm NOT going to point out that all the other NFC East teams look soft. And I'm definitely NOT going to take the time to share my thoughts about them making the playoffs this year. Nope, definitely NOT going to do that.
Obviously, all this time off culminates with the start of coop. I really don't have a whole lot to say yet, since I've only been working for a little more than a week. The people seem nice, and the work is very interesting but involved. The playful atmosphere from last year isn't here at this place, but maybe that could turn out to be a good thing. Currently, I feel a little overwhelmed, but that's only because they seem confident in getting me right to work and getting me involved in what they do. Maybe I'll have a better idea of what to expect once I get my first paycheck in two weeks.If only the time between now and then could finish as fast as September did.
