Fail

The first half of October has been rather disappointing.  Things started to go downhill with the cancellation of a test, and ended with me drowning my sorrows in a pint of Shiner last night. So, from the beginning ...

The first two days of the month I spent preparing for a test on the third.  Having studied and worked problems for several hours, I felt adequately prepared for the exam. Unfortunately, the exam was suddenly and inexplicably canceled at the last minute. A short game of telephone revealed one of the most bizarre works of non-fiction that I've ever heard.  Confounded and disappointed, I skipped my workout for that day.  Incidentally, I haven't been to the gym since.

On the way home, my wife informed me that she had punched a hole in the wall and flooded the kitchen (all by accident, of course), and that we needed to take the cats to the vet.  I attempted to solve those problems to the best of my ability, although we still have a hole in our bedroom wall. Wednesday was also most likely the day I acquired a contagious flu-like virus, which punished me from Thursday through Sunday, including a missed work day on Friday.

The following Wednesday I "aced" the test for which I had prepared a week earlier.  From this point the over-indulgence in useless crap (i.e. playing Civilization IV) impeded my progress on more important tasks. I completely screwed up my sleep schedule by playing past midnight most nights, and until 2:00am at least twice.

I had planed on playing in the PokerStars WBCOOP tournament on Sunday, but failed to even get in the door because tried to sign up about 4 hours too late. I take comfort in knowing that I would not have won anything even if I had managed to register.

My favorite sports teams have aided in my disappointment, since both the Stars and the Cowboys have played pretty awful. It could be worse, I suppose ... I could be a Buffalo fan.

Last night I got the results back for the test, and my results were less than satisfactory.  I demonstrated that I completely understood the problems, but was significantly discounted because I didn't show my work in the 'proper format'. Angry and disappointed, I strongly suggested to a friend that he join me for a beer.  I vented while he offered advice on how to adjust the test situation.

I continued my venting / contemplation with my wife after I got home.  She had been on vacation for the past few days, so it was good to see her again, but I'm sure I offloaded quite a lot.  At that point I came to the conclusion is that my main problem is with myself, and I need to make a concentrated effort to succeed in life, and not continue to procrastinate or otherwise waste time with useless endeavors. 

The Stars won last night with an overtime shootout, having never lead during the entire game.  I suppose if they can rise up, so can I.