Path

So the initial reviews are in, and it looks like the product Cam and I worked on over on the weekend is being met with positivity! Yeah! This is due in no small part due to Jeff, our all-star bug discoverer. At one point on Monday night, he unearthed an insane 10 bugs in the space of an hour. Very cool.
Our managers ordered all three of us to go home at 3pm yesterday. 🙂 Cam and I are also going to be getting two days off. This works out well, since I’m already using them to go to Victoria. 😉
Tomorrow night is the championship game for my Ultimate team, the Sarasota Slackers. We’re up for the season title against the undefeated “Ducks”. We’ve played them twice, and lost twice: one was a blowout, the other, not so much — but I still think we have a decent chance. The Ducks aren’t disciplined about their play. While I wouldn’t exactly call the Slackers disciplined either, we’ve certainly practiced a few times (according to my sources, the Ducks have never practiced, not even once.) Whereas the Ducks have a few great athletes, I think we’re a better team across the board — everyone has a good grasp of the core concepts of the game, including spirit.
Tomorrow night is also the company holiday party. It’s at the exact same time as the Ultimate finals. I went last year and it was a blast. Great food, free booze, good people. Plus, it was a rare opportunity to meet the family of the folk I worked with every day. All this, and there was a draw where one of my coworkers won an iPod. Not a bad deal. It’s also been said that the higher-ups take a mental note of who does and does not show up to these events.
There is no opportunity to attend both events, as they occur at pretty much the same time.
So what to do? What would you do?

Well, while thinking about it on the way to practice Tuesday, I came to a certain conclusion, one that did not come easily. I’m going to play in the finals.
Here’s how I worked it out: although attending tomorrow night’s holiday party would be a lot of fun and a chance to rub shoulders with higher-ups in a semi-casual setting, being one of the leaders of the team, I have an obligation to be there. In addition, lately, the Slackers could really use some help in the attendance department. It’s not clear, at this point, that we’ll have more than a couple of subs.
Finally, I’ve spent a large chunk of the last four months — several hours a night, two-three nights/week, for the past four months, getting ready for this. To not play would be to cheat myself. The way I see it, if you’re gonna pour a lot of your time into something, you should really see it through, no?