The Dice Are Cast

After 6 years 8 months and 1 day of toiling at Ye Olde Textbooke Factorie, I finally found the strength and courage to tender my resignation on Wednesday. It was a bit of a surreal experience that left me dazed and emotionally drained. For much of Tuesday, I walked around with a leaden feeling in my chest and butterflies in my stomach. Communicating this decision to my boss, Madame Googly Eyes (name courtesy of Arby), was not going to be pleasant. She is not known to be a rational individual and has had a history of unleashing a rather nasty vindictive streak. However, I'd reached a point of no return. 2007, a year of indignities at the Factorie, made me realize that I could no longer tolerate the pervasive poor management, inequities, prejudice, mistreatment, and unhealthy corporate culture. My career had become stagnant, and it was time to make a change. So, after a sleepless night, I went into the office early and gave notice. It was probably the googliest I'd ever seen Madame, but I survived. The conversation, though not the most comfortable, was actually not as bad as I thought.

After my resignation was finally accepted, I proceeded to tell my teammates and friends. This was both easier and more difficult. I genuinely regret leaving my team in a lurch, and it saddens me that I'll no longer share in the daily jokes, conversations, and camaraderie that have brightened many a difficult day. I am profoundly grateful for the friendships that I've found at the Factorie; these are friendships that I know will continue outside of work, but I shall sorely miss having an office family.

Perhaps it is unwise to leave a secure albeit unsatisfactory job in these times of economic uncertainty. However, it is a gamble I'm willing to make. To quote a lovely Sondheim lyric that Rockhopper recently shared with me: "The choice may be mistaken/ The choosing was not." And so I take this leap, with a heart full of optimism, excitement, trepidation, and most of all hope.

Aussie Open: Final Impressions

I can't say I'm terribly thrilled with the final results of the Australian Open, but there were some brilliant matches during this past fortnight. Alas, my favorite champions faltered, and while I admit the eventual winners played extremely well and deserved their titles, they're just not my cup of tea. Sharapova is too flashy and shrieky, and Djokovic's preening and excessive ball-bouncing are rather irritating. However, I did find an exciting new player to root for: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. What he accomplished in his match against Nadal was utterly amazing. I was awestruck as I watched shot after unbelievable shot. As an avid supporter of underdogs, I was hoping that he'd emerge the Aussie Open Champion. Still, his remarkable run was quite an achievement. All in all, it was an exciting tournament, with many unexpected results. We tennis fans certainly have much to look forward to this season!

Aussie Open Madness

My long weekend seems to have passed in a blur of Australian Open tennis. Though I haven't played in years, I am an avid fan and I do try to catch some of the action of each Grand Slam (despite the time differences). I must say, I can't recall ever seeing anything that compared to the likes of what happened on "Super Saturday."

Since LA is 19 hours behind Melbourne, the action started here on Friday night. When I turned on the TV, James Blake was down 2 sets to love in his 3rd round match against Sebastian Grosjean. I've always liked Blake, so it was tough to see him struggle like that. Andy Roddick had lost the night before in a 5-setter, so Blake was America's only realistic hope left in the tournament. For him to overcome the 2-set deficit, however, seemed a stretch. History was against him: he'd only won one 5-set match before, and he had never come back from a 2-0 hole. He'd also never beaten Grosjean before. Showing what a fighter he was, however, he turned things around in the 3rd set, bageling his opponent 6-0. The tides turned again in the 4th, when Grosjean mounted a 4-1 lead. The see-sawing continued when Blake broke back twice to force a tie-breaker. Again, Grosjean took a lead, and again Blake persevered, winning the tie-break 7-5 and forcing a 5th set. Phew! Despite all the exciting tennis, fatigue born of a week of irregular sleep caught up with me, and I dozed off. When I awoke, it was to the news that Blake had won! Final score: 4-6, 2-6, 6-0, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2.

The match now in progress was between Roger Federer and Janko Tipsarevic. Who? you say? Well, I hadn't heard of him either, but he sure gave the world's #1 a run for his money. I'm rather fond of Federer because his playing style embodies pure tennis to me. He truly has a complete game, and his one-handed backhand is a thing of beauty. And he doesn't grunt! I find the proliferation of grunting throughout tennis (particularly the ladies' side) decidedly off-putting. But, I digress. The match certainly was a nail-biter! As a fan who'd like to see Federer break Sampras's Slam record, I did not want to see him ousted in the 3rd round here. Down 2 sets to 1, Federer showed his mettle by taking the 4th set in dominant fashion. Before I could breathe a sigh of relief and say, "Ah, he's playing like his old self again," Tipsarevic held strong, and the 5th set plowed ahead with no breaks of serve. Finally, Federer took the set 10-8 (no tie-breaks in the final set at the Australian Open). What drama! A note on Tipsarevic: I think it's cool that he has a line from Dostoevsky tattooed on his arm--"Beauty will save the world." Very poetic. Final score: 6-7 (7-5), 7-6 (7-1), 5-7, 6-1, 10-8.

Since the Federer-Tipsarevic match ran nearly 4.5 hours, the evening session was delayed. The match between Venus Williams and Sania Mirza was supposed to have begun at 7:30 PM Melbourne time. Instead, it didn't start till around 10 PM! I watched the first set, which went to a tie-break. It seemed that this was not destined to become another dramatic match, however, as Venus dispatched her opponent 7-0 in the tie-break. As the second set began, I fell asleep again, and when I awoke, it was morning. Surprisingly, live tennis was still being broadcast! Lleyton Hewitt and Marcos Baghdatis were battling it out in the 4th set of their match. They had apparently taken the court after the Williams-Mirza match (final score: 7-6 (7-0), 6-4) and begun play near midnight local time! More than three hours later, they were still pounding it out. Baghdatis, the lovable Cypriot, overcame an ankle injury in the 3rd set and a 5-1 deficit in the 4th to force a decisive 5th set. This was the most dramatic and thrilling match yet, with amazing shots from both sides and a loyal audience still cheering wildly despite the fact that it was the wee hours of the morning. In the end, after 4.75 hours of play, Hewitt emerged the victor at 4:33 AM. It was amazing to have witnessed part of this strange and epic match. Final score: 4-6, 7-5, 7-5, 6-7 (7-4), 6-3.

After a marathon like that, I didn't quite know what to do with myself. Go back to sleep? The morning light was too strong, and I still had adrenaline coursing through my veins. My sleeping habits seemed more irregular than ever, and I rather felt like it was going to skew my whole weekend. Yet, I was glad that I'd been part of this Aussie Open madness. I think I finally understand why my sister and brother-in-law go out in the middle of the cold, dark night after Thanksgiving to stand in line for Black Friday shopping. "For the experience," she'd say. And, I realize, also because we all need a little bit of madness in our lives from time to time.

Matzo, Matzo Ball

As you know, I was waging a war last weekend against a relapse of my cold. My main tactics involved staying in, not doing much, and sleeping a lot. I did venture out on Saturday evening to acquire additional artillery: homemade chicken soup with matzo ball from Weiler's Deli. The item had been on my mind since my friend Rockhopper suggested it. I'd only had matzo ball soup once before, when Rockhopper and I visited New York in 2006. I was expecting more of the same, but I was quite surprised when I got home. Opening my to-go bag, I found one tub of chicken noodle soup and one tub of matzo balls. Make that one tub containing two matzo balls. Two ginormous matzo balls.
The above photo shows part of my leftovers. (To give you an idea of the proportion, the tureen used here is approximately 8 inches in diameter.) As you can imagine, it took quite a while (3 or 4 meals) to finish the daunting matzo balls; the chicken soup, however, disappeared at a much faster rate. Much as the canon-ball-sized matzo amused me, it didn't seem well thought out on a gustatory level.

P.S. The title of this blog should be sung to the tune of the Village People's "Macho Man." This connection was inspired by a video that my friend the self-proclaimed EvilRedhead forwarded me.

"What Is That? A Super Goat?"

So quoth my brother-in-law upon seeing this image of our office scapegoat on my digital camera. Well, I'm sure Azazel would be flattered to be considered a Super Goat, but 'tis only his humble self bedecked in holiday finery (and my scarf) as he assumed the role of a yule goat over the Christmas and New Year breaks. What is a yule goat, you say? Here is wikipedia's explanation: "The Yule Goat is one of the oldest Scandinavian and Northern European Yule and Christmas symbols and traditions. Yule Goat originally denoted the goat that was slaughtered around Yule, but it may also indicate a goat figure made out of straw. It is also used about the custom of going door-to-door singing carols and getting food and drinks in return, often fruit, cakes and sweets. 'Going Yule Goat' is similar to the British custom wassailing, both with heathen roots." See? I didn't make it up! I love the photos included on wikipedia's yule goat page, so I shall link to them here for your enjoyment.














I realize that it is well past the yule, but a miserable cold laid me out flat for almost a week. I spent the last several days of my vacation in a kind of illness-fogged stupor. Although writing produced during that kind of mental haze may have proved interesting (or downright bizarre), I was too enervated to attempt it. I'm still not sure how I dragged myself back to work this Thursday last. Thankfully, the weekend (though wet) was just around the corner, and I finally feel more or less myself again. So, that is my excuse for this belated entry on yule goats and my belated wish to everyone for a 2008 filled with health, happiness, and good fortune.