Let That Sink In

In commemoration of the US departure from the Paris Climate Accord: I photographed these guardian angels outside Le Bourget in 2015, about ten days before the Paris Agreement was signed

I thought that being on the off ramp from full time employment might feel similar to the time I spent between when I knew I was finally going to get my hip surgery in 2016 (July) and when I actually had the surgery (August). 

That was a few weeks of happy anticipation, ending, just before the anaesthetic kicked in, with a fleeting wince of fear.

But it's not the same.

A few times every week as the days count down, I do find myself thinking "glad I'm never going to have to do this again" or "I'm not going to miss this."

But most of the time I put retirement out of my mind because if I didn't, I would gather my personal effects from my office, drop off my security pass, and walk out the door. 

Bragging Rights

Another person leaving the ministry (because he has another job; not because he's retiring) is the fellow who ran office trivia contests to support the United Way. I described the first of these contests that I participated in a while back. He held his last trivia tournament this past week.

The games are like Reach for the Top, with four-person teams and a gizmo with a buzzer system. In a contest six months ago, my team and I did well, ending up in a tie with the team that usually wins. The captain of that team, an affable chap named Tim, is fast on the button and knows everything. The rest of his team is just table fodder, maybe getting one answer in per game, as Tim dominates every round.

I missed the first game for this week's contest because I had a lunch date. This was lucky; the person subbing in for me nailed the "Beyonce" category and cinched the win. 

The finals were held on Friday. The way the tournament had worked out was my team had to beat one very strong team in order to face Tim and his table fodder. 

As we played the semi-final round, it felt like the teams, both with captains named Karen, were pretty evenly matched. When the questions were done we all waited anxiously as the quiz master tallied the scores. He said "Karen's team wins." We all howled "WHICH KAREN?!?!"   

My team won by three points.

After a short break, my team faced Tim's. 

Before the match that day, despite there being absolutely nothing at stake, one of my team members fretted that we would be demolished by either Karen's or Tim's teams. I said, "no, we're going to win." I wondered if my power of positive thinking approach would work. 

When you play the buzzer game against Tim, you feel like you're up against a robot. A lot of the time he answers before the whole question has been read. And even when you know the answer, Tim will beat you on the buzzer nine times out of ten.

Sometimes the only break you get against Tim is when the category stumps him. "Beyonce" helped my team beat him on Monday. And, implausibly, on Friday, it was "Movie Catch Phrases." Tim got "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," but my team got eight of the nine other answers in the category, including "Rosebud." When I got that one, I looked across the table at Tim, stunned. "I'm faster on the buzzer than you are?" I couldn't believe it. Tim said it was because I was closer to the control box.

We beat Tim's team by eight points. I can retire undefeated, by Tim.

29 days left.

Thanks for reading!

Have a great week!

Karen