By Brendan Ulmer
Ulmer Uninterrupted
As you likely already know, being a full-time member of the workforce is exhausting. At least for most people it is.
It doesn’t really matter what you do, how much you love it, or even how much you get paid, sometimes you just want to lie on your bed and watch the ceiling fan spin.
I find myself in that position around, I don’t know, once every three months or so. I will likely continue to find myself in this position for the rest of my life, until someone starts paying me to simulate baseball seasons on a computer.
When I was growing up, my school, Forest View Elementary (shout-out, Foxes), had an initiative to teach us students, the “7 Habits of Happy Kids.” This is a children’s book by Sean Covey, adapted from his father, Stephen Covey’s, “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” In hindsight, I’m kind of amused by this initiative, because it’s pretty funny to tell someone who was in diapers mere months ago that they need to “begin with the end in mind.” The “end in mind” for someone that age, nine times out of 10, is candy.
While I poke fun at it, it must have had an impact on me, as I still remember what the seven habits are.
In these times of job-induced lethargy, the habit that comes to mind is “Sharpen the Saw,” which was apparently 1980s business slang for “treat yourself.” In order to make sure you can maximize healthy productivity, it is important to make sure you don’t overwork yourself.
I’m quickly finding out, however, that recharging is not found staring at your ceiling fan but in actually going out, being spontaneous and doing things that you wouldn’t otherwise do.
Since January, my Aunt Holly has been hosting a student from Japan. Holly, a terrific host, asked him about what he wanted to see and do during his remaining months in the United States. He said he wanted to go see a professional soccer game in Kansas City. Holly graciously bought us all tickets and he, my cousin, Maddie and I headed east this past weekend to watch Sporting Kansas City.
Sporting Kansas City, if their record is to be believed, is not a very good soccer team. However, their games are a lot of fun. I have only ever been to one other game, and that was almost 10 years ago.
I’ll just say, as far as presentation goes, Sporting does it right. Their player intro package is complete with fireworks and flame throwers. Just 10 minutes before the game starts, the field is hidden under a thick cloud of smoke, which dissipates completely right before kick-off, and I mean right before.
While soccer is often teased for not having that much action, very few things in sports spectating feel as good as watching your team score a goal.
We were treated to one Sporting Kansas City goal, which ended up tying the game at one. Then, go figure, neither team scored for the rest of the game, which lasted 72 minutes.
Regardless, the game was quick, breezy and fun.
The rest of the weekend was a joy, as well. While I love my home here in Hutch, I often miss my family and the food I grew up eating, and last weekend, I got plenty of family and plenty of food.
Now, I’m here, back at work, saw sharpened, feeling better than I have in quite a while.