06/15/26: Work in April, Softball Team
Jun. 15th, 2026 04:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jakebe This has been a pretty hectic year.
At work, one person in our three-person team turned in their two weeks' notice; a day later, the second person filed for emergency medical leave. This meant that for a solid month, I was the only customer service representative at our company, doing the work of three people.
It was intense. Every day was a non-stop barrage of phone calls and a struggle to remember all the things I had to do: schedule dumpster exchanges, process service changes, send messages to other teams -- almost entirely administrative stuff. We didn't have time for data entry or any other aspect of the job. It was just answering phones and trying to keep my head above water.
If it sounds stressful, that's because it was. :D But I managed to make it through with my sanity mostly intact! I learned a lot through April -- that preparation and consistent best practices really do make a bad situation somewhat better, that I can handle a lot more than I thought I could, and that I really should be more forthcoming about the things I need to be the kind of person I want to be. I can actually trust my support network to have my back when I need it.
My colleague is back from medical leave, and we hired a new third for the department, so things are somewhat back to normal now. May was still quite busy because of training for the new coworker and the natural feast-or-famine cycle in waste management. Now that the weather is warm and the days are long, everyone wants to build something, tear down something else, and landscape the earth around it.
Outside of work I've joined a local gay softball team. That's eaten up a great deal of my free time, but it's been so rewarding. Learning how to do all the basic tasks in softball has been this unexpected pleasure of consistent rooting within my body, connecting movement and balance with will and accuracy. I've learned that my mobility is nowhere near where it should be, and neither is my cardio-vascular training -- but the best part is that I'm motivated to do something about it now!
I've made good progress over the several months we've been playing in the Spring Season, and I'm very grateful for all the teammates who've patiently guided me through the beginner's stage. I know I still have quite a ways to go before I'm even considered a solid player, and before I can go much further I *have* to get in better shape. Our team is currently 2nd in our division (out of 4), but this Thursday we're playing a double-header against the #1 team and I think that'll put us below .500 for the season. Not great, but we're in decent position for the playoffs on Saturday at least!
Right now, the biggest problem seems to be making the best use of time so I'm doing everything I want to do. I've been itching to write or do *something* creative for a solid month now, but I haven't figured out how to make sure it fits into my schedule consistently. And the nature of the work is such that there aren't that many stretches of time where I can sit down and think about something for long enough to get into the vibe of creation.
At home, there's always at least three or four things that need to be done but chances are I'm already so wiped from work I just want to sit in a dark room and decompress for a while. Even then, I can't actually do that because the evenings are so filled with stuff. Tonight I have a therapy session and then a D&D game. Batting practice Tuesday, a mercifully free night on Wednesday (that usually ends up getting spoken for by some plan or another), the double-header Thursday, another rest day on Friday (usually taken up by Magic: the Gathering games), and the playoffs on Saturday -- which could last all day if we're good.
Husboo has joined yet another softball league that plays on Sundays, but he's also recovering from a second muscle tear in his leg. Everyone's recommending that he take time off and actually rest, but he's so impatient to play it's hard to get him to actually stick to that plan. We'll see how things go on Thursday, but I have a feeling he won't actually make it to Sunday. Four games in two days -- even truncated, hour-long ones -- are a LOT to ask of any non-athlete.
After this week, there will be *some* free time to recuperate, so we'll see how I can get back into other hobbies then. It would be nice if I could switch tasks a little faster, but we'll see if I can develop that at all.
At work, one person in our three-person team turned in their two weeks' notice; a day later, the second person filed for emergency medical leave. This meant that for a solid month, I was the only customer service representative at our company, doing the work of three people.
It was intense. Every day was a non-stop barrage of phone calls and a struggle to remember all the things I had to do: schedule dumpster exchanges, process service changes, send messages to other teams -- almost entirely administrative stuff. We didn't have time for data entry or any other aspect of the job. It was just answering phones and trying to keep my head above water.
If it sounds stressful, that's because it was. :D But I managed to make it through with my sanity mostly intact! I learned a lot through April -- that preparation and consistent best practices really do make a bad situation somewhat better, that I can handle a lot more than I thought I could, and that I really should be more forthcoming about the things I need to be the kind of person I want to be. I can actually trust my support network to have my back when I need it.
My colleague is back from medical leave, and we hired a new third for the department, so things are somewhat back to normal now. May was still quite busy because of training for the new coworker and the natural feast-or-famine cycle in waste management. Now that the weather is warm and the days are long, everyone wants to build something, tear down something else, and landscape the earth around it.
Outside of work I've joined a local gay softball team. That's eaten up a great deal of my free time, but it's been so rewarding. Learning how to do all the basic tasks in softball has been this unexpected pleasure of consistent rooting within my body, connecting movement and balance with will and accuracy. I've learned that my mobility is nowhere near where it should be, and neither is my cardio-vascular training -- but the best part is that I'm motivated to do something about it now!
I've made good progress over the several months we've been playing in the Spring Season, and I'm very grateful for all the teammates who've patiently guided me through the beginner's stage. I know I still have quite a ways to go before I'm even considered a solid player, and before I can go much further I *have* to get in better shape. Our team is currently 2nd in our division (out of 4), but this Thursday we're playing a double-header against the #1 team and I think that'll put us below .500 for the season. Not great, but we're in decent position for the playoffs on Saturday at least!
Right now, the biggest problem seems to be making the best use of time so I'm doing everything I want to do. I've been itching to write or do *something* creative for a solid month now, but I haven't figured out how to make sure it fits into my schedule consistently. And the nature of the work is such that there aren't that many stretches of time where I can sit down and think about something for long enough to get into the vibe of creation.
At home, there's always at least three or four things that need to be done but chances are I'm already so wiped from work I just want to sit in a dark room and decompress for a while. Even then, I can't actually do that because the evenings are so filled with stuff. Tonight I have a therapy session and then a D&D game. Batting practice Tuesday, a mercifully free night on Wednesday (that usually ends up getting spoken for by some plan or another), the double-header Thursday, another rest day on Friday (usually taken up by Magic: the Gathering games), and the playoffs on Saturday -- which could last all day if we're good.
Husboo has joined yet another softball league that plays on Sundays, but he's also recovering from a second muscle tear in his leg. Everyone's recommending that he take time off and actually rest, but he's so impatient to play it's hard to get him to actually stick to that plan. We'll see how things go on Thursday, but I have a feeling he won't actually make it to Sunday. Four games in two days -- even truncated, hour-long ones -- are a LOT to ask of any non-athlete.
After this week, there will be *some* free time to recuperate, so we'll see how I can get back into other hobbies then. It would be nice if I could switch tasks a little faster, but we'll see if I can develop that at all.
no subject
Date: 2026-06-16 04:10 am (UTC)Also great about the softball; glad you're enjoying that. It's hard remembering sometime that bodies need to do body things and you can't really be happy without some of that too.
But please ask Husboo for me to take all the rest he possibly can. One small silver lining to the pandemic has been the discovery that bodies take way longer to recover than had been realized, and you're better off a year later if you take an extra couple weeks even after you feel 100% again. Rest is healing.
no subject
Date: 2026-06-16 04:18 pm (UTC)I think a lot of Husboo's inability to chill when it comes to injury is that "ticking clock" feeling. He's discovering a lot of these joys late in life, and he wants to do them as much as possible before he can't anymore...which I get.
But I also see people in their 60s playing softball in our division so I know it's a game you can have some longevity in -- if you play your cards right. I'm hoping we can play together for many more seasons. :)