Braces On Longer? / Fantasy Football Champion / Christmas is Nigh
Nicole and I have had a lot of stuff happening with our teeth these last couple weeks. She's begun using her dental health insurance to visit a general dentist for her first real check-up and cleaning in years. Unfortunately, they found several cavities and areas that could use some work on her teeth, so twice in the last two weeks she's gone in to get that work done. It's not unlike the situation I was in eighteen months ago when I visited a general dentist for the first time since I was in college almost a decade ago. They found a million issues and I was there three times in as many weeks to have nearly every tooth in my mouth worked on. Needless to say, Nicole's teeth are still sore from all the dental work but it was worth it.
At around the same time Nicole was doing her thing last week, I also went in for my routine semi-annual cleaning and check-up. No cavities or issues! This means that since I got all that work done eighteen months ago in preparation to get my braces on, I've not had an issue since. It's such a relief, especially considering having braces makes it that much harder to clean and maintain my teeth. My dentist was very pleased, too, which is always great to hear. The only issue is that, in order to have a really smooth cleaning, I had to visit my orthodontist twice in one day to get the braces bands both taken off then put back on after the cleaning. When they put the bands back on, the orthodontist once again commented that my front teeth still aren't coming together like they should and it's possible I may need a device installed to prevent my tongue from touching my teeth at all. Such a device would need to be installed for at least a year. When I heard this, I inferred that I'll be in braces at least a year from now, which will be six months longer than originally planned. It's frustrating to hear that, but what am I gonna do? I've gotta simply go with it and stay the course.
For five straight years now, I've been playing in a Fantasy Football league started by my college friends, Cassandra and Matt. I'm not huge into American football, but I understand the game and being in a fantasy league gives me an opportunity to get interested and care about what happens to teams and individual players. I love the statistical analysis and math that you can employ to decide how to run a fantasy team from week to week. It's entertaining and my favorite part of the whole thing. My fantasy team is called the Tropical Depressions and I've done alright over the years. In my first year, 2009, I actually came in fourth overall out of ten teams. In 2010, I came in third. 2011 was a rough year and I came in seventh but that was also a year we got crazy and had eighteen teams. 2012 was also a bad year as I came in tenth overall out of twelve teams. This year, 2013, started out poorly too, as I lost many games early on. My saving grace was that everyone else seemed to be having a rough season too, and there were no clear win-leaders or losers all season. It was rather balanced.
Towards the end, however, I started winning games. Leading up to the playoffs, I won six straight games which ranked me #2 out of twelve teams, earning me a slot in the 2013 winner's playoff bracket. I won my first playoff round (I've been in the playoffs before but I've never made it past the first week) and then I won the second round wherein I played my most intense competitor: Cassandra's mother. Her team scares me as she's had an excellent season and no one was as shocked as I was to have squeaked by her. The third and final round was the title championship! I had made it to the finals! I was up against the #1-ranked team, led by a friend of Cassandra's who was playing fantasy football for the first time this year. Truthfully, I did prepare myself for a potential loss by admitting that I was just happy to have gotten that far into the winner's bracket. I had somehow turned a poor performance early on in the season into a spot in the championship, and that would have been enough for me. After some last minute stress over which players to use, we let it all ride. After the real-life football games began being played and results were coming in, wouldn't you know it, I had won.
You don't actually win anything in our fantasy league. You get a digital trophy and bragging rights, so that's fun. I don't want to sound like a sore winner, but it's not set in that I'm the 2013 champion. I think it's because I feel a little "survivor's guilt" over being the last one standing after everyone else had a rotten season. Also, it just doesn't feel like the season is already over. Sure, there was nail-biting and suspense and self-doubt and all the other entertaining emotions that come with doing your best in friendly competition, but it still seems so unreal to me. I'll see Cassandra and Matt again in a few weeks for a game night, wherein we shall share stories and discuss battles like warriors of merit. I think then it'll all become real. Bring on 2014!
Merry Christmas and happy holidays, everyone! I'll be spending the holiday with my immediate family. Like almost every year, it'll be a quiet affair at home. Ahhh perfect!
At around the same time Nicole was doing her thing last week, I also went in for my routine semi-annual cleaning and check-up. No cavities or issues! This means that since I got all that work done eighteen months ago in preparation to get my braces on, I've not had an issue since. It's such a relief, especially considering having braces makes it that much harder to clean and maintain my teeth. My dentist was very pleased, too, which is always great to hear. The only issue is that, in order to have a really smooth cleaning, I had to visit my orthodontist twice in one day to get the braces bands both taken off then put back on after the cleaning. When they put the bands back on, the orthodontist once again commented that my front teeth still aren't coming together like they should and it's possible I may need a device installed to prevent my tongue from touching my teeth at all. Such a device would need to be installed for at least a year. When I heard this, I inferred that I'll be in braces at least a year from now, which will be six months longer than originally planned. It's frustrating to hear that, but what am I gonna do? I've gotta simply go with it and stay the course.
For five straight years now, I've been playing in a Fantasy Football league started by my college friends, Cassandra and Matt. I'm not huge into American football, but I understand the game and being in a fantasy league gives me an opportunity to get interested and care about what happens to teams and individual players. I love the statistical analysis and math that you can employ to decide how to run a fantasy team from week to week. It's entertaining and my favorite part of the whole thing. My fantasy team is called the Tropical Depressions and I've done alright over the years. In my first year, 2009, I actually came in fourth overall out of ten teams. In 2010, I came in third. 2011 was a rough year and I came in seventh but that was also a year we got crazy and had eighteen teams. 2012 was also a bad year as I came in tenth overall out of twelve teams. This year, 2013, started out poorly too, as I lost many games early on. My saving grace was that everyone else seemed to be having a rough season too, and there were no clear win-leaders or losers all season. It was rather balanced.
Towards the end, however, I started winning games. Leading up to the playoffs, I won six straight games which ranked me #2 out of twelve teams, earning me a slot in the 2013 winner's playoff bracket. I won my first playoff round (I've been in the playoffs before but I've never made it past the first week) and then I won the second round wherein I played my most intense competitor: Cassandra's mother. Her team scares me as she's had an excellent season and no one was as shocked as I was to have squeaked by her. The third and final round was the title championship! I had made it to the finals! I was up against the #1-ranked team, led by a friend of Cassandra's who was playing fantasy football for the first time this year. Truthfully, I did prepare myself for a potential loss by admitting that I was just happy to have gotten that far into the winner's bracket. I had somehow turned a poor performance early on in the season into a spot in the championship, and that would have been enough for me. After some last minute stress over which players to use, we let it all ride. After the real-life football games began being played and results were coming in, wouldn't you know it, I had won.
You don't actually win anything in our fantasy league. You get a digital trophy and bragging rights, so that's fun. I don't want to sound like a sore winner, but it's not set in that I'm the 2013 champion. I think it's because I feel a little "survivor's guilt" over being the last one standing after everyone else had a rotten season. Also, it just doesn't feel like the season is already over. Sure, there was nail-biting and suspense and self-doubt and all the other entertaining emotions that come with doing your best in friendly competition, but it still seems so unreal to me. I'll see Cassandra and Matt again in a few weeks for a game night, wherein we shall share stories and discuss battles like warriors of merit. I think then it'll all become real. Bring on 2014!
Merry Christmas and happy holidays, everyone! I'll be spending the holiday with my immediate family. Like almost every year, it'll be a quiet affair at home. Ahhh perfect!