Monday, February 19, 2018

The fever














In my long library career I am occasional seized with a feverish desire to spearhead some kind of all-staff social activity. Years can easily separate these endeavors, but I have a lot of years to work with so my little projects have added up. I have thrown all staff picnics, filmed multiple library movies, run a cooperative snack store, hosted a library game show with prizes, painted portraits of all my co-workers and hung them throughout the library, and lectured to 75 co-workers on video games. I briefly throw my heart into them, they run their course, and before I know it I am surrounded by newer co-workers to the point where barely anyone is even left to remember, for instance, the Halloween I outfitted the entire Circulation desk as Vampires.

It's a little sad.

But then a new idea comes rushing up and I go make my name once again. What name is that? you ask. 

Me.

And so this past week I was compelled to put together an Olympic Curling Pool. There's a big box in the break room. It says "Curling is like bowling crossed with chess, on ice." You put your two dollars in the envelope on top. You stick your hand in and draw your random team; one of 20, ten men, ten women. Then you write your name next to the team you drew. I drew Men's Denmark, for instance, and wrote my name there. In decreasing amounts there is a payout for Women's Gold, Men's Gold, Women's Silver, and Men's Silver.

After I made the box I went around to get it fully subscribed. This was easier than I hoped. Dan bought two teams the day I was gone because, well, he's Dan. I sold out the last pick of Japanese Women a few hours before the first round robin match began, the only draw where the person knew exactly what team they were getting. My favorite thing anyone said about any of this was that they wish there was one of these boxes for every Olympic event. Me too, man, me too.

I've tried to keep everyone posted incessantly on how the teams are faring, but I've missed a couple days sick so some of my co-workers might be a little in the dark on how their team is doing. But really, shouldn't they all be reading clerkmanifesto? 

I think so too, I think so too.

So, briefly, the Swedes are looking brilliant on both sides. This could be their year. The Canadian Men are doing just fine, but the Women, considered one of the great shoe-ins of this Olympics, tanked their early games in a spectacular collapse, and it remains to be seen if they've gotten their act back together in time to get to the qualifiers. Women's Japan and S. Korea look surprisingly good. Men's Swiss are doing all right as well. My team, the Danes, are looking pretty unlikely, but I'd be ambivalent about winning having organized the whole thing. At my press time of Sunday afternoon, with five or six rounds played, I'm not sure anyone is completely out of it, well, except for Men's South Korea maybe, but at least they've won one game. It's the Olympics though, so there is much honor in just showing up and taking part. Which I hope is how everyone will feel about the Olympic Curling Pool, since, in the end, most of us are just going to be out two dollars.









2 comments:

  1. You're running a curling racket at the library?! How cool is dat!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh yeah! This curling racket is tres lucrative!

    ReplyDelete

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