The aftermath of WBCOOP and getting ready for change

I started the WBCOOP Main Event at 2:00 p.m. yesterday. I needed to clean out my office at work, so my plan was to go early in the evening -- WBCOOP progress pending. My bustout at WBCOOP, however, left me extremely unhappy. I hate to even look at the percentages of my last hand:

Pre-flop: 72% favorite
Pre-turn: 84% favorite
Pre-river: 93%

It wouldn't have stung as badly if the Ace came on the flop. Knowing there were only three outs on the river made it ten times worse. I let out a loud yell. My youngest daughter came running up the stairs into my bedroom.

"Gee Dad," she said. "I thought something really bad happened to you." I guess having your heart ripped out from poker doesn't qualify as "something really bad."

After moping around for a bit, I grabbed my wife and headed in to clean out my office. I will not be back for over five months. I am a packrat, so it was interesting looking at crap dating back to the mid-1990's: a consultant's report that was total bullshit; a congratulatory letter from a former bat shit crazy president; the disciplinary letter sent to the student who ran out of my office, grabbed his crotch, and yelled "Suck my dickkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk;" the obituary from my best friend at work; the campus-wide notice that I had been elected director of my department; the themed t-shirt for orientation one year that I never wore -- from when I missed work when my Dad passed away; all kinds of coffee mugs, key chains, and other promotional crapola that found itself thrown into a desk drawer, filing cabinet, or other deep recess of my office.

As I left the office, I felt kind of sad. I'm not leaving for good -- just taking some well-deserved sabbatical time. However, waking up in the morning and working the regular daytime grind has been something I have been doing since 1982.

A real break? With time to set my own pace? Time to go to several seminars, conferences, and workshops? Time to read and get current on the new trends in my field? Time to actually think instead of having to learn to do everything fast because there is always more to do?

This will be interesting.