I Suck At Fantasy Football

With the ability to form coherent thoughts again, I began my Sunday at my parents' in Quincy. My visit was very much to the delight of my mother and father, particularly my mother who has been contacting me every day of the week to see if Karen and I were available for dinner as a way to celebrate Karen's birthday.

Apparently, my parents go through withdrawal whenever I am not around. If enough time has elapsed, my mother will eventually start to use the famous tactic known as the guilt trip to make sure that I am available on certain days. It's not like I don't want to see my parents. I love my parents.

It's just that sometimes when I see my parents, I get asked to do certain important tasks for them... from financial tasks to insurance tasks to health care related tasks. Normally, that's not a bad thing. I'm glad they trust me enough to do these things for them. Unfortunately, I have no idea what some of these things are that they are asking me to explain to them. After all, I don't know anything about the topic of Medicare or Medicaid, or insurance policies that my parents started years and years ago when I was a kid. To me, the situation is like the blind leading the blind... with unfortunate dire real world consequences. So it's the not knowing what I am going to get factor that stresses me out with my parents. And truth be told, I know there are worse things than having parents who love you.

Luckily, yesterday did not really produce any parental tasks. The main topic was estate planning, or more importantly... how to sign over one's assets while still alive. As usual, I have no idea. I am not sure anyone I know even has an idea. I could be wrong, of course. It's nice that my parents are planning ahead for the future. At the same time, the thought is a little sad for me because it makes me think about the finite amount of time that my parents have left in this world.

One of the other reasons that I sometimes stress when visiting my parental units is the fact that they inevitably try to give me stuff. Yesterday, of course, was no different. A majority of the time, my parents try to give Karen and I food. That is usually not a bad thing because I think my mom is a great cook when it comes to Chinese cuisine.

In addition to receiving food yesterday, my parents also gave me: my old Rollerblades; an index card from the hospital with my birth information; a post-it note with my name in Chinese; my old mouth retainer; and one of those fancy schmancy types of fountain pens which was apparently given to me when I was a child. (For anyone curious, I was 7 pounds 12 ounces... and 22 1/2 inches.) I have no idea what I am going to do with all of this stuff yet. All in all, it really was nice seeing my parents yesterday.

Following my parents, Karen and I headed over to our friends' (Marc and Kelley) place. Marc and Kelley invited us and a couple of other friends (Cass and Ellen) over to watch the New England Patriots football game.

It was good to see Cass again, even though he did not win the mayoral election in Quincy. Next time! Perhaps next time, he will even be on the ballot. Just kidding.

Anyway, it was good to see Cass because my fantasy football team is playing his fantasy football team this week. And as it turns out, we both like to give each other a little ribbing when it comes to our fantasy football match-up. Unfortunately, I suck at fantasy football.

Unlike the situation where I can legitimately talk smack about a competitor... like for instance in the case of my friend (Hot Amy), talking smack is a little harder when it comes to fantasy football. For anyone curious, Hot Amy is genetically predisposed to losing. She will never beat me in any challenge... ever... The only reason why Hot Amy has not broken down and cried a river about her woeful abilities is because she only has one working tear duct. Just kidding.

Fantasy football, however, is different. I actually have no physical influence on the way my fantasy team will perform from week to week. As much as I hope, I can't will my team to score points. I guess that explains why my team is a mediocre team at best... and why Cass's team is actually one of the upper echelon teams. Of course, part of the reason why my team is mediocre is because I do things like leave a player on the bench... a player who apparently scored a lot of points for the week. Oh well.

Regardless, it was fun to be silly with Cass. Whether I win or lose this week, it was fun to give Cass a little ribbing about his team. (As of right now, Cass's team is losing... chalk up another victory to my great coaching. So now Hot Amy and Cass have something in common... they both lose... Just kidding.)

Fantasy football aside, hanging out with everyone was great. We just hung out, laughed, and watched football. Marc and Kelley made pulled pork sandwiches with cole slaw. It was delicious. There were also wings... which Cass enjoyed... and bread pudding. All in all, it was a good day. I enjoyed it.