Working Hours vs. VERY Angry Cats

I always try to put in 40 hours a week.  My work day starts sometime between 1600 and 1730 and goes until sometime the next morning.  That hasn't been working out real well.  That's partly my fault, and partly things that were out of my control--especially last week week.

I wasn't exactly goofing off.  I recorded 35.25 hours for the work week from Sunday, October 15 through Saturday, October 21.  Still, 35 work hours aren't enough.  Forty hours aren't enough.  I had one job where I worked a lot of voluntary overtime because I wanted to make more money.  Every chance I got I would work at least 50 hours.  It's about time that I took poker that seriously.  Forty hours should be the absolute minimum.

I mentioned earlier that I'm playing fewer tournaments and concentrating on the ones that are more profitable.  I still think that it's the right approach.  I have to adjust my schedule and put in some time in the afternoon, or later into the morning.  Since I'm playing fewer tournaments and most of the good ones are at night, that means more studying.

I have to accept that my normal work hours are going to get interrupted.  We have a different grandchild with us overnight once a month, and during the school year, that has to happen on the weekend.  Weekends are of course the most profitable time to play, but there is nothing I can do about that.

In one sense I have a lot of freedom and can work whenever I want, but that's not exactly true.  I don't have an employer, but I have a boss who tells me exactly when I should be working. His name is Tournament Schedule.  On any poker site, the best tournaments run on nights and weekends.

Last week my work hours got badly disrupted.  I have an excuse, but if someone brought my excuse to a teacher I don't think it would fly.  I had to make sure that angry cats were separated.

We have two cats, Vanessa Rousso (named after the poker player)* and Callie, who have a lot of fun chasing each other around the house.  When a human visitor comes over they hide.  When another cat comes over, they go crazy.

Vanessa and Callie were in the sun room, looking for birds, rabbits, chipmunks or whatever else might wander by, when a cat came up to the window.  All three cats started growling and hissing.  The next thing I knew, all three cats were throwing themselves against the window glass.

After the stranger left, our cats were so worked up that they attacked each other.  I didn't want to shut them in separate rooms or carriers in case one someone had to use the kitty litter.  They hate being locked in their carriers and would have got even more worked up.  Besides, it wouldn't be fair to lock them up when they're just protecting the homeland from intruders.

After a couple hours Vanessa had not calmed down at all, so I spent Friday night trying to comfort her. and keeping the two of them apart.  I had to do it again the next night when the stranger returned and Vanessa was again upset. She calmed down by 2300 and I was able to play a good tournament that started at 2314.

I ended the week on a high note.  I played two tournaments yesterday (Saturday) and cashed in both, finishing 9th of 69 and 11th of 57.

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*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanessa_Rousso