Judging Junkie

December 12th, 2008

It’s about time I got back to this. For a large part of the past year or so I’ve been entirely too busy with a book project. That project was ultimately canceled, and for a time after that I just goofed off, trying to learn how to manage having free time again. And then just as I was getting the hang of it, I signed on for… yes, another book project.

I’ve already promised my wife that this time will be different – no working late into the night to meet deadlines, no passing up dog shows to work on a book, and so on. Of course, having been married as long as we have,  she’ll believe it when she sees it.

The title of this post came to me this past weekend as I was doing something I hadn’t done for more than a year. I was at a UKC trial, showing, and NOT judging. I was down at the Fort Hamilton UKC club’s trial in Cincinnati and I had a great time – the facility is  nice, the people are wonderful, Molly won High Combined and qualified in both Utility and Open twice in a row… in other words a great weekend.

But I noticed something. Being just an exhibitor was nice, it was relaxing, it was a pleasant change from all of the judging I’ve done… yeah, you guessed it… it was also a bit boring. Over the past two years I’ve clearly become addicted to judging, to the point that if I’m not judging, I miss it. Who would have thought it?