New and interesting happenings
So, I am now in the middle of full swing in my fall sports frenzy. I am playing co-ed softball in a league in Holly Springs (the town I now live in) and playing co-rec soccer with the IBM sports league. That means I have game potential on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of any given week. That's a lot of sports. :-) I really enjoy both, though I am hardly a star player at either. Still, something about being the keeper (goalie) on a team is very rewarding. I love the pace of soccer, and the effort I have to put in. For softball, I am currently playing first base. More on the specific reasons why later. For now, it means that I am one of the men that is subbed in and out to allow "everyone to play." The ironic part of that for me is that there are two men that play the entire time with more errors, fewer hits, and fewer runs scored than I have. The problem is that as a lefty, I am much less flexible as to where I play. Playing third as a lefty isn't an easy premise generally speaking.
Last weekend was my second trip to what is dubbed the Myrtle Beach Open. That in itself is a misnomer, because it is by invitation only, but the MBI just sounds less cool. :-) Once again, I stepped up and proved that I was by far the most horrific golfer in a group of 20 men all down in SC to play golf, drink heavily, and play poker. I managed to do none of those three well. lol. I just don't play golf enough. Since Paul's death, and really my relocation to NC, I don't have anyone to play with as regularly as I did in Arkansas. I told myself this time around I would take some lessons so that when I get to my third MBO (if I am still on the invite list) I would be a much improved golfer. I don't know how to take Texas Holdem lessons, but I suspect that just means playing more often. Unfortunately, that means getting folks to play, or to invite me to play. I host a monthly poker gathering at the house, but I am not getting invited to poker regularly elsewhere.
The courses we played were gorgeous. I am not sure if it is just because I was used to playing mostly municipal courses in Arkansas, or if there are just nicer courses in general in North and South Carolina. Either way, I know I have only played one course in AR that had a beverage cart making the rounds, and that was an expensive round of golf. A golf course is obviously an incredible waste of natural resources, but given the elitist nature of golf in general, I can see where they would easily justify the waste. :-)
The people I met were very interesting characters. The MBO is a collection of old friends and college buddies of the host, and his father and some of his buddies. Some are very good guys. Some I think use the trip as an excuse to act 18 again. Some I think are just always going to be 18 mentally. I like them all as they are, as long as some big burly drunk guy doesn't look like he's going to kick my ass for not rooting for him winning at cards. :-) I usually have no clue where these guys are from, though I do gather that more than a few are actually local to Raleigh area. I'd probably see more of them if I were a better golfer, or closer to their age. Being 8 or 9 years older usually puts me at a relative disadvantage. I am too old to hang with most of the younger guys, and too young to hang with the old men (known as the oldsters on the trip.) But, don't get me wrong, I had an outstanding time. I hope I get to keep going back.
Golf is a fascinating sport for me. It takes lots of work to be competent at it, and ends up not being very relaxiing if you do suck at it. It is also fairly expensive as a hobby, and I haven't stepped up to spending large sums of money on the toys for golf. I'd love to be better at it, but then it seems more like work to improve my game. I am not 100% sure I want to have to deal with that. I do still hold the fantasy that I'd shoot for champions tour q school and start playing professional golf in my late 50s, but I imagine that's now more a pipe dream than anything.
Poker is not a sport, but the psychology, or sociology of it also fascinates me. I need to spend more time figuring out how to read people, and less time playing statistics and odds. The former is more the real poker skill. Managing the odds and stats will carry you only so far. I am convinced that having the people skills down (reading when they are bluffing, or when they are not) sooner will take me further in poker more quickly than will the odds calculations. A terrible hand played well can win just as often as a good hand, and you are far more likely to get a bad hand. ;-)
Well, I finally broke down and went to see the doctor. Last soccer season (yes, almost a year ago) I did something in one of the matches to my left shoulder. Since then, I just chose to suck it up, thinking it was nothing more than being old. During the MBO, some guys were throwing the football around. I discovered that I had no arm strength, and no control when I attempted to throw hard. As I indicated above, I can only play first base. My natural position is one of the two center field positions, but I discovered that I can't even make the throw from third to first. What good would I be in the outfield? He informed me I likely have a torn rotator cuff in that shoulder. The diagnostic tests he performed created the pain points I have, and I am sure he's right. I listened to the symptoms that NY Jets quarterback Chad Pennington has, and they sounds just like what I have. I don't know if it affected my golf game, but I do suspect that is possible. In the end, I am now being faced with physical therapy, and the possibility of shoulder surgery of some sort. I can only hope it isn't too serious.
On the health front, I am really still pretty happy. Despite the scale at the doctor's office weighing more than I expected (it showed I was still over 200), I am still weighing in at under 200 pounds at home. Almost 30 pounds now, and just another 12 or 13 to go to my first target. Once I get to 185, then I will revisit and see whether I should shoot for 170. That means I would still be over halfway to my target, though just barely. I want to see how I look after the first 41 pounds. I don't honestly know if I want to lose the 15 from 185 to 170. I know my doctor would love it, but he can just deal with it. :-)
Another month, another miss. For some reason, this one hit Colleen pretty hard. I think partly it had to do with the two voodoo women at her job. They told her that God told them she needed to stay off her feet and get out of this job. One even went as far as to say that God had told her the sex of the baby we lost in March. I think in her heart she wanted to really be pregnant, despite the spooky feeling she got from those two women about God telling them about her pregnancy. But, as I said, we missed. Oh well, work, work, work!!!
Well, sounds like I have rambled in a lot of different directions and covered a lot of crap this time around. Not like there's anyone actually reading this stuff anyway. LOL
Cheers
Last weekend was my second trip to what is dubbed the Myrtle Beach Open. That in itself is a misnomer, because it is by invitation only, but the MBI just sounds less cool. :-) Once again, I stepped up and proved that I was by far the most horrific golfer in a group of 20 men all down in SC to play golf, drink heavily, and play poker. I managed to do none of those three well. lol. I just don't play golf enough. Since Paul's death, and really my relocation to NC, I don't have anyone to play with as regularly as I did in Arkansas. I told myself this time around I would take some lessons so that when I get to my third MBO (if I am still on the invite list) I would be a much improved golfer. I don't know how to take Texas Holdem lessons, but I suspect that just means playing more often. Unfortunately, that means getting folks to play, or to invite me to play. I host a monthly poker gathering at the house, but I am not getting invited to poker regularly elsewhere.
The courses we played were gorgeous. I am not sure if it is just because I was used to playing mostly municipal courses in Arkansas, or if there are just nicer courses in general in North and South Carolina. Either way, I know I have only played one course in AR that had a beverage cart making the rounds, and that was an expensive round of golf. A golf course is obviously an incredible waste of natural resources, but given the elitist nature of golf in general, I can see where they would easily justify the waste. :-)
The people I met were very interesting characters. The MBO is a collection of old friends and college buddies of the host, and his father and some of his buddies. Some are very good guys. Some I think use the trip as an excuse to act 18 again. Some I think are just always going to be 18 mentally. I like them all as they are, as long as some big burly drunk guy doesn't look like he's going to kick my ass for not rooting for him winning at cards. :-) I usually have no clue where these guys are from, though I do gather that more than a few are actually local to Raleigh area. I'd probably see more of them if I were a better golfer, or closer to their age. Being 8 or 9 years older usually puts me at a relative disadvantage. I am too old to hang with most of the younger guys, and too young to hang with the old men (known as the oldsters on the trip.) But, don't get me wrong, I had an outstanding time. I hope I get to keep going back.
Golf is a fascinating sport for me. It takes lots of work to be competent at it, and ends up not being very relaxiing if you do suck at it. It is also fairly expensive as a hobby, and I haven't stepped up to spending large sums of money on the toys for golf. I'd love to be better at it, but then it seems more like work to improve my game. I am not 100% sure I want to have to deal with that. I do still hold the fantasy that I'd shoot for champions tour q school and start playing professional golf in my late 50s, but I imagine that's now more a pipe dream than anything.
Poker is not a sport, but the psychology, or sociology of it also fascinates me. I need to spend more time figuring out how to read people, and less time playing statistics and odds. The former is more the real poker skill. Managing the odds and stats will carry you only so far. I am convinced that having the people skills down (reading when they are bluffing, or when they are not) sooner will take me further in poker more quickly than will the odds calculations. A terrible hand played well can win just as often as a good hand, and you are far more likely to get a bad hand. ;-)
Well, I finally broke down and went to see the doctor. Last soccer season (yes, almost a year ago) I did something in one of the matches to my left shoulder. Since then, I just chose to suck it up, thinking it was nothing more than being old. During the MBO, some guys were throwing the football around. I discovered that I had no arm strength, and no control when I attempted to throw hard. As I indicated above, I can only play first base. My natural position is one of the two center field positions, but I discovered that I can't even make the throw from third to first. What good would I be in the outfield? He informed me I likely have a torn rotator cuff in that shoulder. The diagnostic tests he performed created the pain points I have, and I am sure he's right. I listened to the symptoms that NY Jets quarterback Chad Pennington has, and they sounds just like what I have. I don't know if it affected my golf game, but I do suspect that is possible. In the end, I am now being faced with physical therapy, and the possibility of shoulder surgery of some sort. I can only hope it isn't too serious.
On the health front, I am really still pretty happy. Despite the scale at the doctor's office weighing more than I expected (it showed I was still over 200), I am still weighing in at under 200 pounds at home. Almost 30 pounds now, and just another 12 or 13 to go to my first target. Once I get to 185, then I will revisit and see whether I should shoot for 170. That means I would still be over halfway to my target, though just barely. I want to see how I look after the first 41 pounds. I don't honestly know if I want to lose the 15 from 185 to 170. I know my doctor would love it, but he can just deal with it. :-)
Another month, another miss. For some reason, this one hit Colleen pretty hard. I think partly it had to do with the two voodoo women at her job. They told her that God told them she needed to stay off her feet and get out of this job. One even went as far as to say that God had told her the sex of the baby we lost in March. I think in her heart she wanted to really be pregnant, despite the spooky feeling she got from those two women about God telling them about her pregnancy. But, as I said, we missed. Oh well, work, work, work!!!
Well, sounds like I have rambled in a lot of different directions and covered a lot of crap this time around. Not like there's anyone actually reading this stuff anyway. LOL
Cheers
posted by Derek Botti at
2:05 PM
1 Comments:
Dont know if you remember me- we attended school together at SHHS. Saw you on the SHHS Reunion page. Man- it is hard to believe we are this OLD ! Hope your golf game gets better- i know mine can't get any WORSE.
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