Some friends who think I do nothing but sit around on my big behind all day (which is not true; occasionally I stand) recently invited me to join them for a round of golf. The conversation went something like this:
Friends: "Hey, Mike. Join us for a round of golf."
Mike: "No."
That should have been the end of it, but I have persistent friends - persistent friends who like to remind me of a time when I would drop everything to play golf, especially if "everything" meant work.
I was a music critic then, which meant I wor ... well, you can't call it work, really. It was mostly going to evening concerts and writing snarky things about them for the next day's newspaper. It's exactly what I would have been doing anyway, save the typing. I would have just said the snarky things instead.
Anyway, this kind of schedule left me with lots of open time during the day, which I would waste by smacking a little white ball around a pasture with weirdly-shaped sticks. And I did it just about every day.
That kind of dedication usually pays off in expertise. After all, if you study something for 30 minutes a day you'll be an expert in a year. Well, I devoted way more than 30 minutes a day to golf, and I did it for way more than a year, and when it all shook out, I was still caroming shots off passing cars or launching them into all available bodies of water, including sewers. I even had a ball land in back of me once. My game was somewhere between "Wretched" and "Try Pinochle."
Then my job changed and I was - get this - expected to start showing up at the office. This cut into my free time, so I stopped playing golf.
Not that my friends seemed to have noticed. Then again, it was only 18 years ago. They're not always so quick to pick up on things.
So back to the other day: They were pestering me to dig out my clubs from the Send To Goodwill pile out in the garage, and join them for 18 holes of bad shots and worse language.
"No," I repeated. "I don't use those words anymore."
I should have added "except on people who keep bugging me to do something I don't want to do anymore," but typical for me, I didn't think of it until about an hour later.
There are lots of things I no longer do. Drinking. Smoking. Hanging out in bars (where I did all that drinking and smoking). Other stuff I'd just as soon my mother not know about. Of the things I've given up, golf is pretty short beer.
But I don't miss the "used tos" of my life because I still have lots of "going tos" and "want tos." I won't bore you with the list, except this:
I'm going to live with greater peace, and I want to find more joy.
For those who find joy chasing a little white ball around some real estate, more power to you. I just know it's not for me. And anyone who presses me on it is going to find themselves being called the same thing I used to call the ball, just before it hit the water.
Apparently, it is not enough to tolerate, accept, or even endorse the gay agenda. Now, unless you tolerate and accept criminal behavior committed by gays, you are a hater.
Believe it — that is the very public argument being made in behalf of Florida high school cheerleader Kaitlyn Hunt, 18, who faces criminal charges for having sex with a 14-year-old girl.
Word on the street and in the media is that it will be a really bad summer for mosquitoes. Or should I say, it will be a really bad summer for humans, because it will be a great year for thirsty mosquitoes.
When Barack Obama announced his presidential campaign back in February 2007, he did it in front of the old Springfield, Ill., Statehouse in a speech full of references to Abraham Lincoln.
Ordinarily I don’t take requests, but a bunch of people have written to ask how I’m doing with my weight-loss surgery and I thought this might be the most efficient way to answer.
I am a grandmother who went to the Brownsburg graduation ceremony on June 7 and due to very poor planning on Brownsburg School’s part, I could not sit and watch my twin grandsons graduate in person. I was directed to an overflow room where I had to watch it on a TV screen and could not even take pictures.
What you are now hearing across the land is a collective whine. Blue-state Democrats are upset that Texas Gov. Rick Perry dares come and play in their sandboxes, and worse, threatens to “poach” jobs from their states.
The website Politico reports that Perry’s attempts to lure jobs to Texas are “infuriating to prominent Democrats around the country.”
I am the first to admit I am behind the times when it comes to technology. I remember way back in the olden days of the 1990s when I was actually ahead of the game. Now there are second-graders that are more tech savvy than me. I just decided to stop my forward technological progression a few years back.
College graduates facing a crushing debt – some more than $100,000 – is a very big and a very real problem.
But U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s recent proposal to deal with it won’t solve the problem. It is a cheap ploy to divert attention from the real problem.
An NPR broadcast examines the question of how communities can better prepare for tornadoes like the one that struck Moore, Okla. on Monday. The broadcast features commentary from Michael Fitzgerald, who reported a five-part disaster series for the CNHI News Service.
Commentary
Discussion
Golf was something I did in another life
By Mike Redmond CNHI
Some friends who think I do nothing but sit around on my big behind all day (which is not true; occasionally I stand) recently invited me to join them for a round of golf. The conversation went something like this:
Friends: "Hey, Mike. Join us for a round of golf."
Mike: "No."
That should have been the end of it, but I have persistent friends - persistent friends who like to remind me of a time when I would drop everything to play golf, especially if "everything" meant work.
I was a music critic then, which meant I wor ... well, you can't call it work, really. It was mostly going to evening concerts and writing snarky things about them for the next day's newspaper. It's exactly what I would have been doing anyway, save the typing. I would have just said the snarky things instead.
Anyway, this kind of schedule left me with lots of open time during the day, which I would waste by smacking a little white ball around a pasture with weirdly-shaped sticks. And I did it just about every day.
That kind of dedication usually pays off in expertise. After all, if you study something for 30 minutes a day you'll be an expert in a year. Well, I devoted way more than 30 minutes a day to golf, and I did it for way more than a year, and when it all shook out, I was still caroming shots off passing cars or launching them into all available bodies of water, including sewers. I even had a ball land in back of me once. My game was somewhere between "Wretched" and "Try Pinochle."
Then my job changed and I was - get this - expected to start showing up at the office. This cut into my free time, so I stopped playing golf.
Not that my friends seemed to have noticed. Then again, it was only 18 years ago. They're not always so quick to pick up on things.
So back to the other day: They were pestering me to dig out my clubs from the Send To Goodwill pile out in the garage, and join them for 18 holes of bad shots and worse language.
"No," I repeated. "I don't use those words anymore."
I should have added "except on people who keep bugging me to do something I don't want to do anymore," but typical for me, I didn't think of it until about an hour later.
There are lots of things I no longer do. Drinking. Smoking. Hanging out in bars (where I did all that drinking and smoking). Other stuff I'd just as soon my mother not know about. Of the things I've given up, golf is pretty short beer.
But I don't miss the "used tos" of my life because I still have lots of "going tos" and "want tos." I won't bore you with the list, except this:
I'm going to live with greater peace, and I want to find more joy.
For those who find joy chasing a little white ball around some real estate, more power to you. I just know it's not for me. And anyone who presses me on it is going to find themselves being called the same thing I used to call the ball, just before it hit the water.
© 2012 Mike Redmond. All Rights Reserved.
Will the current V.A. backlog on veterans’ compensation claims be the next scandal to hit the administration?
Currently, the backlog is at 865,000 plus compensation claims with a wait time of greater than 125 days.
June 18, 2013
Apparently, it is not enough to tolerate, accept, or even endorse the gay agenda. Now, unless you tolerate and accept criminal behavior committed by gays, you are a hater.
Believe it — that is the very public argument being made in behalf of Florida high school cheerleader Kaitlyn Hunt, 18, who faces criminal charges for having sex with a 14-year-old girl.
June 18, 2013
Word on the street and in the media is that it will be a really bad summer for mosquitoes. Or should I say, it will be a really bad summer for humans, because it will be a great year for thirsty mosquitoes.
June 14, 2013
As a Christian, I feel compelled to respond to a recent letter to the editor.
June 14, 2013
When Barack Obama announced his presidential campaign back in February 2007, he did it in front of the old Springfield, Ill., Statehouse in a speech full of references to Abraham Lincoln.
June 14, 2013
Ordinarily I don’t take requests, but a bunch of people have written to ask how I’m doing with my weight-loss surgery and I thought this might be the most efficient way to answer.
June 11, 2013
I am a grandmother who went to the Brownsburg graduation ceremony on June 7 and due to very poor planning on Brownsburg School’s part, I could not sit and watch my twin grandsons graduate in person. I was directed to an overflow room where I had to watch it on a TV screen and could not even take pictures.
June 11, 2013
What you are now hearing across the land is a collective whine. Blue-state Democrats are upset that Texas Gov. Rick Perry dares come and play in their sandboxes, and worse, threatens to “poach” jobs from their states.
The website Politico reports that Perry’s attempts to lure jobs to Texas are “infuriating to prominent Democrats around the country.”
June 11, 2013
I am the first to admit I am behind the times when it comes to technology. I remember way back in the olden days of the 1990s when I was actually ahead of the game. Now there are second-graders that are more tech savvy than me. I just decided to stop my forward technological progression a few years back.
June 7, 2013
College graduates facing a crushing debt – some more than $100,000 – is a very big and a very real problem.
But U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s recent proposal to deal with it won’t solve the problem. It is a cheap ploy to divert attention from the real problem.
June 7, 2013
Follow me on Twitter
Is Eric Snowden a traitor or patriot?
Tires
Telecommunications
Beauty Salons
Government
An NPR broadcast examines the question of how communities can better prepare for tornadoes like the one that struck Moore, Okla. on Monday. The broadcast features commentary from Michael Fitzgerald, who reported a five-part disaster series for the CNHI News Service.
May 22, 2013 1 Photo
Complete Report:
Part I: Are We Prepared? | Part II: Disaster Dollars
Part III: Lessons Learned | Part IV: Warning Signs
Part V: The Big One
HBO and his managers say James Gandolfini -- best known for his role as Tony Soprano in the TV series "The Sopranos" -- has died in Italy at age 51.
June 19, 2013 1 Photo
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