Early Golf

I woke up before 7 AM for the second day in a row. This has got to stop on weekends. But today is golf Sunday and I got us a tee time at 8 AM at Woodley Lakes in Van Nuys. I had not played that course in many many years. The last time Lisa and I played there was before Johnnie was born so that would be 6 years at least. I do remember the course being flat and long and I was simply glad we were playing on another new course this morning. I was also glad that Scott signed up to play. If he's well enough to play golf, then the stroke he suffered a couple of weeks again didn't truly sideline him and I'm so very glad that he's fine. Of course that was before I got there and heard my name being called by the starter. And when I walked up it turned out that the tee time I signed up for was for 7:30 AM not 8! W-h-a-t? The starter had already sent Greg out since he got there first. And then proceeds to give me a hard time about being late and not being able to let me go out since other golfers were already at the 10th tee. I asked him to please wait and then rushed out to find Scott driving in. I told him about our situation and then made him run to the starter. Yes, I made Scott - not 10 days removed from being in the hospital because of a stroke - exert himself. The bottom line though was that the starter signed us up and let us go and we found Greg waiting on the 10th. That fucking starter!! There was no one near the 10th. I blasted my first shot in a rush just so we could say we got started, and so did Greg and off we went. As far as the golf, Chris plays here all the time and always talks about how wide and flat the fairways are. Boy he wasn't kidding. These fairways are as forgiving as any I've ever played at. Not that it prevented me from hitting some shots out of bounds mind you. I won the first hole with a bogey, and that should have told me that when I'm not thinking so much, I actually play pretty well. When I start thinking so much is when I rush myself and that's when I play poorly. Seems simple right? After that first hole, I thought I never got myself back in rhythm... until the last few holes. On a 175 yard hole, I blasted a 5 iron straight that went 150 yards, and just short of the green. I made a 4 on that one. We never really kept score. All I know is that I won maybe 3 holes. And I remember my first 2 shots on the last hole, which was 500 yards long! I hit a nice tee shot, and then blasted a fairway wood leaving me 190 yards from the hole. Too bad I flubbed the next 2. But I'll remember the fairway shot. Needless to say this morning's golf game was far more enjoyable than the heatstroke game at Hansen Dam. And I even managed to stop at Ralphs for groceries and some juice and got home by 11 AM. It was already a pretty good day.

I was ok doing nothing the rest of the day. I had a good night's sleep, at least compared to the 4 hours I averaged the last few days. I chilled on the couch, watched Sunday football. Nice game the Rams played beating the Eagles and it was the early game too. And then the Dodgers came on. But honestly, neither game carried my emotional investment. That one I saved for the Western Conference Finals game tonight: Lakers vs Nuggets Game 2. Not that I watched it obviously. I still get way too nervous. Too emotionally invested. The game started at 5 but I couldn't find anything to distract me. So I made dinner. I made that sort-of Moroccan tajine with ground beaf and ground lamb, and that turned out pretty good.  By 8 PM I decided to check in on Spectrum Sports Net. Yep, the post game had just started. And what I missed was apparently Anthony Davis' coming out party. He hit a buzzer beating Mamba shot from the 3 pt line,  the kind we were used to seeing Kobe make over and over like the cold killer that he was in the playoffs. I have a memory of his shot in Phoenix and I distracted myself back then too, by going to the Third Street Promenade. And let's not forget Big Shot Rob vs Sacramento. This was at that level. Laker legend making. And I soaked all of it in watching the postgame. LOL. No need to get nervous then HA HA. And that was how I ended my Sunday, and my weekend. All in all, a pretty satisfying day :)