Yes, I'm Still Golfing

 Sunday, November 08/20

So I got a message asking if I was still golfing as I haven't mentioned it lately and the answer is a resounding yes.

While it is true that I haven't mentioned golf in many of my posts lately it's also true that I haven't posted that many blog entries the past couple of months, but rest assured that I have been partaking of my one true vice.

My free time is split doing several activities depending on the season.

There are two things I do as much as I can regardless of the season: spend time with my family, especially my grandson and grandaughter as both of them refuse to stop growing, and read, like read every single day.

Spring, summer, and fall are all golf seasons for me and I was playing 2-3 times per week up until October 24th when the weather turned cold and I made the decision to put the sticks away for the season. Of course, Mother Nature has decided to tempt me with some warm weather once again but the bag has stayed in the basement, for now, lol

It was an interesting season as I did my usual series of lessons at Kevin Haime to work on my slice and wedge yips, seeing improvement in both areas but still have more to do get things right.

I added a new driver to the bag, well a new used driver, in the form of a Callaway Great Big Bertha Diablo in 9.5-degree loft, it caught my eye while walking around Golftown and I couldn't resist it at only $50. When I'm hitting well I've managed to average about 240 yards off the tee. Now I bought it because it is the same model as my 4 Hybrid that I love to the moon and back, so much that I added a 3 Hybrid from the GBB family to my bag. My go-to is still that 4 Hybrid when my round is feeling a bit shaky.

I've been playing Ping G30 irons since the fall of 2014, a gift from Corrina that went far and beyond anything I ever expected, and thought those would be my last new set of irons, at least until this year when I started flirting with the thought of getting the Callaway Great Big Bertha B21's next season. They only came out in September so it didn't make sense to buy them and only get a month of play before I had to put them away. Interestingly, the set comes with a 4 & 5 Hybrid instead of 4 & 5 irons.

If I go with the new irons in the spring I'll probably add the GBB B21 driver as well since it is supposed to help combat a slice, my ongoing nemesis these days. All in all, I'm looking at about $1,800 for the new set up and something I'm banking my overtime to pay for when the time comes.

Because of the pandemic I really only golfed at my home course this year, Stittsville Golf Club, and did one round at The Marshes with a friend from work. Usually, I'd have split my rounds between a rotation of Stittsville, Smiths Falls, Pakenham, Sandpoint, and The Mississippi but my usual playing partner was a no show this season and never gave me any reason for not golfing so I decided to just stay close to home, plus since I know most of the staff on a first-name basis made it easier to book last-minute rounds.

Golf is my form of yoga. It relaxes me and lets me use the time spent walking around the course as a form of meditation, thinking about things I need to get done, and also just letting the stress of working so damn much fall off my shoulders, good shot or bad shot, doesn't matter as all leave me feeling more content with my life.

I had two close calls with notching my first hole in one this season, the first in July on the 132-yard par 3 8th at Stittsville and the second last month on the 188 yard 1st at the same course. I did manage birdies on both holes but man that ace would have felt so good.

The only way my golf game could be better is if I get lucky and meet someone who loves the game as much as I do and we could play some rounds together, my ultimate dream partner :-)

So to answer the question, yes I'm still golfing and it was even more part of my life this past summer as it got me out of the house and helped lessen some of the stress from working 55+ hour weeks for most of the pandemic.

My name is Marcus and I've not given up on finding love, experiencing my last first kiss, or hitting a pure 8 iron from 135 yards to within 3 feet of the pin. All three are possible and I keep my fingers crossed I'm successful at each this coming year. It could happen!

Want to chat about golf, dating, music, books, or just about anything else under the sun? hit me up at ooasm2018@gmail.com and I promise to respond.

America, Can Someone Please Explain to Me.......

 Saturday, November 07/20

America, can someone please explain to me.....

How the presidential election results were not confirmed until today, four full days after the nation took to the polls to democratically elect a leader?

How is it that someone who:

• Started off his presidency by flat out lying about the turnout, vastly overstating the numbers, for his inauguration back in 2017;
• Told the world he was going to build a wall between the United States and Mexico and expect Mexico to pay for the said wall;
• Implemented an immigration policy that literally tore children away from their parents and, at last count, managed to lose the parents of almost 500 kids in the system to such an extent that they can't guarantee the ability to reunite these children with either a mother or father;
• Surrounded himself with family members who were completely unqualified to advise him with anything remotely resembling expertise - Yes, I'm referring to Ivanka, Jared, Donnie Jr, Eric, and the spouses and girlfriends to Donnie Jr. & Eric;
• Shut down the National Security Council directorate at the White House charged with preparing for when, not if, another pandemic would hit the United States in 2018;
• Claim the economy was roaring based solely on the rise of the Dow and S&P Indexes without ever realizing that a rising stock market does not impact citizens equally, that in fact, literally tens of millions of Americans don't earn enough to partake of the stock market;
• Claimed the previous president spent far too many days away from the White House golfing to end up actually playing more rounds of golf in his first two years in office than Obama did in his eight years;
• Argued the prior administration left his administration with empty cupboards in regards to PPE to use in battling the Covid19 pandemic when his team had over 3 years to rectify any shortfalls, if there were any to even begin with, so crying foul seems a little disingenuous to this blogger;
• Was the most racist president bar none to reside in the White House in the last 100 years;
• Claimed there were good people on both sides of a riot in Virginia protesting statues and buildings honoring Confederate leaders - how does being a racist make you a good person?;
• Defended the actions of 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse who drove from Antioch Illinois to Kenosha Wisconsin to exercise his right to bear arms, his attorneys' words, in the aftermath of the Jacob Blake shooting. Now for those of you not familiar with the geography of the midwest, that means our little hero drove across the state border to a community in which he had no legal claim;
• Ordered the use of federal officers from various departments to deploy to Portland, Oregon and use tactics reminiscent of the KGB in Moscow to snatch people off the streets if they thought they might be persons of interest to the ongoing civil unrest;
• Suggested he would be sending these federal officers to other cities if they did not get control over the people protesting, usually referring to them derisively as democratic cities, conveniently forgetting that few if any cities are 100% of any one particular political party.
• Ignored the civil unrest generated by the rash of police killings of black men over the span of several months, not once making a statement to try and reassure the people that he understood how they felt and would put the full might of the U.S. government behind finding out the causes, punishing the wrongdoers, and putting into play steps to make sure these kinds of things didn't happen again;
• Used his personal toady U.S. Attorney General William Barr to clear out lawfully protesting individuals in front of the White House so he could have a photo opportunity of himself holding a bible in front of St. John's Episcopal Church;
• Offering up non-medically proven treatments for Covid19, like taking an anti-malarial drug that was untested or even sanctioned by the FDA;
• Argued that if we just quit testing people for Covid19 we would see a decline in the number of reported cases - just because you don't test doesn't mean people aren't still getting sick, his analogy is like saying if I take the speedometer out of my car it'll mean I'm not going over the stated speed limit if I floor the gas pedal;
• Placed his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in charge of the White House Covid19 response task force, after arguing there was no pandemic, claiming it was caused by China in an attempt to destabilize the world. I'm still trying to understand how old JK was qualified to head such a critical task force given he has literally no background in infectious diseases or managing a supply chain for a pandemic;
• Claimed that his own recovery from a bout of Covid19 made him an expert in the disease and how to beat it, never mind his unconscionable action of dragging part of his secret service detail into a closed vehicle so he could drive around maskless and wave at his delusional fans;
• Mocked veterans as losers, refusing to visit a military Cemetary in France to honor marines killed in WWI because they were suckers for getting killed and laying the blame on the secret service, saying they nixed it due to poor weather for a helicopter sortie, ever hear of a thing called the car Donnie?
• And last but not least, did nothing while over 225,000 of his citizens died from the Covid19 pandemic, well he did claim it was a hoax, created by the media and left to frighten people away from voting for him. I think what frightened a lot of people away Donnie was the pictures of refrigerated trailers with corpses stacked inside from the people who were killed by your ineptitude. 

Explain to me how over 65+ million of you voted for this man?

I can honestly say that waking up Wednesday morning to see the election was still in doubt left me speechless, dumbfounded, angry, and dismayed.

America is supposed to stand for what is right in the world, to be a shining beacon of hope, held to a higher standard than the rest of the world.

Joe Biden has his work cut out for him in healing the wounds and rift generated by Donald Trump over the last four years, but I pray he succeeds for the alternative does not bear thinking.

Now before anyone accuses me of being a left-leaning socialist democrat, know this, I have been and continue to be a conservative, but I'm also a person who doesn't just blindly follow any idealogy, no, I ask questions and if the answers don't make sense or leave me with a feeling of unease, then I vote my conscience and not my party affiliation.

My name is Marcus and while this blog isn't really about being a single man, it still stands to be published as my goal has been, and shall continue to be, to get people to think about things.

Agree or disagree with me, I'm still willing to listen to you with an open mind and clear heart, so reach out to me at ooasm2018@gmail.com and let's have an honest discussion.

Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man

 Friday, November 06/20

I came across a YouTube video on Thursday called "A Conversation with the Police - Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man" and upon the conclusion, I immediately subscribed to the channel run by Emmanuel Acho as it struck a chord deep within me.

The link to the video is right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM-HpZQWKT4

There was no finger-pointing or name-calling, but there was simple dialogue that raised some thought-provoking points on how we as a society view one another, from both sides of the colour spectrum.

I highly recommend you take a few moments to watch some of the videos on Emmanuel's channel and see if they don't make you stand back and rethink how you've been seeing things around you.

I just finished the episode on inter-racial couples and was blown away at how both couples had similar approaches to dealing with the attitudes they face from people around them to family and friends.

The link to this video is right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONTXrsvenUY

I'm not going to stand on my soapbox and spew out a diatribe on how we all need to get along and that colour doesn't matter because unfortunately in this day and age the colour of a person's skin does matter to some of those around us. I can't change peoples minds but what I can do is distance myself from them when they show me who they really are as a person.

My name is Marcus and I try to make each day better than the previous day through my thoughts and actions, I strive to understand the situation around me and what I might be able to do to improve it. I challenge you to do the same.

Thoughts, questions, and viewpoints are always welcome - hit me up at ooasm2018@gmail.com and let's have a conversation