Monday, March 13, 2006

Dogwood Crosstown Classic, Day 2

That giant thudding sound was me falling on my face in day two. Well, more like running out of gas. I was 10 over par my last 5 holes of the P.M. session. 72 Holes of Golf in 2 days finally caught up with me.

Ugggh.

Lessons learned:
Only play in single day tournaments.
If you've played a course before but haven't thrown the alternate tees, you haven't actually played the course before.

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Dogwood Crosstown Classic, Day 1

Phew, two rounds at Zebulon. That makes a long day.

I had a goal of 63, and I made that on both rounds. Shot a 62 the first round and a 60 the second.

The only slight twinge was that I was shooting real well the second round that I could have been in the 50s if I had not taken a 5 on the last hole, 17, one of the easier ones on the course!

Oh, well, still played under control. Agressive. Made a few birdies. Didn't blow up. Took 4s on the long hole (3) twice, and on 9 the second round. Oh, I think I'm in like 7th place out of 10. So, hey, being a "Master" (over 40) means I'm moving up in the world--NOT!

Two more rounds at Cedar Hills tomorrow. I'm going to be dead tired.

Zebulon Community Park; Zebulon, NC
(http://www.radl.biz/Courses/ZEBULON/main.htm)
A.M.

3-3-4 2-3-3 4-3-5 (30) Out
3-4-3 3-4-4 4-3-4 (32) In 62

P.M.

3-2-4 3-3-3 4-4-4 (30) Out
2-3-3 3-3-3 4-5-4 (30) In

Thursday, March 09, 2006

The Long Loneliness (89-109)

This section, "A Time of Searching," concludes Part I, also called "Searching."

There is something endearing about the way in which Day glosses over worldly events, indicating that they are of little or no importance. She will write for a page or two about a friend, thoughts about the mass, whatever, then let go in a sentence about how she got $5,000 for her first book or had been in love with a man for several years.

It is no doubt the cynical times that we know live in (or, perhaps, my own cynical nature) that makes it hard not to read these passages as an affected modesty. But I don't. There is a spiritual lesson here about what is of greater importance.

Then again, part of the nature of spiritual disciplines may be to learn not to despise the affected. Perhaps we know a feeling or emotion should be true, learning to act on that knowledge can sometimes bring about the state of feeling it to a greater degree than can simply waiting to feel, naturally, that which is unnatural.

In this section, Day speaks of some Roman Catholic friends and says, "I wondered why they never made any attempts to interest me in their faith" (106). The past tense is important here, suggesting that she wondered at the time, not merely in retrospect. I'm not sure what this meant. She states she went with them to mission but felt "outside." I thought while reading this of so many speeches through high school, undergraduate...so many sermons...about evangelism, about friendship. It is a hopelessly muddled topic in our age, and it seems the advice or instruction we get is always at a polar end of the spectrum: only the Holy Spirit can win people, our job is to stay out of the way; or, we are responsible for taking every opportunity to mention the gospel--speaking of "the" have you heard of "the" four spiritual laws?

I guess I don't find it strange that her friends did not try to interest her in their faith or that she did not perceive them as doing such. How many times have we tried to interest others only to be rebuffed, silenced, criticized, and told that religion is private? But that's a different time and so perhaps not fair to apply to her story. Yet I find it hard to believe that times are all that different of the polite (and less polite) ways of saying "keep your faith to yourself; I couldn't care less about it or you in areas where you are not who I want you to be or where you make me feel uncomfortable" have changed all that much.

I guess, then, what this chapter is making me contemplate is that for all those sermons, I'm unsatisfied with what I've heard or learned about evangelism. I'm still waiting to hear a theology of evangelism that makes sense to me, that is solidly Biblical (and not just reactionary), that I believe is timeless, like the gospels, and not just a justification of one's (or one's generation's) current practice, that frees people (Christian and non) to accept one another's decisions without making it a constant battle to force another's consent, logically or emotionally, or to shut another up.

Monday, March 06, 2006

Speaking of Peaking

Somewhere in the dustbin of hackneyed sports expressions that will be pulled out for March Madness is that of "peaking too soon."

I guess it is not always a good time to play your best game?

Exhibit A--I'm playing my first 40 and over tournament next weekend, The Crosstown Challenge. Two rounds at Zebulon Community Park and two rounds at Cedar Hills. I'd only played Zebulon once, last summer, and I'm pretty sure I was in the high sixties. I thought it would be a good idea to play it again before the tournament. The result? A 56.

Two days earlier, on a windy day, I shot a 56 at OT Sloan in Sanford, a course where I think my best score is like a 48. To be over par at OT Sloan is almost more embarassing than shooting a 56 at Zebulon is impressive.

But immediately I began wondering. Did I leave it all on the practice course? Was I peaking too early? Did I only have so many putts and approaches that I used up?

I did make a number of shots that I can't count on making with consistency. I took a deuce on hole #4 with a good drive (for me) and a long putt. I had quite a few upshots from 150-200 feet that I put to within putting range for a par opportunity. To do well at Zebulon, I need to drive well (for me). Course length is 6332, almost 2000 feet longer than OT Sloan's 4392. And I have to putt well--all of a sudden those 20 footers are for par rather than birdie. But I guess I can do it...I've done it before...unless I peaked too early.

Zebulon Community Park; Zebulon, NC

3-2-4 2-3-4 4-3-4 (OUT) 29
3-3-3 3-3-3 3-3-3 (IN) 27 (56)

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Movies I Watched in February

Titles with a * indicate a movie I had seen before and reviewed:
Titles with a hotlink indicate a review available at http://movies.kenmorefield.com

2/2/2006: In Her Shoes (Hanson)(DVD)
2/5/2006: Hud (Ritt)(DVD)
2/7/2006: The Gospel According to St. Mathew (DVD)(Pasolini)
Run Lola Run* (DVD)(Twyker)
2/9/2006: Dead Man Walking*(DVD: Director Commentary)(Robbins)
2/11/2006: Screen Door Jesus (Davis)
2/12/2006: The War Within* (DVD: Director Commentary)(Akhtar)
2/15/2006: The Decameron (Pasolini)(DVD)
Wallace & Grommit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Park)(DVD)
2/17/2006: Mrs. Henderson Presents (Frears)
2/20/2006: Brokeback Mountain (Lee)
2/21/2006: The Crying Game* (Jordan)(DVD)
2/23/2006: The White Countess (Ivory)
2/26/2006: The Circle (Panahi)(DVD)
Pocahantas* (DVD)(Gabriel)

Best Viewing Experience--Hmmm. Probably the Crying Game. Best new viewing experience would probably be Mrs. Henderson Present.

Least Enjoyable Viewing Experience--Hud. Just didn't connect with it.