Learning to Golf

Last weekend Phil taught me how to golf! Or at least how to drive. Here is what I learned:

1. Swing the club straight back, not behind me.
2. Keep my left elbow straight and caulk the club with my wrist.
3. Swing through with my hips following.
4. Keep my head down.
5. Follow straight through.

I did awesome! I only missed the ball one time. And most of my hits were right down the center, about 100 yards out. And most importantly, I had fun, mainly because Phil is a great teacher :)

After one more practice tonight, I'll be putting my skills to use, probably sooner than I should. Phil and I are in a golf tournament tomorrow morning, Chipping Away at Cancer at the Legacy Golf Resort. I'm really excited, although I doubt the rest of our foursome will feel the same after they find out I just started playing golf this week, and this will essentially be my first time playing on a course. Luckily it's best ball. I don't really know what that means, but apparently it's a good thing. I'm primarily there to provide entertainment and a good laugh :) Wish me luck!

UPDATE: The golf tournament was a blast! I had so much fun and really started catching on towards the end. The highlight of my day was hitting a 125 yard drive and landing it on the green! Overall, it was a really great day and I learned a lot. I'll definitely be doing a lot more golfing :)

Wordless Wednesday

Be Silent

I'm working on the art of being slow to speak and quick to listen. In order for that to happen, I need to talk less. Therefore, I'm taking my good friend Jana's lead and starting Wordless Wednesdays, despite my long post this morning :) So, here it goes...

Don't Indulge in Anger

"...Anger is not an emotion I will allow myself to indulge in." said Hugh McCutcheon after the stabbing death of his father-in-law, Todd Bachman, at the Beijing Olympics. This statement has repeated itself in my mind many times over the last few days. How do you not indulge in anger? When someone takes credit for your work? After someone you once loved takes nearly everything you ever owned? When half of a double-wide driving down the interstate takes up two lanes and the car in front of you in the only other lane is driving 55?!?

The worst part of my anger is that I hold it inside, and let it eat me alive. So I can understand Hugh's statement, because my anger hurts no one but myself. So what's the point? There is none. But how do you NOT indulge in anger? I try to stuff it down and distract myself, but it always resurfaces. I try to talk it through, but it only gets me more worked up, and I don't want to be a person who is constantly spewing negative thoughts. Unfortunately, I think our society somewhat encourages this anger. "An eye for an eye." We let our emotions direct our actions. But I want to be the exception to this, like Hugh, because anger only leads to evil. But again the question... How?

The only thing I can come up with is prayer. Because I can't do this myself, I can't change my emotions. But my God is bigger than me. He alone can make me "slow to anger and abounding in love." Because ultimately, it's not about the person who wronged me. My anger consumes me alone. And I refuse to be consumed by anger. So I'll pray. That God will change my heart. That he'll make me quick to forgive. That I can live a life full of joy rather than anger.

"For man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires." ~ James 1:20

Waxing my Car

So I've always wanted to wax my car. People that do this themselves talk about it with such excitement, planning their whole weekend around it. I've never really understood it, but was always curious about it. My boyfriend is one of those people. He's been talking about waxing his truck pretty much since I met him. So this last weekend it finally happened. I'm walking around his house and can't find him. So I go out to the garage. Sure enough, he's busy applying the wax to his truck. Mine's next, he tells me. I go back in the house. After thinking about it, I want in on the action! I want to know what this secret little club is all about. So when it's time to remove the wax, I go out to help. He gives me a terry cloth, and I begin wiping the wax off my car, trying to remember everything I learned from Karate Kid. Wax on, wax off. This is pretty fun! And certainly a good arm workout. By the time I'm done, my car is so shiny I can see my reflection in it. It's beautiful, like a Ferrari. Except it's not. Just an Altima. But beautiful none the less. I get it now. It's about pride. And a big smile every time I look at my shiny car.

I wish my car didn't smell like urine.

Seriously. I think a disgruntled employee at Danny's Carwash peed in the glass cleaner. Or just straight-up in my car. Now everyday when I get in my car, after it's baked in the sun for 9+ hours, it smells like a sauna powered with urine. Lovely. It's like that episode of Seinfeld, where Jerry gets his car back from valet and it smells like B.O. Then him and Elaine start smelling like it. That's how I feel. Like Pigpen with a cloud of piss around me. Especially when my boyfriend curls up next to me the other night and says "What is that smell?" "Oh, it's just urine honey."

So I'm not sure whether I should:

1.) Go back to the carwash and complain. But then they might leave a big turd in my car. To give me something to REALLY complain about.
2.) Febreze the piss out of my car (literally) and buy one of those cheap pinetree air fresheners. Or...
3.) Sell my car

How much would you pay for a car that smells like urine?