Tiger Woo!

Ramblings Post #366
Sometimes you get it back. You know what I mean. You don't know when you lost it, or where you lost it, you don't know how you lost it, but you know you don't have it right now. So you stop take a deep breath and re-assess yourself. Then you buckle your chinstrap, wipe away the sweat and go back in and finish that damned cheese log. That really is not the best sports metaphor. 

I still have the Tiger Woods branded golf game for the PS3. I still have a PS3. I also still have about ten or fifteen courses I've still not played from that game's DLC I purchased (as much as I dislike DLC, it isn't ALL bad). But, I have played the version of Augusta National carried on that version. To say that course is hard, well, I couldn't even win there with the game on the easy mode. Bobby Jones was either a master of the game or a diabolical genius. And while the rise of Tiger in his youth didn't get me interested in golf (The neighborhood I grew up in was golf course adjacent and there was this Sega PGA game in early nineties) it did bring my attention back to this headache of game.

If all goes well, my new Saturday mornings will happen at this driving range not too far from the house and include a big bucket of balls. But that's been a plan. 

I can honestly say I was one of those who did not think that Tiger could get back to this level. Retirement as suggested by many seemed a bit extreme, but the idea of his once vaunted domination returning seemed a low probability idea. Even after the surgeries he could still play - much better than me - an so I was of the opinion that if he could play average golf for four days and then be able to pull off four or five old school Tiger moments he would be competitive. At his prime he was so much better than everyone else that even at 75% he was dangerous. No domination, but able to make people sweat a bit. This I did not expect. 

The mark of true champion is finding new ways to win when the old ways are no longer available. Like a quarterback who no longer has a deep threat arm or a great scramble and turns into fantastic game manager, so too did Tiger have to figure out a new path to victory. Since the incident that lead to his downfall, the subsequent depression and the injuries from what he had been putting his body through to get his peak, he hadn't been the same. And now the raw power isn't there any more after the spinal fusion surgery to fix his ailing back. So many suggested that he just retire with dignity - head to the booth, design some courses. But playing is what drives him. So he had to "figure out his angles." Which he did, which is extremely impressive in as unforgiving a game as golf. Going from winning by 21 to winning by 1 matters only to the bettors, a win is still a win. And to do it at Augusta, on one of the hardest of courses against some of the best in the game? Remarkable.

Sport is funny. We love winners and great comeback stories. We let things go for the feeling of triumph.

Barkeep, get that man a beer. And since he's a member of the club and I'm not, put it on his tab.

Play because your heart is young....

Ramblings Post #365

I'm on that Old Country Road. Well, not really, but that Yeehaw Agenda is popping. I'm out here trying to get me a little game going but you know what? I got this thing called a life. And friends. And a career. And dreams. And meetings. But if I could just get a solid evening with my PS4...well, not really. I mean, I'm gamer, but real life is real life. 

Red Dead Redemption 2 is huge. How huge? I got the game opening day. I'm still less than 20% done. 

You can actually ride to everywhere you can see, and then some.

Okay, I actually stopped playing for a while because I have like, a job and a life, then restarted but still. It's been a month or two since I picked it back up again (maybe a few hours a week really) and yet I'm still just in the beginning stages - chapter two of six. There is just so much extra to do. I've gotten caught up in exploring the map, bounty hunting, gambling, looking for dinosaur bones and stone carvings, treasure hunting, searching for old legends, playing dominoes and just marveling at the intricate detailed structure of the whole thing. It is quite simply stunning. 

My first time in the swamp around Legras sounded a little too real. I haven't even scratched the surface on locating all the animals. A trip up into the West Grizzlies through the thigh deep snow is just amazing. I am paranoid about ambushes. I'm trying to see how long Arthur's beard will grow. I want to see what's in the mines in Anneburg and up in mountains. I want to go catch and break a wild horse. I want to ride out into the wilderness, fight a bear and live. There are times I have forgotten completely about the main story. The game is fantastic. 

But alas I have to move on. Partly because at some point you just have to. Partly because there are scenes they show in the commercials that I haven't gotten to yet that I want to see. And partly because I can only avoid the spoilers for so much longer. 

One of the really cool things about new video games is that there is an online community that when you reach a point where you get stuck you can get some help, as I did in GTA IV where I couldn't figure out why a mission wouldn't start and then I found out it was because I was wearing shades. Seriously. But alas, that online community is also one of the terrible things about the new video games as well. Usually a week after it comes out, someone who obviously doesn't sleep or finds outside spaces too "peoplely" has already finished the game and posted online every single thing imaginable about it - all the tricks, tips, sidequests, shortcuts, and secrets. Now to me, part of the fun of a game is discovering what's in it. I ran across one of the rock carvings some Non-player character asked me to find the other day because I just wanted to see something totally unrelated, and it was neat little feeling of discovery. I could have used the online map and found it (and completed every other side-quest and all the rest in an afternoon)...but where is the fun in that? 

Hey, I'll be honest, if I had found all the cigarette cards but one and had already searched the map for week? Like a real seven days week. Yes, I would probably consult one of the online maps, why be that frustrated? But as I said, I'm less than 20% in, and I have stumbled upon some cool stuff. I would like to stumble upon so more cool stuff. It's part of what I paid for. 

I kind of guess the ending. I mean, although this called Red Dead Redemption 2 this is a prequel. It's what happened before the original. And you don't see our protagonist Arthur in the original, now do you? But let me get there in my own time. Well, not really my own time - let me get there are at my own pace. Or at least by myself. 

Barkeep. I'm looking for dinosaur bone. And a cold beer. Really, have you seen any bones?   

And so we continue with this madness. Nipsy Hussle.

I'm not gonna sit here and tell you that I was a big fan of Nipsy Hussle. A lot of the artists as of late are just wasting beats to me, with flow that seems to have been done completely independent of the music, repeated phrasings or rhymes for rhymes sake. And this critique is coming from a guy who grew up on Craig Mack and Nice & Smooth. I just don't listen to a lot of the new stuff. Maybe it's because I'm old, and that's what old people do. Or maybe it's because most of it's trash. Either or.

But since I heard that Nipsy met a tragic end and more than few friends of mine indicated that he was pretty tight, I went to see what was up. Aside from the fact that he looks like what I imagine Snoop's kids should look like (or like my cousin who does heating & air), it turns out he was actually pretty damn good. I actually had heard and liked his "Last time that I Check'ed" just out and about, but parsing through the rest of his cuts I could see the talent.

But the talent was the tip of the iceberg. On the same corner where he used to hustle and sell mix tapes on he'd literally bought up and opened stores and shops employing local people to help change the community. He was for all intents and purposes the person I had long wondered why every other rapper wasn't - the guy who did more than spend his money flexing. The short I watched, where he had his own store selling his own brand, next to a second store selling basic staples to his community, next to a barber was just fascinating to watch. He was a young man with vision, his latest big venture a co-working space and STEM center in the Crenshaw area that with the use of his celebrity could add a bit of melanin to the Silicon Valley area. Here was an entrepreneur who understood the basic premise of a rising tide lifts all boats.

I'm not going speculate on the reason for his death. Maybe it was because of his work on a documentary involving a controversial doctor. Maybe it was just some old gang shit. Maybe it was something else in between. In either case this man, who dreamt and worked towards elevating others is gone. And that's a pure tragedy. And that's the long and short of it, last time that I checked.

The Mueller Report -- or -- How to Look Shady as Hell Without Trying

This is a political post. 

After two long years of waiting, the weekend that March Madness started and Duke nearly got knocked out before the sweet sixteen, the investigation into if the sitting President of the United States colluded with foreign agents was completed. The conclusion? We don't know yet. We don't know because the Justice Department won't release the completed document. The newly appointed Attorney General has produced a four page summary of the three hundred page report suspiciously fast, and said report in his opinion indicates there was no collusion. Honestly, 99.9% of us still don't know what the report actually says.

Now, a number of indignant conservative pundits and legislators want to believe we do, although at this point we have what at best might be considered the Cliffs Notes version, more likely a Wikipedia stub entry or at worst a confederate version of the history of the war between the states. That the Attorney General then indicated that the person who was the object of the investigation will get to see it - and edit it - before any of the rest of us just keeps making the whole thing look less and less legitimate.

And the powers that be, those powers that we are investigating, just don't care what we think. 

The law, for those who don't know, is a funny thing. Open to vast interpretation. You know what I mean. Think about how you can watch on video an officer clearly be seen doing X or Y action that obviously shows that they broke the law, but that same video when viewed by a friendly prosecutor the action somehow fails to rise to the level of prosecutable offense. This is one of those moments, only on a national scale. We have all sat here, listened and learned of meetings with foreign agents not reported and then lied about, clear and convincing conflicts of interest, and of business dealings with foreign agents not disclosed. Yet we're supposed to believe the report yields nothing even of intrinsic value? The police have investigated themselves and found they did nothing wrong, and no you can't see the evidence. Here we just substitute the word 'government' for 'police.'

Barr's interpretation of the evidence and if it rises to the level of collusion is plainly suspect. And now that we know the summary he produced now looks more like a 30 second synopsis of a 26 hour Ken Burns documentary only raises more questions. And if the pool of people who can see the raw evidence is limited to those who feel that the investigation was a waste of time, this begins to look like even more collusion. That Cheeto was okay with releasing it, but his hand picked people want it edited first gives rise to the idea that the truth only those pages may get more than a few more folks locked up. And the inane assertion that Congress can't see the raw evidence when there are sitting members of Congress with top secret clearance is pure 'shuck and jive.' A government of checks and balances under this administration is no more.

We need to do better. The treatment of this investigation is part of, and maybe the culmination of a continuing degradation of the truth via the assertion that opinion outweighs facts, a theme that began day one when Cheeto swore his inaugural audience was the largest ever and has gone on to become this administration's stock and trade. That they expect half the country to believe whatever they say despite their long track record of half truths, deception, deflection and out right falsehoods is laughable. That the other half this country is happy to go along with this farce as long as that they get to impose their beliefs on the first half is just frightening. 

This is why voting is important, and why everyday the Democratic establishment appears to pin it's hopes on reason and common sense winning out seems more and more like a pipe dream.

We live interesting times. I really wish we did not.

Christchurch

Just past, in the land of peace and Hobbits, those who would see all who are not them as lessors have burst from the shadows and wreaked havoc among the ordered lives of the faithfully religious. And the discourse is outrage, as it should be. Mourn those who knelt in communion and were unceremoniously ushered into the next by cruel intention. And unleash your disdain for the action and ideas that precipitated this event. Let he who hath done this live with scorn all his days. Let those who would deflect the pain and suffering he has caused, by pretending he is something other than what he himself has professed to be, share in his disdain.

But alas, while those at the brunt of the tragedy take heed of their lesson, we here seemed primed to fail one of those things that mean maturity: Learning from the mistakes of others. We find ourselves wrapped in ideology, in notions powered by ignorance and in fear of what may come hold on even tighter for what is past. Our trial awaits in the shadows, for we imagine ourselves invincible, our demons all imagined. Lo that day fills me with dread.

Thoughts and prayers may well be wishes in the face of action to fix the problems we ignore for the sake of hubris.

We're all coffee, the grind is just different

Things I'm not gonna talk about

Ramblings Post #364
I seriously did not even realize it had been that long since I posted. Work has been ugh, social life has been ugh, diet has been ugh, and I just need something new to kick start whatever comes next. I would say I'm having a mid-life crisis, but I can't afford it. But I know something needs to change. Maybe I need a massive overhaul. 

It's been since January? Damn. 

Life seems to be in awful hurry lately. Was it just five years ago that the world seemed to be, maybe slower? I had time to digest things, to research the headlines to see what was really going on. To put together coherent discussions about what was happening. Now? I'm still writing these things, but by the time I've sat down and started looking into the details of something, so I don't sound like an idiot,  I'll be damned if something else doesn't come along. And since I have like, a job, and want to leave my house on occasion, taking the time for this type of timely commentary is much more difficult.

So here is a short list of things I'm not going to talk about. Really. Not going to say anything about this here because I just want you guys to be aware that I am paying attention, I'm just keeping my mouth shut.

R. Kelly - who is his attorney and why would you let him go on TV? I know clients don't listen, but he has to know that he's in a situation where if he's emotional it will be used against him and if he's cool and collected, it will be used against him. And where does all the money keep coming from to get his ass out of jail?

Cohen - I always thought that people who get called Rats are called Rats by people who are doing something worth Ratting on.

The Cowboys - So, we don't want to pay Cole Beasly or Earl Thomas, and defensive monsters Randy Gregory and David Irving just smoked themselves out of the league. And we got no first round pick. Insert Heavy Sigh.

Manafort - Seriously. A good person? Does the judge hang out with the Dallas defense? The man's entire livelihood before the election was fronting for dictators. This good folks is why you vote - because we need people who will appoint smarter judges.

Mueller - Sadly despite what will surely conclusively damning evidence, our current President is at the level of Louisiana politician. The only way he'll lose supporters is to "catch him in bed with a dead woman or a live boy." [see Edwin Edwards]

Atlanta Weather - I'm totally in the wrong here, but damnit I miss that drought.

Democrats - Seriously, is every-fucking-body running for President? I know it's early, but damn. And will Democrats wise up and realize that even if your favorite drops out you still HAVE TO vote for whatever Democrat is left. Period, full stop. The moment for holding the party hostage to get relief for own special interest can come later. Seriously.

LeBron - I should have said the Lakers, but really, who else on the team is there to talk about? I wonder if when he arrived he was under the impression that Magic and the rest of the front office would let him just take over?

Megan Markle - No seriously. I got nothing. Hope the baby is healthy.

Florida Spa - Who knew that one little tug would unearth so much dirt? Billionaires who should have supermodel girlfriends - or at least Instagram model girlfriends paying for towel service? And now we find out the founder of the Spa watched the SuperBowl with Cheeto? Not that his supporters care, but damn.

This stuff, this right here, I got nothing to say about it. Nada. I'm just not going to take the time the energy or the effort to put together anything on these because by next week no one will care. They should, but by then our dear leader will have tipped over a brand new hornets nest.

Obama's biggest scandal was the tan suit. Man I miss those days.

Barkeep. Can I get a...you need to see some ID? Dude, I used to come in here all the time!