Friday, May 11, 2012

Winners and Whiners

Finally, after more than a week away (more on that below) and another week of trying to recover from all of the work that didn't get done during the more than a week away I have gotten to the point where I have a moment to spare.  That's all I got...so read this very quickly!

I first want to bring you up to date on what has been going on in court around here...the tennis court.  I returned to the regular posse a week ago today, the results of which I can't for the life of me remember, and was there again this past Monday morning.  Actually I played a doubleheader on Monday, once again meeting with the really really old geezers at 8:00am and then the regular really old geezers at 9:30.  I do remember the happenings on Monday.  In my matches with the regular posse...John (the Happiest man I have ever met), Bill and Mark I found myself paired with John from the get-go.  We proceeded to put a butt whoopin on the others to the tune of a 6-0 shutout.  These types of things just don't happen very often, especially with me on the winning side.  From there my blood sugar levels, muscle tone and bowel control turned for the worse as fatigue, dehydration and a slight case of the rickets began to set in.  The bottom line is that I failed to come out on the winning side in either of the next two sets.  Consequently, John...the Happiest man that I know...was the big winner of the day.  I was again the biggest of the day, but he was the overall winner.  Now mind you, I don't play with the group on Wednesdays, as some of us have to work for a living, so I returned to action again this morning.  I was the first to arrive at the club as my lovely bride Kay could not answer the call for her group today as she was on the brink of death with a cold.  Shortly after the rest of the posse made its appearance.  I, of course, cordially greeted all, while John, who for whatever reason was not acting like the Happiest man I know, lit into me about not having reported in this space an account of the great tennis prowess that he had displayed in Monday, and as I am told, repeated Wednesday morning (in my absence).  seeing an 82 year old whimpering and whining so was almost more than I could stomach...and I have come to acquire quite a big stomach.  As the clock struck 9:30am we headed out onto the court to do battle.  Now I had informed them all that I had played well the previous night (Thursday) so I could very likely be expected to go in the tank this morning.  Competition began with Mark and I pitted against the whiner...I mean John...and Bill.  Keep in mind the whiner, 'er John, was on a hot streak.  Well Mark and I put an end to that in a hurry with a 6-2 win.  I vaguely remember some whining about line calls, but I don't remember from whom it came.  Anyway...end of a win streak.  In our second set of the morning I had the great pleasure of being teamed with the Happiest man on earth...John.  We lost the first two games then steamrolled our worthy opponents in the next 6!  Sweet...a 6-2 win again for yours truly, and the now Happier guy.  Then came set three...Bill and I were up against John and Mark.  Quickly we found ourselves down 2-0, then 3-1, but we battled back to tie at 4-4.  Time was running short so we were forced into a tie-breaker to make a final determination as to who would reign supreme.  As luck would have it...it had to be luck...Bill and I quickly fell behind, but rallied for a 7-5 victory.  There, I was not only big, but the big winner of the day.  The moral of this story?  Winners never whine, and whiners never win!"

Now then, lets go back some more ancient history.  After my previous post Kay and I headed for Minnesota and Wisconsin in order to gain some culture.  We took in our daughter Beth's vocal recital...in which she performed magnificently.  We also attended a musical...Pippin...visited with my folks for a day, saw all of my brothers, headed to Milwaukee to take in Kay's brother John's choir concert, headed back to the Twin Cities and got to sit in on a concert of Beth's choir...in which she directed one of the pieces.  We flew from Spokane to the Cities and back, but still put more than a thousand miles on the rental vehicle.  Upon our return we discovered that my car didn't work.  It turns out that the battery needed replacing.  That's one of the few car repairs that I can handle myself.

Besides all that I have been somewhat overwhelmed with all things church and school.  We are coming to the end of the quarter in my latest seminary class, and I have a movie review and book report due in the next week, along with the final exam.  In telling you this I am not whining mind you...just making excuses for my lack of diligence in posting in this space.

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