I Play at Golf Envy-Anybody Jealous?

Also written on 10-14-26. 

On to golf…

        I played 18 holes with Troy at Golf Envy in Albuquerque.  He has an expensive membership there, and he invited me to join him for one evening.  He chose a course from Japan that had King, Queen, and Prince courses.  Let me research it. 

Okay, there are many!  No way to find out unless I ask Troy, and I don’t want to bother him about something so unimportant.  I don’t know which course it was, but I know it was the Queen, and we played from the whites.  We only had to putt into a ten foot circle to concede the next putt.

On the very first hole, he got an eagle, and I got a birdie.  I thought this was going to be an easy round, and I was picturing scores like Eric and I used to get on the Tiger Woods GameCube, but I was wrong. 

I did manage another birdie with a well-placed putt that went in instead of just stopping in the ten foot circle.  He was ahead of me by the turn, and he was bombing his driver, hitting consistent 240-260 yard drives.  My drives would barely get past 200 yards, and I felt rather old. 

A guy in the simulator kitty-corner to us hit drives so far and so loudly that I would jump a bit each time.  It felt like I was getting shot at; that’s how shocking the sound of his driver connecting with his golf ball was.  It made me abnormally jumpy, but Troy and I both acted cool as if it were nothing.  I checked that guy’s distance once, and his ball flew over 300 yards.  Geesh.  I felt rather old and small.

At the end, we ran out of time, but the gentleman who had our bay reserved chose another one and let us finish our round.  That was nice.  Troy finished at 20+ strokes above par, and I finished at +17.  When the round ended, a montage of me swinging my club showed under the title MVP.  I got everything, but Troy should have gotten the longest drive.  He was frustrated, I sensed.  He became less talkative, but he was still polite.  I asked him how much I owed him, and he said it was $25.00 to have a guest.  I ‘Venmo-ed’ him $35.00.  It was fun!  Troy is always so cordial, and we have a great time together.  I feel like I can be myself.

Oh, I had to take many extra driver swings due to a glitch.  Troy said it has happened before, and he would give me a mulligan every time.  I know I had mishit a couple, but they wouldn’t register, so he gave me a reset each time.  I was getting tired after all of these extra swings, and my little hernia thing got agitated.  Somehow, I managed.

My Hypothesis

Written on 10-14-26.

        Let’s see where the writing takes me today.  It starts with James and Casey’s third anniversary.  I consistently mix up the date.  Was it on 10-14-23 or 10-13-24?  Even B gets confused, and we sent them happy anniversary wishes yesterday.  For the last time; it’s on the 14th.  How can I remember this?  How about thinking 10-4, good buddy, like a CB radio exchange.  I know it’s on 10-14, but somehow it works in my brain.  That’ll do it.  No matter.  Happy anniversary, James and Casey.

That brings me to a hypothesis.  I think Casey is pregnant.  Here’s why.  They went to Diana’s wedding in Las Cruces, and I asked about the drinking.  They gave out shots, but Casey’s reaction to me asking about it was a bit overblown, I thought.  She did take the shot, she said.  Hmmmm.  

The last time we did an "exchange" in Cuba with Rowan, she said she felt nauseous.  She had to drive by herself, since James was working.  She said she wasn’t used to driving on her own.  

My other suspicion comes from the timing of it all.  It’s been nearly two years.  Here’s hoping.  Hmmmm.  We shall see.

As I write this, I hear the Go-Go’s singing “The Beat” in the background.  B and I are sitting in the Richmond International Airport waiting for a later flight.  She is seated alone 25 yards away talking with Amanda on her iPhone 17.  We take off to Dallas/Fort Worth in a few hours.  Then we connect to Albuquerque to eventually get in at 11:56 PM.  Yikes.  We dropped off our rental car (a black Nissan Kicks), went through TSA, and are waiting at Gate A11 for our flight, which will depart from the nearby A10.

Here is a summary of our trip.  We flew into Richmond first.  Then we drove to Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson and took a tour (The Highlights Tour) of that property.  Friday and Saturday were spent with Guy, Annmarie, and ShyShay.  William and Mary played North Carolina A&T.  The A and T stand for Agricultural and Technical in Greensboro, I just learned.  After that, we drove to Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills, and Duck in North Carolina.  We explored the Wright Brothers Museum and the Bodie Island Lighthouse.  We had some Duck Donuts at ShyShay’s suggestion on the day we left.  Then we came back to Richmond today, and we had enough time to tour the American Civil War Museum in the afternoon.  Phew.  That’s a lot, but it was all so worth it.

Getting Ready for the Bishop's Classic

Continued from last post...

Back to golf…

        After a decent start with the bogey, I went downhill.  So, did my bag and my umbrella.  When it was time to start playing again, Michael gave me a ride back up to start hole #2.  When we got closer to my clubs, I noticed they were not upright anymore.  I didn’t pay attention too much, but I also didn’t hear any strong winds.  Mostly, it was occasional lightning and thunder accompanied by some gentle rain.

I am getting a bit weary after a full week of caregiving, so I will continue this tomorrow…

Written on 9-18-26.

Either way, my bag was on its side, and my umbrella was a crumpled, soggy mess.  Many of the metal joints were snapped.  Bummer.  I have already bought a new one on Amazon to replace it, and I used the new one the last time I played.  It’s not as big, and it is more wind-resistant.  I chose...

Meeting Interesting People While Playing Golf

Written on 9-17-26.

Right to the golf…

I played at Hillcrest with Herman (not his real name).  He invited me to play, since Ashley (not her real name either) was playing at Escalante Middle School. I found the scorecard, and it was a while ago.  He only played until hole #12, and then he left to go watch the match.  I started strong.  I got a bogey on the mentally tough first hole.  I muffed a chip, and that was why.

Then the lightning came.  And, the rain.  I left my clubs under a tree near the teeing grounds.  I left my umbrella up to protect my clubs from getting soaked, too. 

We were playing with two older guys, and Herman knew one of them.   I think he invited him.  I remember the other one was Michael, but I can’t remember Herman's friend’s name.  Maybe it was Phil.  I will use that for this writing.  Both were friendly.  Michael was from Texas, but he had played at Hillcrest before.  They have a camper, and they were on the road.  He was generous enough to give me a ride in his cart down to the shelter/bathroom near the teeing ground on #3.  

We hung out for close to an hour.  We talked.  Herman mostly looked at his phone, but he participated when asked a direct question.  He used my phone to text his wife to let her know what was happening, because she planned to get a cart and follow us.  He couldn’t get a signal with his phone.  We met the guy who was playing ahead of us.  The guy playing with him decided to keep going after the lightning alert went off.  Michael and I planned to tee off after it went off, but the ranger came over and commanded us to not take another shot.  

Anyway, the guy ahead of us was a braggart, mostly about his son.  He told us he was one of the best in the world in downhill biking.  Okay, I just saw a video, and his name is Asa.  He truly is awesome!  He is a youngster racing with adult men, and he has done very well so far.  He has done some dirt bike racing near Aztec, too.  His dad’s name is Josh.  Josh also knew Lori (last name), because of her husband, Dale, who works by setting up events for Red Bull.

Asa races all over the world (another thing Josh made sure to tell us while we waited for the lightning delay to end), and the video I watched showed him racing in Wales last year.  Here is the link to the video.  It’s really cool.  He has no fear.  Rather, he has fear, but he faces it very well.

How I Captured Darth Vader

Written on 9-9-26.

I am at the Montessori school in Durango waiting to go to a cardiologist appointment after a shift.  I had an echocardiogram recently, so I am going to follow up on that.

Belinda went to Albuquerque to watch Rowan yesterday. She and Amanda worked together, and the pictures I saw really reflected how much fun they were having.  She plans on coming home this afternoon.

I got an estimate for installing our new heavily discounted gas fireplace (60% off) yesterday from Ashes Away.  We are going to hire them, and we should have it installed by the end of this month.  That will be great before the...