WOWOWOWOW!

no small feat for this humble person (who? who?). yesterday at about this time (3:08pm) i achieved a first.

about eight holes into a round of golf at St-Raphael yesterday, my swing finally gelled. on a 480 yard par five i hit my second booming drive in a row, which put me in a long-odds position to actually go for the green in two. a 220 yard three iron proved to be too much, however, and in overforcing it i managed to roll the fucker thirty yards instead. ok, lesson learned. too much too quick. well, seven holes later i had been gradually increasing both my confidence, consistency, and power to this fateful point:

it was a short par five (465 yards) that had a generous fairway that arced to the right (which is not always the best thing for my draw) slightly, and an elevated green that was well guarded by bunkers and irritatingly thick rough. the wind was blowing into my face slightly from left to right, which i felt would eliminate the power draw that would result from me really leaning into the drive while (hopefully) not robbing me of too much badly needed distance. i managed to (for me, anyway) crank one out there in the left side of the fairway, leaving a perfect angle towards the green. 200 to 205 yards left to go, which meant i could give it a try. out came my wonderful hybrid strong lofted three iron, and off went the ball in that wonderful (yet uncharacteristic for me) high fading flight, depositing it on the right side of the green. the ball trickled over to settle finally in the right fringe. due to the elevated green, i couldn't see if i had succeeded, and was afraid that i may have overshot or kicked too far right, as the feedback in my hands was pointing to a very strongly hit ball. when i reached the top of the mound, there it was, sitting in the right fringe all cosy-like, just about pin-high.

i walked away with a par. and i couldn't care less.

happy happy day.

in other news, can't wait to start a-choppin' and a-slicin' with my new knife.

almost done

with my 33rd year, at long last. i long for a nice stable boring year to pass, with no dramatic upheavals or massive changes, and i'm pinning my hopes on number 34.

the last two days in florida were relatively fantastic. i swam in the gulf of mexico on wednesday afternoon. verdict: very very WARM sea, calm water, and completely economically devastated property market along the coast itself. seemingly everything on the beach is for sale, and the towns (such as they are) are basically deserted.
thursday was spent in jacksonville in advance of our friday flight out. verdict: slightly cooler sea than the gulf, energetic waves, UBER beautiful weather, and a fantastic four hours was spent in the sea without respite.

i was actually laughing out loud from relief/happiness when i dove in. i should have chosen a career path involving the ocean. you know when you're nineteen and you think that there's enough time to do everything you ever wanted, from climbing Everest (or at least hangin' out at base camp) to getting your pilot's license, to volunteering with the Red Cross in africa for two years to teaching english for a ocuple of years in some remote japanese fishing village? yeah, well, there's not enough time, folks. it's unlikely that i'll be a marine biologist regardless of how at home i am in hawaiian shirts and topless Jeeps, with perpetually salty wind-dried hair...

here i am, then

in tallahassee floriday (the state capital, folks.) i wonder if Jebediah is home...

Georgia and Alabama are spooky places, much as i like barbeque and sweet tea.
it's good to be back in FLA, gotta say.
tryin' to set up some meetings today, as the one set up by my illustrious sales manager didn't go through. you know why it didn't? because he didn't realize that it was IN A DIFFERENT STATE and would have required about 16 extra hours of driving.
:)

my work life is...interesting...

the stress/panic/night-terror insomnia of two nights ago and all day yesterday was mercifully gone last night. i actually slept! i'm actually rested! let the peasants rejoice! or at least give them a fifteen second respite from the lash, Gunther

gonna vom!

i really really found that scene from one of the austin powers movies funny. y'know the one where he gets the planet earth ball in the nuts and hunches over, drooling and spitting softly, muttering "Gonna vom..."
he he.

in other news, i overdid it again at the gym this morning and now my arms feel like they're filled with lead. also, my overexertion has given birth to many butterflies fluttering around in my tummy, riding rollercoasters, tilt-a-whirls, and eating too much cotton candy.

oh, and i have to leave for the airport in 30 minutes. i'm off to banjo-country for the week, on some dynamic sales missions. wheee! not so much.

hey hey hey

it's a beautiful day.

awesome, y'know...
i got home last night with my stomach in typical Carlo stress-knots, but this time i had a solution of the non-bourbon variety. what? you ask. i said NON-bourbon.
ali and i decided to head over to the gym for a workout, which removed all stress and also restored some appetite.
the salad we had for dinner:
lamb's lettuce.
baby spinach
Rio Mare tonno in olio d'oliva
pickled beets
chick peas
extra virgin olive oil, a dab of mayo, and some balsamic vinegar.
salt & pepper.

oh, holy crap, that was tasty.

then, we went for a nice walk through the parc to the pharmacy.

i tried to outlast ali on the cardio machines. as my legion of friends know, i LOVE to run, but even that love of running couldn't put me past her on the odd eliptical machine she prefers...granted, i set a 6kp/h pace and didn't slack it, while she went slower, but regardless...

don't wanna! don't wanna!

crap. i have to go back to the good ol' southern U.S. of A. on monday. i'll be on another magical mystery tour. i wouldn't mind it so much, if i wasn't going to be accompanied by one of the most annoying and least appealing people i know.

oooh, i'm not looking forward to this. i hope that he doesn't do anything to make me leave him by the side of the road down there somewhere...

that was HOT!

walkin' around the neighborhood on saturday was scorching. it did not compare to the game of golf yesterday, however. dear me! that was warm.
and awesome. well, the first three holes were awesome, at least, and then the wheels came off until the 17th when i started scraping together some decent shots.

ah, Toronto

how i love being here on business. my days are full beyond full, my evenings are more of same, and i feel productive.

perhaps, due to my skewed perspective, i'm confusing productivity with a palpable lack of micro-management and more to the point, supervision.

don't wanna leave here, because the alternative puts me back in the looney bin.