Monday, July 17, 2006
Two Things I'm Trying To Get Better At
This summer I've got a fair amount of time on my hands given that my only two responsibilities are to go to MMG's wedding, which I already did, and to go to BPG's wedding, which I certainly will do. Aside from that, there's nothing that's really on tap except for converting what is now our ironing/music/workout/playstation/recycling/garbage room into a nursery, which is in progress slowly but surely.
So I've taken on two things to improve at that, at least on the surface, are going to make me more worldly. I'm trying to get better at both golf and chess. At the moment I suck at both. Well, it's fair to say that I suck at chess. In fact there's no other way to put it. I don't actually suck at golf. I'm bad, but in the few times I've played this summer it's clear to me that everyone is bad at golf. So given that, I'm actually only a relatively poor player versus a completely sucky player.
I've never really put too much thought into chess and though I've been interested in it it's always something that I just never latched onto because I wasn't good at it right away. My problem is that I play really defensively without actually knowing what to defend against. In the times I've played in the past, which are generally few and far between, I am capable of picturing my moves many steps in advance, but I don't really give much thought to my opponent's moves so my plans inevitably fall apart. I decided taht I was interested enough in chess to get better at it so I bought The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess which had better reviews than Chess For Dummies. I figured this was as good a place as any to start. It gives a fairly complete, if elementary, overview of the game and I've already learned a fair amount. I haven't played too much, mainly just been reading, but I'm on track to improve my game and there is honestly nowhere to go but up.
Golf is something that was not even on my radar until I was in college. Around then me and Brian and Luke and whomever else would go out to the pitch and putt somewhere off route 80 and play sometimes. We were bad, but it was a fun way to kill a copule hours. They also had a driving range there and sometimes we'd do that too. That was about the extent of my golf experience before a few months ago. Around that time two things happened that opened up the world of golf for me. First is that a friend of mine from work, Kiran, who plays left handed, got a new set of clubs to replace his old set. He gave me his old set and now I have a set of golf clubs. Second is that this other friend from work, Wallace, got a set of clubs off of Amazon and started playing. Wallace and I had essentially the same amount of experience, none, and so we started going to the driving range and such together and usually Kiran would come with us too.
So now this summer we have all been playing golf with relative frequency. We've gone out twice now and played with the three of us and Kiran's dad at two different courses in Queens, and we have plans to go out again this week to play. Kiran and his dad have been helping Wallace and I to get a little bit better, and actually both of us have improved to a level that's acceptable for playing golf on a public course.
The great part about both of my new hobbies is that neither one has been expensive for me at all. I bought that chess book, but that's the extent of my expenditure so far. I'm thinking about buying a program so I can play against a computer and at the same time it can give me tips and what not. Golf is usually very expensive to get started with but I've literally been given all of my equiptment. Kiran gave me his old clubs and some old gloves. Wallace gave me an extra glove and some extra club covers that he had after he bought a separate set off of Amazon (Wallace buys a lot of stuff off of Amazon). I've been given tees and balls as well. In general golf is expensive, though, and to continue that hobby I'm going to have to accept that. It's about $40 to play a round depending on where you go, and it's like $10 to go to the driving range and hit balls. But I'm pretty content with my mismatched set of old clubs and newer club covers and my old school Bagger Vance bag.
This summer I'm working on chess and golf. Maybe next summer I'll take up polo or jai alai, or maybe even just work directly on my general snobbery.
So I've taken on two things to improve at that, at least on the surface, are going to make me more worldly. I'm trying to get better at both golf and chess. At the moment I suck at both. Well, it's fair to say that I suck at chess. In fact there's no other way to put it. I don't actually suck at golf. I'm bad, but in the few times I've played this summer it's clear to me that everyone is bad at golf. So given that, I'm actually only a relatively poor player versus a completely sucky player.
I've never really put too much thought into chess and though I've been interested in it it's always something that I just never latched onto because I wasn't good at it right away. My problem is that I play really defensively without actually knowing what to defend against. In the times I've played in the past, which are generally few and far between, I am capable of picturing my moves many steps in advance, but I don't really give much thought to my opponent's moves so my plans inevitably fall apart. I decided taht I was interested enough in chess to get better at it so I bought The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess which had better reviews than Chess For Dummies. I figured this was as good a place as any to start. It gives a fairly complete, if elementary, overview of the game and I've already learned a fair amount. I haven't played too much, mainly just been reading, but I'm on track to improve my game and there is honestly nowhere to go but up.
Golf is something that was not even on my radar until I was in college. Around then me and Brian and Luke and whomever else would go out to the pitch and putt somewhere off route 80 and play sometimes. We were bad, but it was a fun way to kill a copule hours. They also had a driving range there and sometimes we'd do that too. That was about the extent of my golf experience before a few months ago. Around that time two things happened that opened up the world of golf for me. First is that a friend of mine from work, Kiran, who plays left handed, got a new set of clubs to replace his old set. He gave me his old set and now I have a set of golf clubs. Second is that this other friend from work, Wallace, got a set of clubs off of Amazon and started playing. Wallace and I had essentially the same amount of experience, none, and so we started going to the driving range and such together and usually Kiran would come with us too.
So now this summer we have all been playing golf with relative frequency. We've gone out twice now and played with the three of us and Kiran's dad at two different courses in Queens, and we have plans to go out again this week to play. Kiran and his dad have been helping Wallace and I to get a little bit better, and actually both of us have improved to a level that's acceptable for playing golf on a public course.
The great part about both of my new hobbies is that neither one has been expensive for me at all. I bought that chess book, but that's the extent of my expenditure so far. I'm thinking about buying a program so I can play against a computer and at the same time it can give me tips and what not. Golf is usually very expensive to get started with but I've literally been given all of my equiptment. Kiran gave me his old clubs and some old gloves. Wallace gave me an extra glove and some extra club covers that he had after he bought a separate set off of Amazon (Wallace buys a lot of stuff off of Amazon). I've been given tees and balls as well. In general golf is expensive, though, and to continue that hobby I'm going to have to accept that. It's about $40 to play a round depending on where you go, and it's like $10 to go to the driving range and hit balls. But I'm pretty content with my mismatched set of old clubs and newer club covers and my old school Bagger Vance bag.
This summer I'm working on chess and golf. Maybe next summer I'll take up polo or jai alai, or maybe even just work directly on my general snobbery.
# posted by ChuckJerry : 7/17/2006 04:04:00 PM
