Sitting around the lunch table at work the other day, some coworkers started talking about old 80’s shows. Of course the usual Thundercats, Smurfs, etc references came up. Bo-ring. One guy says “Do you remember the Snorks?” Come on, man. Who doesn’t remember the Snorks? You think that’s obscure? Please. How about the shows that never seem to come up during these conversations…

• Danger Mouse – Who doesn’t love an international spy, especially one who happens to be a mouse with an eyepatch? And who could forget the mini-episodes contained within each DM episode featuring Bananaman? Watch the intro
• Scooby Doo’s Laff-A-Lympics – Probably the ultimate collection of Hanna-Barbara characters ever brought together in one place. Three teams compete each episode in a variety of competitions. Technically this first aired in the late 70’s, but you could still watch the reruns in the early 80’s and any kid watching cartoons probably saw this. Watch the intro
• Turbo Teen – A kid who turns into a car and back into human form when touched with hot or cold water. In my mind this was a much bigger show than it was (I even had the lunchbox back in kindergarten!). If you want to talk about a show almost no one remembers… mention Turbo Teen. Watch the intro
• Photon – You don’t get much campier than a teen laser tag idol who gets recruited by space warriors to fight against the bad guys. Wait, this suddenly sounds exactly like the laser tag equivalent of ‘The Last Starfighter’. Live-action, which means all the clips of the space monster fights et al are just as quality as watching a battle in an episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. No, wait, this was worse. Essentially a huge marketing ploy for the Photon home laser tag toys.  Watch the beginning of an episode

Now we’re talking about some obscure 80’s shows.

I felt the need to document my play from this past weekend’s Greater Hartford Disc Golf Open due to just how miserable my performance was out there. With luck, being forced to fully review my rounds will help determine just what has gone awry in my game and prevent such a catastrophe from happening again in the future.

Wickham Park is a tough course when it wants to be. It’s not an easy course by any stretch, but it can certainly not be unthinkable to come out close to course par (58) if you’re playing intelligently and some of the top guys can routinely finish a round around 54 or better. In the first round I threw an abysmal 66. First hole of the day (Hole 2, for those that know the course), I duff my drive low into the ground where it grabs an edge and skitters Out-of-Bounds. I take my upshot, leave myself 20′ from the pin, and proceed to miss the putt to wind up with a 5. Next hole no real drama, but don’t take the 3 I wanted and card a 4 instead. I miss 15′ birdie putts on holes 4 and 5. I par 6 and 7, and my head is in a good place so far still for the round. Sure, I’ve already missed 3 putts inside 20 feet during the first 4 holes, but being +3 isn’t the end of the world and this can still be a decent round. I then take a 5 on hole 8 after a less-than-stellar drive lands on the edge of the treeline and I have trouble making a respectable upshot (and after approaching again, miss yet another 20-footer). Par out hole 9, then go OB on 10 into the boccee court. Hole 11 card a 5 after taking another OB penalty going over the wall on the right side of the hole. 3 on 12, 4 on 13 after my upshot doesn’t clear the last guardian trees on the edge of the pocket and I miss my putt, 3 on 14 as well. Hole 15 I putt low into the basket to try for deuce (third missed deuce attempt from inside 20′ this round). Hole 16, late wood just outside the pocket means I take a 3. Hole 17, 4th missed deuce putt from inside 20′ as I putt low yet again. Hole 18 my drive somehow doesn’t make it up onto the second plateau, and trying to muscle a TL with an uphill runup into a headwind I stand the disc up and go into the road for another OB penalty: miss the comeback putt due to the bushes between me and the basket, despite making a valiant run at it – another 5. Hole 1, miraculously no drama and the round is finally over.

I never got into my own head all round, at least as far as my spirits were concerned. I kept telling myself that every shot was a new shot, and I truly believed myself. But it was one of those rounds where anything that was going to go wrong, did go wrong. I rarely take an OB penalty at Wickham, especially knowing the course as well as I do when you know exactly how a disc would need to be thrown from almost any spot on the course in order to find it, and I took 4 that round. My rounds are usually pretty good at damage control (mostly), and I had five 5’s on the card – the OB’s certainly didn’t help that fact though. Four missed birdies all within 20′, and other missed putts from inside the same range for 3 or worse. I’m not a great putter, but that was abysmal stats even for my usual track record.

Round 2 was nothing special, shooting a 62 from the long layout (long tee 1, long pins on 7/9/18) which yes shaved 4 strokes off on a layout that probably plays about 3 par strokes tougher overall. And despite feeling fairly tepid about my 62, it still came back with an unofficial rating of 958. The first round? 893. Yes, I’ll say it again, 893. -sigh-

One of the worst feelings in life has to be getting sick in the summer. Your head throbs, your nose is running, you can’t think straight… and it’s 95 frikkin’ degrees outside. If you don’t have Air Conditioning, you’re toast. If you do have Air Conditioning, you realize very quickly how uncomfortable you can still be despite having a controlled climate. You’re hot, then you’re frozen, then you’re sweating again so you crank the A/C up some more: what the heck do you mean it’s already 62 degrees in here, I’m broiling! 3 minutes later you’re under a blanket on the couch after donning a hoodie. But give it another 10 minutes, you’ll be wondering if the A/C is still working, because now you’re shedding all clothing down to your boxers and you’re once again covered in sweat.

Being sick always sucks, it’s not like being infirmed is some joyous event in any other season. Maybe it’s not only battling the outside heat but also just the feeling of true lost potential due to the fact that you’re sick when it’s summer. Let’s face it, while there admittedly is a lot you can do outside in the colder months there is much more that you can do when it’s nice out. In the winter, I’d probably be lying on my couch anyway since it’s so darn cold out there; I just wouldn’t be blowing my nose as much or have that tight feeling in my chest or have the raging headache. In the summer… I can’t even begin to list all the things you can do. On the perfect day, it almost seems like the possibilities are endless.

Recently I’ve been caught saying that the phrase “burning the candle at both ends” doesn’t nearly describe my activities as of late. It’s more like I stole the wicks off of a half-dozen menorahs, transplanted them all into the candle, and then lit all of them. I’m sure that now that I’m past the ACT my body is merely telling me that I’ve been pushing it too hard, and I’m not one to disagree. But I wish my body could be a little less obnoxious in its methods for getting the point across – maybe just a few days of “wow I’m tired, I need to go to bed early” would have done just fine.

Tournament this upcoming Sunday, fingers crossed I can kick this thing before then. I seem to already be on the upswing after only 48 hours, which is a good sign I think. Off to get another rare 8+ hours of sleep to continue on my road to recovery.