Game, set, match!

I have been spending my Saturdays this fall playing in a men's doubles tennis league put on by ALTA (Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association). For $25 a year, I joined ALTA to be able to play with my friend Mark Carter and his neighborhood tennis team. The team participates in a spring and fall league every year, and for 7-8 Saturday's a season, 5 teams of men from the neighborhood each play a match against 5 teams from a competing neighborhood.

Tennis is and has been my favorite sport to play since I was a kid. Both of my parents enjoy the game and taught me the basics at a young age. I also enjoy it because my lack of height and girth is not as big a disadvantage as say football or basketball! But I what most enjoy about the sport is that it is a game of strategy - play from the baseline or volley at the net; hit to the forehand or the backhand; serve out wide, up the middle, or into the body; topspin or backspin! You get the point!

As I started to watch tennis as a kid, I noticed something unusual about tennis - the court surfaces vary! In America, most tennis courts are played on asphalt. I've seen green, blue, and red asphalt courts. However, tennis can also be played on clay and on grass. The ball tends to skid more on grass and tends to travel slower on clay. Footing is also different on each of these surfaces. I have played on clay a handful of times, and it is unusual in that you have to learn to come to a sliding stop instead of a screeching halt! My dream is to get to play on a legitimate grass court some day - I would love to experience it in person.

Have you ever noticed how odd tennis scoring is? When you are serving, say your score first and then the opponent's score. So far, so good. If you win 3 points in a row, the 1st point gets you to 15 love, then 30 love, then 45, scratch that 40 love! I have no idea who came up with that moment of brilliance. And as a matter of fact, I have no idea why love = 0. If you get to 40-40, you call it deuce! I think the foreign sounding terms was part of the intrigue to me as a kid. Getting past the terminology, you have to win by 2, to win a game; then it's the 1st to win 6 games, win by 2, to win the set; then it's the best of 3 sets usually. I'm glad I learned the scoring when I had a young, pliable mind!

Getting back to the here and now, Mark and I haven't been free at the same time this fall, so I have played with 2 other gentleman instead. Bill is a retired tennis coach who hits everything back and is adept at lobbing the ball over people at net. He's so good at it that sometimes we call him "Mr. Lob City." The last 2 weeks I have played with Raj. Raj, like Bill, is a lefty. He takes the left side of the court and I take the right side and we both have the advantage of being able to hit our forehands a lot when we play with each other. I have noticed that when we play he likes to tell me to "chill out" and "calm down". I think most people think I'm pretty laid back, but my "hyper side" comes out on the tennis court. (My Mom always told me I was her hyper child, and in my heart, I know she's right)! In truth, when I do something I love, I get hyper.

To conclude, if you still don't share my excitement for the game of tennis enough to take up the game, make a point to catch a whiff of a freshly opened can of tennis balls. You'll be hooked for life!

 

Left brain or right brain?

I think the human brain is one of, if the not most fascinating, portions of the human body that God created. Not being a scientist, I'll oversimplify - we all have a creative side and an analytical side of brains ... a left side and a right side, and I can never remember which side is which! I'm thankful for how the Lord blesses me with interests, skills, and hobbies that stimulate both sides of my brain. I bet if you think about it, He does the same for you as well.

My job as a public accountant is usually perceived as largely analytical and mathematical. One of the most frequent comments that I hear from people when I tell them I'm a CPA is "Oh, you must be good at math." It makes me chuckle and I usually say, "Not as much you think." That being said, my job is analytical and sometimes it is like putting a puzzle together. Tax return information given through a shoebox of documents quickly comes to mind! 

As a youth, I grew up taking music lessons, first piano and then violin. Music is a creative expression of the soul, and I love it. My favorite assignment from my violin teacher was to go rent recordings of the piece I was learning and listen to how it was played. "Listen for the phrasing of the melody line". "Where is the climax?" "Listen for liberties taken in tempo!" All of this was and is part of the performer's creative license in making the piece come alive. However, the best music is written in very structured ways.  My violin teacher Beth Hoffman would always make me play along with a metronome, which tick tocked (loudly) the specified tempo for the piece. In the midst of my creativity, I had to conform to the wishes of the composer. All musicians that I know have a love/hate relationship with their metronome!

As a homeowner, I don't enjoy cleaning, and doing handyman type of work. But I do enjoy gardening and yardwork (for the most part). This weekend I channeled my inner "Edward Scissorhands" and worked on pruning some of my taller trees. There is a certain beauty in having a rounded tree that isn't lopsided on one side or the other. I enjoyed clearing enough space down to walk under the branches. My trees still look good, and now I don't bump my head mowing the lawn!

Reflecting on how God blessed me with different skills than other people make me realize again that He knows what he's doing. He's the ultimate Creator. Isn't it a blessing to meditate on his grand design?

Soli Deo Gloria!

An orange is an orange

Every February through April, my work schedule turns super hectic, and I end spending a lot of evenings at my office during tax season. One of my rituals during tax season is to stock up my office with as many snacks as possible. The snacks generally need to be nutritious and filling, so I can work late into the evening without starving. My usual staples are string cheese, wheat thins, almonds, and apples.

This year I decided to add oranges to my diet. But once I was at the grocery store, I thought to myself, "What should I get?" There were so many options, it was bewildering. Juice Oranges, Navels, Clementines, Tangerines, Blood Oranges, Halos, Cuties, Mandarins - the names were conjuring up mental images of terms of endearment, Chinese people, an old John Wayne movie, and my own body parts instead of the actual qualities of the fruits. What's a guy to do??

In the end, I went with the tried and true - the "what looks good" criteria! I chose these mandarins, and I was happy with my choice. They have really been a great pick me up as an early evening snack. Maybe next year, I'll be brave and branch out to kumquats!