Category: Fourre-tout

Free lunches don’t come cheap. Charles Petzold

Ideally speaking it would be nice, once in a while, to be the beneficiary of a “free lunch”. But more often than not a “free” lunch proves to be more costly than a purchased meal.

Because let’s face it, “there is no such thing as a free lunch.” Soon or later, one way or the other, you will have to cough up for your “free” lunch.

Don Corleone: “Someday, and that day may never come, I’ll call upon you to do a service for me.”
Naturellement! What did you expect?

A free lunch offer is like bait. Enticing, tempting, easy to get, but with strings attached. Why do you think lobbyists ply you with such nice perks? Because they love you?

“Love is like a taxi fare, the further you go, the more dearly you will pay.”

Every action has a consequence just as every Yin has a Yang. A free lunch indebts you to your “benefactor”. And interest could be more costly than expected.

The best gifts are intangible…

The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy. Meryl Streep

A hug might be more soothing than a fruitcake, or a piece of jewelry.

This does not mean that you should systematically refuse every lunch invitation. An invitation from a long-time friend is definitely more genuine that an invite from your local politico during elections time.

Always beware of the word “free”. It is a four-letter word. It is a lure, a decoy, a thing intended to tempt or entice you. When you hear that dirty word, turn around and run!

A free kiss is acceptable, as long as it is not binding. But beware; there nothing is more expensive than a free kiss from an alluring woman.

Genuine free hugs from you know whom!

Alain

“Remain humble or life will do it for you.”

If you are a pétanque player, you might have noticed that this unpretentious game has a way to keep you humble… or cut you down to size.

National tournaments (like Sonoma’s) are a good way to assess your skills. When you start thinking that you are a big tuna, you might discover that your size shrinks significantly when you venture into a bigger pond. There is ALWAYS somebody who will lick you. Surprise!

This sport, like any other competitive exercise, has something to do with physical ability and mental strength. A great player usually starts young, is naturally gifted and gets a lot of practice. You need to play often, preferably with stronger players, to hone your skills.
And you need to control your temper and stay cool under pressure! The mark of a champion is to remain grounded while achieving greatness.

Unlike other sports, age is no handicap in pétanque. Sexagenarians can be as good as teenagers, and young phenoms could deflate anybody’s ego faster than you can utter OMG!

You can spot a “serious” player by the way he/she behaves on the field. Marching back and forth scrutinizing every inch of the ground (?), marking where the cochonnet landed, crouching to assess the topography of the area, mulling about the next move…

As a photographer, I cannot help but notice those things and they sometimes make me chuckle. D-Day required a lot of thinking and a lot of planning. Shooting or pointing should take a little less time.

But who am I to say this? I am an emblematic Pastis (minus the Pastis) player. I only play on weekends and never farther than 30 miles from my abode.

This does not mean that I am not competitive. I am, and I don’t like to lose. But I was a late starter and it is difficult to catch up with somebody who began playing while still wearing diapers.

So I am a journeyman player. And if you play against me, call yourself lucky because you have a good chance to beat me.

If I were a really good player, I would probably be full of myself… the opposite of the wonderful human being that I presently am. And if I were really good, I would probably not lower myself to play with you.

So we are all lucky. Since I am less than great, I remain friendly and humble… and you, you won’t have to be snubbed by a self-anointed champ.

Don’t let me win too often. It could go to my head and make my derrière too big for my britches.

Alain

Karma has no menu. You get served what you deserve.

I have always believed that “it ain’t over until the fat lady sings” and one more time I was proven right. Never presume to know the outcome of an event still in progress.

Yesterday in Sonoma, at the National Men’s & Women’s Doubles World Championship Qualifier, Ed Porto and Ziggy Kessouagni faced Peter Mathis and Jack Vijit (from Chicago) in the men’s finals. Two very strong teams definitely deserving to be in the finals.

If I am not mistaken, everybody believed that it was going to be a very tight contest, all players being equally adept at shooting and pointing.

When the game started, Ziggy on one side and Jack on Mathis’ side were the appointed shooters. Both excellent marksmen.

Porto’s team scored first. Then they scored again… again and again. Very soon the scoreboard (watch picture) was showing a dismaying 10-1 in favor of Porto’s team. Unbelievable!

Everybody thought “les carottes sont cuites” (the carrots are cooked) as we say in French.

But the carrots were only “al dente”. After being extremely accurate and scoring carreaux after carreaux, both shooters started to miss. For a while, it looked like they both lost their bearings. Fatigue, stress? Understandable. They had been at it since 9:00 a.m. and it was now 6:00 p.m.

Both teams reverted roles. The pointers became the shooters and the shooters became pointers. Mathis’ team finally emerged from its comatose state and started scoring.

Little by little, they crept up until the score reached 12/12.

Any team could win. The tension was palpable!

Finally, around 6:30 p.m. Mathis delivered “ le coup de grace” and it was over. After being on life support for a good 20 minutes Peter and Jack rose from the dead and won 1st place 13/12.

The accompanying pictures clearly show their pent-up emotion.

A movie is likely in the offing. Hollywood already called!

On the women’s side, after a long battle, Juanita Celix & Angie Gleason defeated Kongback & Bissonnette and took 1st place.

Men’s finals:
1st place: Peter Mathis & Jack Vijit
2nd place: Ed Porto & Ziggy Kessouagni
3rd place: John Harris & Mickey Coughlin

Women’s finals:
1st place: Juanita Celix & Angie Gleason
2nd place: Kongback & Bissonnette
3rd place: Vang & Thao

Men’s Consolante:
1st place: J-M Poulnot &  Johnatan Dalmau

Alain

Full names and ranking will be updated as soon as I get the data.

Enjoy the pictures. Comments are always appreciated.