Category: Fourre-tout

♫ If you go to San Francisco, be sure to wear flowers in your hair…♬

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So what happened yesterday in San Francisco?
Did we play?
Did it rain?
Did we wear flowers in our hair?
What exactly took place in the City by the Bay?

Well my friends, yes we played –all the 16 of us– and yes it rained, and no, nobody wore flowers in their hair.

The (plucky) players who showed up to compete were as follows:

1. Alain Efron
2. Paul Kos
3. Scott ?
4. Mike M. ?
5. Henry Wessel
6. Jack McKinnon
7. Christine Cragg
8. Joss Krauer
9. Chris Farris
10. Tamara Efron
11. Claudie Chourré
12. Noel Marcovecchio
13. Jean ?
14. Charlie Davantes
15. Liv Kraft
16. Calvert Barron

The Marinites (9 of us) really saved the day. Without our mighty contingent no tournament could have taken place.

The format of this particular Concours was “doublettes” “carrousel” style. We changed partners each game.

We played 2 games in the morning under fair conditions. Just a light drizzle.
We were scheduled to play 2 additional games after lunch, but the rain gods decided otherwise.
Just as we finished our second game it started to rain… rather substantially.

We stopped for lunch hoping that the downpour would stop. But it did not.

Large puddles of water started to colonize the field and it was wisely decided to postpone the rest of the tournament and complete it the following Sunday.

So weather allowing, the tournament will resume next Sunday.
The scores of the 2 first games will be kept and the same players will compete again.

Was it a miserable day? Not at all.
In spite of the rain, it was rather pleasant and I don’t mind coming back to a picturesque (with shaggy bisons in the next meadow) pétanque field.

Thanks  to the organizers who worked hard to make this tournament possible.

See you all next Sunday.

Alain

To look at photos of this event and listen to the accompanying background music, turn your computer’s sound on, and click on the link “My Photos” located on the right side of this page. For best viewing, go Full Screen.

When you are in the rat race you have very little time to stop and smell the roses.
But when you disengage from work, you can look around you and reflect on what you are seeing or reading.

One of my guilty pleasures is reading. I am a voracious reader who goes through any kind of writing I can put my hands on.

In the past, I have frequently come across the “original sin” expression without ever pausing to think about it; but recently, bumping into these words again, I suddenly stopped and reared like a startled horse.
What the heck is the “Original Sin” anyway?

“Original sin, also called ancestral sin, is the Christian doctrine of humanity’s state of sin resulting from the fall of man, namely the sin of consuming from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, stemming from Adam’s rebellion in Eden. “
Wikipedia

I am ready to wager a bundle that very few people could give me a clear explanation of that conundrum.
Even though I am a sworn atheist I always was under the impression that Adam and Eve were chased from Eden for doing the Nasty.
It seemed like a reasonable assumption. Two attractive, bored young people with too much time on their hands…

But why would that be a sin?
Why is it that for some people everything linked to copulation is a sin?
Whoever ever came up with this absurdity?

By the same token, are breeding animals also sinners? I wonder…

And what about “the tree of knowledge”?
“In Western Christian art, the fruit of the tree is commonly depicted as the apple.”

It looks good and appetizing. Why shouldn’t we eat it?
And why is “consuming from the tree of knowledge” verboten?
Don’t you want people to be educated and knowledgeable?
It does not make any sense to my Cartesian mind.

Geek mythology sounds so much more logical to me. The Gods had numerous affairs, fought, and engaged in vendettas just like regular couples.
Their way of life sounds so much more believable than the “original sin” saga.

But I am not a learned person, especially when it comes to the convoluted history of humankind explained by highly partisan individuals.
And who cares anyway about what happened two, three or four thousands years ago?
Is it relevant today?
Can any sane person keep any grudge that long?

Looking at what is happening in the murderously sectarian Middle East it looks like it.

Morons, f***ing morons!

Excuse my outburst. Connerie ignorance lunacy bigotry makes me go off the deep end.

In this life, you choose what you want to believe.
I choose to believe that there never was any Original Sin.
Maybe, just maybe, two bored teenagers.

Alain

“The volume of your voice does not increase the validity of your argument.”
Steve Maraboli

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There is nothing more grating to me than the sound of a loud voice (or laughter) in a public place.
When I go to a restaurant, a café or a theater, I buy the right to enjoy a period of time free of disturbance or interruption.

My comfort zone is a loudmouth-free zone… and a loudmouth by the way is not necessarily a man. A shrieking woman can be as disturbing (if not more) as a male yokel.

Noise is disturbing, stressful and detrimental to your heath.

As a matter of fact, many people immediately mute (I do) a loud commercial.
A noisy promotion has exactly the opposite effect as intended. It turns people off instead of captivating them.
Absolutely nobody is going to be swayed or convinced by a loud commercial.
It is way more irritating than enticing and I am always surprised that some outfits persist in still airing them.

A quiet argument is more powerful than a vociferous tirade and it is proven daily in business or in politics.
And you have a natural tendency to pay more attention to people who speak softly than to blowhards who make questionable statements.

In our interminable presidential campaign, the temporary Republican strident frontrunners (do I need to mention anybody?) will soon fade away to make room for quieter candidates.

Loudness usually betrays a feeling of insecurity.
If you cannot convince them with reason subdue them with noise, seems to be their asinine “Modus Operandi”.

Great orators don’t shriek; they quietly win you over with reasonable arguments.

“Noise proves nothing. Often a hen that has merely laid an egg cackles as if she laid an asteroid.”
Mark Twain

So, do me a favor, when you go on the town, tone it down a notch… s’il vous plait.
Grazie mille !

Alain