Stuff I Learned Yesterday

I mentioned in a previous episode that I sing and play guitar at my church. What I didn’t tell you is that I’m the worship leader and I’m, shall we say, rhythmically challenged. Most of the time I’m fine. That’s not to say that I alway keep in rhythm. I don’t. I have a tendency to speed up as a song goes on. I have to really focus to keep from speeding up the tempo.

However, speeding up the tempo isn’t usually that big of a deal. The band sticks with me and we all stay together. The drummer has worked with me in rehearsals to help me more aware of my tempo during the entire song and I don’t really ever get so fast that it’s hard to sing along, it’s just faster than it was when we started.

If gradually getting faster as songs progress was my only problem, I probably wouldn’t bother telling you about it. After all, it’s a problem that most people won’t notice. My bigger problem is that I will flat out lose my rhythm from time to time. That is, I’ll be strumming along, playing a song that I’ve done a hundred times before and add in a extra beat or even skip a beat. When I make this type of mistake, it’s noticeable by everyone. We’re all off. Well, actually, the band and the congregation are together, but the guy singing into the microphone and leading everyone is off.

When this happens it creates an awkward moment. I instantly realize what I’ve done, of course, and try to figure out how to get back on track. I think what normally happens is that once the odd beat has passed, I’m back on the normal rhythm and the band and congregation just have to sync back up with me. This process usually takes a couple of seconds. Then we’re all back together and the awkward moment is behind us. Read More...

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I played golf over the weekend. You might be impressed to hear that I shot a 68. You might be less impressed to hear that that is just my score for the first 9 holes. In case you don’t really know that much about golf, professional golfers will easily score below 68 for an entire round of 18 holes. Unfortunately for me, golf is one of those sports where a higher score is better.

I really enjoy playing golf, but I am also really terrible at it. I hate that it’s so expensive to play, and I’d play more often if it didn’t cost so much. In fact, it had been about 2 years since the last time I’d played a round of golf.

I typically play with my dad and brother. Before we ever approach the first hole it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion that my dad and brother will be competing for the top spot and I will claiming third place. That was certainly the case this weekend. After the first hole I was down by 3 or 4 strokes and that was the closest I would come to the lead all day. Since I know that I’m terrible at it, I adjust my expectations accordingly.

If you’ve listened to the previous episodes of Stuff I Learned Yesterday, then you should be very aware that I am not athletically gifted. You may think that golfing is not an athletic activity, but I believe it is. At the very least, it requires having good eye-hand coordination, and that’s usually a problem for me.

I have no expectation that I will hit a shot that Tiger Woods would be proud of. I don’t even have an expectation that I will hit a shot that Happy Gilmore would be proud of. My expectations are simple: have fun, do my best, and try to improve as the round progresses. Because I know I can’t really compete with my dad and brother, my competition is with myself.

This competition may seem false or insignificant, but it’s enough to push me to do my best and cause me frustration when I fail to achieve my goal. My dad and brother are both very encouraging when I hit a bad shot or a good shot, and they give me pointers along the way. Read More...

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Welcome to Stuff I Learned Yesterday. My name is Darrell Darnell, my favorite Dum Dum flavor is root beer, and I believe that if you aren’t learning, you aren’t living. In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I’m pleased to bring you another installment of the Friday Forum.

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Friday Forum

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When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. Read More...

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Just last week I was at my favorite coffee shop. I ordered my usual cup of black coffee and sat down at my favorite table to get some work done. At the table next to me there were two men enjoying coffee and chatting away. One of the guys was younger and one was a little older, perhaps a father son relationship, I don’t really know, but it was clear that the older one was a sort of mentor or teacher to the younger one.

I am an expert at working in noisy, busy environments, I can tune out everything going on around me. You could let the zoo loose inside the coffee shop and I wouldn’t even know it. And that is exactly what I did on this day, tuned the world out to focus on my work.

I can’t even tell you what the two men were talking about, I was focused on my work. But out of nowhere I just happened to clearly hear one sentence that the older man said in response to something the younger man had said. It was such a simple thing, but it really caught my attention and I have been thinking about it ever since. Read more...

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