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1:20 PM, Sunday, June 21st, 2015:   The word "pride" has always felt negative to me. It's a big amalgam of your past that can seemingly only disrupt your present and future. That's not to say I'm never proud of things in the past, but the feeling is fleeting... because I'm always doin' new shit. That's what's great about The Journey: you document the present, the page turns... and you're already documenting the next "present". If asked? Sure I'm proud of things I accomplished... but I'm 100% focused on what's coming. THAT BEING SAID...   What I'm about to share with you, on Father's Day no less, has FILLED me with pride. Almost to the point of tears. I had no idea that something in my body needed recognition because the project at hand? Is too damned busy to have time to think about that. It has so many facets to run from the tournaments, to the charities, to Hats & Minigolf... it's all encompassing. So imagine the wallop I received when someone posted this on my Facebook page. Something I had no idea about, had nothing to do with... it just happened:

 

 

There's 10 backyards in the article and "Little Fenway" blows my freaking mind. The Ice rink is 2nd to that (though probably a helluva lot harder to maintain) and I'm absolutely in love with the giant pool table with bowling balls, but Little Fenway and the Ice rink are head and shoulders above what we've done. Man, I can't even imagine...   ...but being on that list? Just, wow! I'm one of THOSE dads. Now, Vienna really was the inspiration for it all even though it's turned into so much more. I knew we were having a girl and I liked the fact that there's no gender or age (past a certain age) bias to putting. A little girl could come in and beat a bunch of grown men trying their absolute best. Imagine how that would feel for a kid! That's why I made the big board, that's why I made the trophies... I wanted to cement a history so someday when one of my kids does indeed qualify and eventually win? They will KNOW it wasn't handed to them, or made up to make them feel good. It's a legit course with players that, as Matt said one time, wouldn't let a Make-A-Wish kid win. LMFAO.   Sounds mean, but it's just kind of who we are. We don't give away these tournaments for ANYONE. It's hard to be in a position to win a tournament and when you screw up? You're pretty pissed off.   Now because charities are now involved and I believe in "Hats & Minigolf" as a show, the focus is all over the place in regards to the course... but it doesn't take away from the fact that it was indeed built entirely because I felt sportsmanship was a big deal for kids to learn and I thought I could pull it off right in our backyard. And man, nothing is more aggrivating than golf. The kids are already having mini-meltdowns when things don't go their way. I do feel for them in the future when they blow it in a tournament and all the adults are watching. It's a ton of pressure... but hopefully since they grew up with it? It'll help them push through and learn how to fail, get back up... and succeed.   So the story itself mentioned something that isn't exactly true, though I do understand the confusion. There is no private ride to GolfKon in the Delorean for $200. LOL. The way the "Golfkon" package on RentTheDelorean.com came to be was the demand to be able to spend an hour with the car... anywhere. People would ask if they could just have it for one hour in a parking lot, to sit in, take pics, etc. The problem? You can't take that car out in public without people kinda losin' their minds. And suddenly your rental is everyone's rental. So I figured since where I park it is already kind of a showcase... people could just come to the course and check out the car. We've had several rentals like that. Sometimes they just add-on visiting Marty McFly's house for a couple bucks too, but it allows people for the cheapest price possible to spend some time with the car since we have a 2 hour minimum if we're traveling TO your event. Now the other interesting thing is the link within my section of the list... they did an entire story on me last month!??!?! I had no idea!

 

 

Now this was posted just a couple days after the lady that runs Pee-Wee's social media accounts ran the story on Neatorama.com so I figure they caught that and added their own story. So thanks again to Rusty for that. I asked her if she was behind the Fatherly stories and she said she had no idea! So, just yay. I should probably point out a couple things a bit off in the story in case anyone ever asks:   1) The course is NOT 7,000 square feet. My entire LOT is 7,000 square feet, The greens themselves are only 100 square feet and I guess if you include all the decking, etc - you could probably say 700 square feet... but by no means is it 7,000 square feet. Just looks big in pictures and in video.   2) For $200 I will kinda turn it into an uber but the truth is? It's almost always just a gag for the people at the event. Meaning to save on miles for the client, we meet around the corner... I drive them around the corner and they go "woo-hoo!". Rarely do I actually pick someone up and take them somewhere. I make this distinction because I'm certainly NOT a licensed delivery service and don't want to give the idea that I am. In the end, most people opt to give the illusion of arriving at a red carpet or party, but need their own actual car because when I drop-off? I'm gone.   3) You cannot "book" GolfKon. Sure if you're checking out the car, I'm happy to let you putt "Golf to the Future" but we're not doing birthday parties (JESUS I don't even want to think about the insurance I'd need for that) or having anything but my own personal or charity events.   4) Minor point here, but the whole first vlogger title isn't "self-proclaimed". It was proclaimed on Wikipedia and then argued over for years. YEEEEEEEEEARS. They did all their research and bickering and indeed, yes, I'm the first person to start an online-video-log, otherwise known as a video-weblog, otherwise known as a video-blog and finally as a vlog. I'm the longest running, simply because I haven't stopped. Some dude started what he called a "vog" in November of 2000, but ran it for about a year. The closest version of what I do didn't appear until 2003. And then of course, once YouTube hit? It's now an actual thing. Thus, people wondered who the first was and my name came up. Thankfully there are internet archives to prove your claim, which I guess at one point was "self" proclaimed, but no longer.   Sorry to be that anal, but I always figure it's best to set the record straight here when I can, in case it ever comes up. The Journey is kind of hidden from search engines thanks to my archaic Claris program I've been using since the 90s... but it is what it is.   SO I guess we end this entry with, well, a GolfKon video. Here's little Cam at one of many of his morning practice sessions. Seriously, this kid is hardcore about getting this stuff right. Far more serious about it than Vienna was. She's still oodles better than him, but for nearly 18 months? Cam's extraordinary. The kid actually hit a 2-shot PAR on Hole 1. <blink> It'll be fun to watch them grow.     It's funny, I'm realizing that what I feel wathching them succeed... isn't really proud. I feel kind of, well, just honored to witness it. Happy to help, guide... but I don't feel we have a whole lot to do with twho they are. We just support them and point them in the right direction. When they do incredible things, my brain immediately assumes that's just what was in them and if anything, we provided the space for it to come out... but I never feel a sense of pride about it. I don't see my children as accomplishments. Is that weird? Am I overthinking this? I think I kind of am.   I'll wrap my head around it later. Gotta go work on the Gopher Hole.   Adam