SpiderWebComm said:
Since he's standing in for PJ for some reason, maybe you can stand-in for me, Joey. I like my horse. Don't forget to come back with your BCA certificate of completion.
I think it was a little smart-assed to ask me to gamble given the tone and seriousness of my thread - I really posted that with my heart. That's par for the course with his clique. *rolling my eyes*
Wow! I really didn't expect this.
I just got back after being gone for a week and a half with no internet access.
I'm hurt by your reaction, Dave. But I also think I really misjudged the situation and I'm embarrassed that I contacted you publicly.
Here's where my head was at... You and I have spent a TON of time talking about and trying to communicate about aiming ideas on this forum. A theme that's surfaced over and over again is a sense that there are some things that need to be demonstrated at the table.
You sent me a PM in December in which you told me you liked me and that we seemed to approach aiming from very different perspectives. You also told me that you could show me different ways to pivot. I replied that if I ever get in your area, I would definitely try to meet up with you or meet up with Stan if I got that opportunity.
I had just made my flight arrangements to DC for next week, and at the very last minute before leaving the trip I just finished, I logged on and saw your post about Hal. It dawned on me that I would be within 2-3 hours of you (that's close for someone from Fargo) and that I could drive from DC up past Baltimore to meet you.
I can't even count the people I've met up with and played from this forum that I now consider friends -- Bob Jewett, Smorgassbored, Jimbo, Cornerman Fred, Joey A., Andrew Manning, Cory-in-DC, Dan White, Patrick Johnson, Lou Figueroa, John Barton, and the list goes on... I gambled with most of these people, lost to most of those, and whether I won or lost some piddly amount, I think I at least tried to pick up the whole tab for table and food and drinks, etc.
I misjudged the situation with you. I thought of us as members of a fraternity of sorts. Though we have both met with Hal Houle on several occasions--our only person connection that I know of-- we seemed to approach aiming like yin and yang, like C.P. Snow's two cultures, like east and west. What we had in common, I thought, was that we both were intensely interested in the subject, and we both have spent considerable effort trying to sort things out and communicate them to others. I am embarrassed that I arrogantly just assumed you would see meeting me at the table would be an opportunity you would embrace. And apparently, as I now get to see publicly, that is far from true.
One reason I am replying publicly now is that my public invitation prompted some ridicule of BCA instructor certification. And though you may see me as just some nerdy guy with his "certificate of completion," I want to assure others that whether *I* am a worthy disciple or not, there is a wealth of great knowledge about billiards and billiard instruction that passes through the BCA master academies.
I'm sorry for my arrogant presumption. I'm sorry I invited you publicly. I've learned a lesson here.