Golf, Politics and Merging with Andromeda

I'm not even sure where to start. 

It was the CPMT annual tournament today. Translation: my once-a-year best ball tournament and a chance to catch up with some familiar faces. It was a nice day for a round of golf - clearly begging for some consumption of kokanee (I'm not sure how else you get through a whole 18 holes, to be honest). I accepted my handicap of having two x chromosomes and hit from the red tees (it makes the game bearable). 

This is a game of politics. Nowhere else will you see someone perform poorly (shank a ball, hit it into the water, etc) and get a complement. "oooh, nice contact", "good form", "you're so powerful". What a load of crap. Dude, you hit the ball in a direction that was unintended, how does that end in a complement? and, by the way, you are wearing hidiously white shoes with your brown pants. What's up with that? This game is in need of a serious reality check. Maybe the blazing sun has burned the retinas of all seasoned golfers.

The final highlight of the day was a reunion with my favorite finance prof. His son just finished up a physics/astronomy degree at Rice University (first in class, no less). The proud father that he is, he felt the need to illustrate the connection between his sons work and his own. Apparently there is overlap between mergers and acquisitions and astrophysics - the earth is preparing for a merger with Andromeda. It's been less than 10 years since I sat in his class, but the situation remains the same. We are on completely different planes of consciousness.