This one's for Eloera

So the moment I get in the car and drive 5m out of the parking lot, it starts raining. But I'm thinkin.... "ah... fuck it it won't get heavier." I couldn't have been more wrong. By this time I'm already half way to the golf course, and it's too much of a hassle to turn back.

I get to the place, pay for my green fee, and start hacking away. On the 14th hole, I see this guy playing alone. And he goes "Hey what's up? You alone?" and I say yea, cos it's fun to just be out here when it's all nice and quiet. He tells me his name is Neil, and is doing his PhD in Education. Me, undergrad, from Sillypore. Which makes him startle, cos "now that's a looooong way from here now innit? Way farther than North Dakota." He's "Native American, indigenous peoples, yannow?"

So he goes on to tell me his story about how he moves around a lot, and actually lived in Minnesota his whole life, instead of ND. Then randomly switches to talk about people here. Cos he notices how my swing sucks. And was talkin about how he could've won the last tournament if he didn't have back pain. He's saying "they didn't want me to win. This place is filled with fuckin' hicks and racist people." No doubt about it. And also how members of the golf course here don't invite him to play (his golf buddies moved away to other states). I told him I go pretty often, and if we meeet we could definitely play. He says sure. Then tells me something which I thought I was meant to hear. Cos I didn't give two shits about the rain and drove out to the course:

"But ya know what man, you just gotta keep doin what you do. Never quit. That's the only way you're gonna get anywhere in life. Don't quit, my boy."

How's that for meeting random people. And meeting people for a reason?