THE STANGL ANGLE

Greg Stangl

Did you ever like the thought of some thing more than the actual thing itself? Let me elaborate.

Somewhere in my distant past, I thought that I would like golf. I liked the way the golfers looked and dressed. And I would occasionally catch a golf match (or is it meet?) on TV and all these men and women looked pretty sharp tooling around the course in their carts with their faithful caddies in tow.

So I went to Goodwill and picked out a couple of neat looking bright golf shirts that said Titlelist or Ping on the sleeve. Then I went to Walmart and bought a great looking putter for around $20.00. Hey I was halfway there. Then I went on Craigslist and bought a set of golf left handed clubs for $50 bucks.

I ambled over to the nearest driving range, sat my weapons of war down, bought a bucket of balls and hacked away. And I mean hacked. My balls flew left (which I believe is called a hook) and some flew right (which I believe is called a slice) I even managed to hit a few that went directly behind me – which I understand is against the laws of physics.

I did discover something interesting. Golf balls are like eggs. They are white and sold by the dozen. And a week later you have to buy some more.

So it seems the reality of golf and the thought of golf are two different things. Who knew? After a few more failures, I declared victory and sent my clubs off to Goodwill. I still occasionally wear the shirts. They are pretty cool.

I found myself in a similar situation with woodworking. It looked like it would be so much fun and maybe, just maybe I could create some really cool stuff. Between going to auctions, the ReStore store and Harbor Freight I amassed an arsenal of woodworking tools. I could have built Noah’s Ark given the time and wood.

I made a few things, started a few more and interest waned. The tools sadly sat in my “woodworking” shop until my son-in-law took an interest in them. Now they sit in his garage waiting until the day the thought of woodworking and actual process begins.

The reality of drumming is pretty much the same thing for many people. Now first of all I am a (poor) drummer but I really do enjoy it and I will continue to play. However there are lots of people that will buy a kit, set it up in the basement or sunroom, bang out a few tunes and then retire. I recently met a couple of kids (these guys are in their early 20s, so I call them kids) that have set up a business buying whole or parts of drum kits that people have purchased, tried and then set aside. The kids purchase them only to sell them at a profit to the next set of would-be drummers. I guess not everyone can be Ringo.

I have been pretty much in the same head space with guitars. At one point I owned 5 of them. I liked looking at them and polishing them, but I just did not have the persistence to get really good at playing. It takes dedicated practice over a long time to become good. And I wanted to become really good, really fast. Now that being said, my kids did give me a wonderful backpack guitar that I will have forever and happily but poorly plunk away at the family fire pit.

I have since sold several guitars wanting to repurpose them to people who would actually play them. They looked nice hanging on the wall but they seemed to call out to me, “play me or send me to someone that will” so I sent them on.

I really liked the thought of being a master car rebuilder. In my youth I actually did rebuild several and enjoyed it. Then I got older and my energy levels dropped. A few years back I bought an old Jeep and half restored it and then traded it for a Triumph Spitfire which I half restored and then sold. I am permanently and forever retired from the car rebuilding stage of my life. The thought of and the reality of are two different things.

I suppose that many of us have had the same conflict in our minds. Hey, wouldn’t it be great to be an airline pilot or President. How about winning Daytona or shooting a three pointer to win the NBA finals?

I still day dream about throwing a 50 yard bomb to a streaking wide receiver to win the Super Bowl. But who hasn’t? The thought of…vs the reality of… are two different things.