LOL HOPEAMENTS

Last week I was in Dallas (as opposed to Arlington) doing my job shadowing for the week when the following occurred:

I was monitoring a supervised visit between a child, his mother, father and grandmother, with a coworker from my class and either the FBS worker from the case.  Apparently there was a second child in the family, but he/she had passed away recently.  The police were putting together a case against the parents and they were trying to figure out which of the many charges they could choose from would be most appropriate for the case.  Murder?  Child abuse?  Or perhaps a third one we hadn't considered.  We'd find out the results at a staffing in a couple of days, at which point the parents would be arrested.  Basically the child had been starved, beaten, and in some way tortured.  Did I mention that the deceased child was like two years old?  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, the child was two. 

So there we are behind the mirror.  We can see the family, but they can't see us.  We had to let them see their younger child, even though they'd just let their older child die.  The caseworker was describing the case and I recognized the tone of her voice so clearly.  It was a tone that just let me know how numb she was.  It was like she was describing something in a dream, because she didn't want it to be real.  We have to sit here and let these parents see their kid after they'd let their other kid die?  Is this a joke? 

The caseworker told me that I needed to get used to this.  She said people are generally pretty terrible.  I told her that I disagreed with that statement, but conceded that there are many terrible people in the world.  She asked me why on earth I'd want to work in a place like this and I laughed and said, "Why not?"  She responded by saying, "No, really, why would you want to work in a place like this?  Why would you want to work for CPS?"  Oh, she was serious.  My mistake.  Regardless, I knew the answer to her question, but was trying to decide how diplomatic I wanted to be with my answer.  I decided to throw caution into he wind and just answer truthfully: "I believe that Jesus is going to use me to heal broken families."  (At this point, my other coworker said her standard NIIIIIIIIIICCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKK.)  I stole that from my friend Jake, but that doesn't make it any less true. 
"OH!  You're one of THOSE people!  You think you're going to save the world!" 
"No."
"Give it time, you'll come around and come back to reality."

We talked for a couple more minutes.  She was kind enough to explain to me how out of touch I was, and how I need to lower my expectations.  I didn't want to upset someone who was doing me a favor by being there, so I didn't point out that she had actually told me her expectations, and that I should be disappointed by the expectations she set for me (huh?)

What I REALLY wanted to do was talk to her about Jesus.  Does she know Him?  I'm pretty confident that the answer is "No."  I guess the real question is, "Are you a Christian who has missed the point or are you not a Christian at all?"  I feel like because I'm in the bible belt (Deep in the heaaarttt of Texas) she probably was a Christian, but I shouldn't assume that.  Anyways, it tied in with a conversation that I had with a friend recently.  Christianity is a source of hope.  Jesus died for our sins, and because of this you, yes YOU, can inherit the kingdom.  This woman I was talking to, she was just so sad.  She had been working at CPS for 5 years and it seemed like this case had really gotten to her.  I wish I had told her not to worry.  As my friend Ashley says, "This battle has already been won."  Jesus died because of the sin in the world, and this was very much included in that. 

I hope that if you're a Christian, and you know Jesus, that you're telling everyone of the good news.  There is hope.  God loves everyone and he wants you to know Him.  Don't let his world get you down.  It's only temporary.

And now for something completely different:

LOL RACKAMENTS

Here's a little background for the following story.  Coco is probably about 6'7'' or 6'8''...or at least that's how big he seems. 

On Saturday at Dallas Winter League we had a couple of guys who got "racked."  I'll save you the trip to urbandictionary and just tell you that it means taking a shot to the balls.  After our second or third guy took an unlucky hit, Trashley tells the following story:

A guy she used to live with decided he wanted to be a bad ass and just straight up jump over Coco.  Did Coco know this?  Were they playing ultimate at the time?  I'm unsure of the answer to either question.  What I do know is that this kid failed, smashed his balls against the top of Coco's head, landed, and threw up everywhere.
...and that's the greatest story I've heard in a really long time

***As an aside, I really wish that Trashley and I were madly in love with each other.  I don't know her very well, although she seems really nice.  The reason is that so I could tell my mother and father, "I'm in love, and her name is Trashley." 

LOL BLAKEAMENTS

This is one of my favorites:

I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears
Night and morning with my tears,
And I sunned it with smiles
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright,
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine -

And into my garden stole
When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning, glad, I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

***
This has to be the most watched poker video of all time.  Tony G is so entertaining....

LOL CAKEAMENTS

I haven't posted in a while so I figured I needed to get back to it!  I sort of have an idea of where it will go, but chances are it will still wind up off target.  I'll have a bit of this, and a bit of that, and then my triple range merge will be complete.

Something I've been thinking about lately is how much I've been humbled by the people around me.  It started when I first moved up to Dallas and joined an ultimate league in Allen.  My friends had played in a league similar to this one and basically just dominated everyone.  That's pretty much what I expected would happen.  I'd walk onto the field, everyone would stop what they were doing, watch as I put on my cleats and just marvel at the way I threw the disc as I warmed up.  "Is this Nick Molnar?  In the flesh?  The captain from Baylor?  We're so blessed that God sent him here to humble us all!  I look forward to him dominating me on the field!"  Uhhhh not quite.

I got drafted to a team full of seasoned veterans who had been playing the game long before I even knew it was a sport.  At first I was annoyed that people were trying to tell me, ME!, NICHOLAS MOLNAR, where to cut, when to cut, how to play defense etc, but after playing with them I let my guard down and realized they were way more knowledgeable than I am.  As soon as I acted like a mature adult and decided that my best form of leadership would be by following, my game improved drastically.  This eventually carried over to the Dallas Winter League I'm playing in now.  I'm getting to play with a bunch of University of North Texas players and they're showing me offenses and defenses I've never even seen before!  It's such an awesome experience.  Now, let's shift gears.  Try to keep up!

Everyone knows that my favorite poker player is...everybody say it at once, "Jason Somerville!"  I feel like a hipster poker player.  "He's really good...but you've probably never heard of him."  His videos for poker vt, the poker training site I used to use, transformed me from a bad player to a pretty decent one with a strong grasp of the game.  He completely shook up the way I viewed the game.  I remember in one video he says something like, "Because of our chip stack, the stacks of the players in the blinds when we're Under the Gun, and the tables respect for an Under the Gun raise I feel like the best position to steal from would be Under the Gun."  Woihjwiodhaiwoudhiuawh!?!?!?!?!  What?  You think the best position to steal the blinds from is...the weakest preflop position?  You have my attention...

Anyways, he started a youtube series where he just plays online and talks about the hands as they're going on.  It's pretty similar to what he does for poker vt except...free.  I'd say about 90% of the time I can predict his actions (you can see his cards) but then there's that other 10% of the time...It's the paragraph about ultimate.  It's so humbling listening to him talk and explain the game.  It's light years ahead of where I am and so amazing to listen to. 

All of this got me thinking: People watch youtube videos of JS playing poker...in fact they even pay for his videos on poker vt.  People watch videos of Ultimate Frisbee on youtube.  There are magazines, websites, and clinics dedicated to improving your ultimate frisbee game.  Will anyone ever pay me for something like that?  Will I ever be so amazing at something, that they'll say, "Yes, I will pay Nick Molnar just to listen to him talk about xyz."  I feel like the answer is no, and that makes me kind of sad.  I learned poker via videos from a guy who now has a World Series of Poker Bracelet, and Ultimate from a handful of players who have played on national level teams.  What do I have to offer?  Well...I've played a lot of poker...but if there's one thing I've learned from old people in the casinos, it's that just because you've been doing something for a long time, doesn't mean you've been doing it well.  Oh well.  That's all for now.  A couple of weeks ago, I told Wes this would be the next video at the end of my blog.  I'm a man of my word: