Musings about Geocaching: 2008-04-06

Friday, April 11, 2008

Some Forum philosophy

This is an interesting exchange in the Forums this morning between a long-time cacher and a new cacher. Finally, Renegade Knight came along to sum everything up.

A few weeks ago, when I wasn't feeling well, I let some "killjoys" get to me after I posted my most recent cache. Initially, they "won." However, once I started feeling better, I was able to respond correctly and do what I still believed in and have "my fun."

Only YOU can suck the fun out of geocaching.

Hows that make sense?...

Much of life is how you respond to everthing that happens to you that's beyond your control. That's what? 90% of everthing? The point he made, and the truth of the matter is that how you choose to respond determines how much fun you are going to have in your life. Your choice in a situation we all face determines your fun.

Yes there are killjoys. There will always be killjoys. Part of the fun I get out of life is killjoying the killyjoy's joy in killing joy. It's a game. That's how I respond. If I'm not having fun doing that, then I do something else. Sometimes the killjoy is better at their game than I am at mine. Time to step back and let them rant to your back and remove their abiliity to ruin your caching life.

Now folks truly concerned about something who are being wet blankets as a result deserve another reponse. Again your choice. You can get bent, or set them straight on a misconception, or realize they have a valid point and address it, but it's all your choice.

Summing it all up:

Living well is the best revenge. I never understood that until I was older and saw first hand what it means.

After the exchange with the person affliated with Anza Borrego Desert State Park, another "killjoy," I have been concerned about the final container for my new cache. No one has found it yet, and I'm not even sure how many people are working on the cache, so I don't know when it might be found.

It is a beautiful day today, although windy, and I am tempted to drive up there and check on the container and then hike to another cache a few miles away.

However, gas is up to $3.75 per gallon now. Can I really afford to make that drive . . . ?

Talk about a "killjoy."

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Whoooo Hoo! flask is back in the Forums

in honor of flask, i am writing in all lower case, which is how she writes her posts in the forums.

i hope she is back so i can add to my favorite "flask" quotes. already today, i can add these lines from a post she made, quoting something i wrote yesterday:

what i first loved about it was the secret web that caches and cachers trace on the land. i loved the idea that i might sit alone on a cold mountaintop holding a logbook that dozens of people before me had found and held in just the same way. i loved following the hider's intent, trusting that i was being brought somewhere to have an experience. i loved telling the story, and reading other people's stories.

i used to love reading people's profiles; before stat generators, people used to write stuff about themselves. now you see pages of maps and stats. please. who really cares to see that, unless they're measuring themselves up against it?

we've lost something valuable; something we are not likely to get back. it's the difference between mahler symphonies and advertising jingles, the difference between box wine and a fine vintage. a lot of people nowadays don't understand the best of caching any more than they do fine china or a slow kiss.

Monday, April 07, 2008

Not Geocaching-related at all . . . well only slightly . . .

Last summer, a fellow Geocacher invited me to join him and his wife to see a play at Balboa Park's Old Globe theater. It was a wonderfully-fun musical called "A Catered Affair" starring Harvey Fierstein and Tom Wopat.

When we walked outside, the incredible afternoon light stopped me in my tracks. Even with other people present I stopped conversing to get out my camera and take some pictures of the amazing sky, the towering tree, and the ornate building across the street.