#tennis

I visited the Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday to see the updates on the Mars expedition and the newly deployed James Webb telescope.

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The James Webb Space Telescope is the largest, most powerful space telescope ever built. It will allow scientists to look at what our universe was like about 200 million years after the Big Bang. The telescope will be able to capture images of some of the first galaxies ever formed. It will also be able to observe objects in our solar system from Mars outward, look inside dust clouds to see where new stars and planets are forming and examine the atmospheres of planets orbiting other stars.

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The Webb telescope is as tall as a 3-story building and as long as a tennis court! It is so big that it has to fold origami-style to fit inside the rocket to launch. The telescope will unfold, sunshield first, once in space.

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Yes and no. There were many positives and some hard events. I was blessed that my family never struggled financially and I never went hungry or thirsty. I had a nice best friend when I was younger. I tried out different sports like tennis, track, soccer, and did dance. Since I'm an only child, my mother and I have always been close. During my adolescence, I struggled with deep feelings of inferiority and depression. I had a hard time making friends as I always felt older than I was and never fit in. I struggled with my relationship with my father. I got severely bullied in high school, and often ate lunch alone in the bathroom or library. I lost twenty pounds during high school due to not eating much, which worried my doctor, and they thought I had an eating disorder which I didn't. I started having panic attacks when I was eight or nine, and my anxiety got worse during high school. The experience of being bullied both in high school and by my father made me realize the importance of standing up for myself and ignited my passion in trying to stop bullying. During that time, my mother disclosed to me that she wished she could divorce my father, but she couldn't as he would stalk us and never let us go. It made me quite sad. I also became more self sufficient during that time and learned grit and perseverance. With not having many friends, I focused on my grades and got into a good college on a generous scholarship. It was a hodgepodge of good and bad, which made me the person I am today. While writing this post, I acknowledge that I'm very blessed and people have it much worse.

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I sometimes queue to get into Wimbledon to see the tennis on day 2 or 3 at the end of June. I queue for a ground pass, which gets you into all of the minor outside courts with unreserved seating. I get there as early as I can in the morning, which is around 6.15am because of my earliest train times, but by that point I am usually around number 4000 in the queue (you are given a numbered ticket so people can't push in or reserve places for other people). A lot of people queue overnight, or even days in advance if they want a seat on one of the main show courts. The doors open at 11am, but I don't normally get into the ground until about 12.30pm, so over 6 hours of queuing. Most of that time is spent sitting on the grass in Wimbledon park, where there are toilets and burger vans etc, so it's not too bad if you take something to read to pass the time. Once inside the ground you then have to queue for a vacant seat on your chosen court, but that's rarely more than 10 minutes as the turnover of seats is quite quick unless a British player is on that court.

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Before I got married, I absolutely avoided dating the opposite sex for that very reason of avoiding shitty relationships. From age 20 until age 25 when I got married, I did not get involved in any meaningful relationships with women because I was afraid that I would get hurt again. For me, the pain and suffering of being manipulated and deceived, wasn't worth my time or effort. So I avoided it like one avoids cancer.

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I participated in activities that I enjoyed (music, tennis, chess, 5k road races, traveling) or activities that developed my skill set to prepare for a successful career as an engineer and musician. To that end, I performed with bands, earned two degrees (music and engineering), and worked with the developmentally delayed, where I met my wife. After my first and only girlfriend and I broke up, I decided to try something different. Instead of worrying about dating or falling in love, I simply lived my life enjoying every moment while also hanging out with my male friends who loved to compete, laugh and have a good time. Occasionally family and friends would question me about my sexuality, but I chose to ignore their rude comments because I knew that eventually I would meet the woman I was destined to meet, which is exactly what happened. My future wife was also working for the department of mental health as a pool supervisor and she was also a recent college graduate. The great thing about meeting her was that I was able to observe her, before we dated, working with young adults with severe handicaps and I could see that she was a kind, compassionate and loving person who actually cared about people and was not into playing head games, cheating or basically being a horrid person who would intentionally break my heart. This woman became my loyal confidant, supporter and best friend.

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I do not want to bore you with all of the details of our relationship, but suffice it to say that the decision I made at age 20 to simply live my life and not worry about people and events that I cannot control, was the best decision I ever made. Why? Because it forced me to focus on what is important in life: "living each moment to the fullest and not worry about the future or live in the past"

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Currently I am partaking in competitive swimming as well as just slightly baseball. Swimming accounts for 4 days a week and baseball just one day a week. Used to be a lot bigger on baseball and play rep but am not just playing it with some friends. During rep for baseball over the summer, typically 5 days a week would include baseball whether it was a game, tournament or practice. Also wanted to get more into tennis to play with my dad again. It's been quite awhile since I last picked up a racket.
Now a days I'm more into esports. Require less movement and less prone to injuries. My body took a beating when I played football as a child and now at 25 I move around like I'm much older. Although in college I played in some intramural sports competitively from indoor soccer and dodgeball, which I was pretty decent at. Got a pretty decent shinner playing dodgeball that looked like someone beat me half to death those foam balls could pack a punch.
I can hit it a whole hell of a lot further, but she’s much more consistent so we both end up somewhere in the 80s. I win about 7/10, but some rounds she’s just on fire and can’t miss a put or a chip. I can’t chip to save my life, so it makes rounds pretty fun and competitive.
Before My injury, I played sports at minimum 4x a week. Usually on mondays, wednesdays, and or fridays after work for at least 2 hours. On saturdays I played at least 4. On sundays I played about 8-12 hours depending on when I finish or how I’m feeling. I played a combination of kickball, flag football (gridiron), rugby, and ultimate frisbee. Sometimes I’d just shoot hoops if I was bored. And no. I just played pickup games with friends. There wasn’t a season. I haven’t played an organized sport since college/university.
I used to play roller derby, but the time commitment was massive because my city didn’t have a recreational league. There are players who never do make the A or B teams but you’re still practicing 3 times a week regardless, and either playing or staffing bouts every other week (and traveling!) It’s kind of crazy to never play competitive sports and suddenly you’re on the B team of a national league.
Not to say people don’t (especially as a gay person gay softball is pretty popular), but I will say generally most people I know haven’t played an organized competitive sport since high school. If you’re talking for casual fun, my boyfriend and I played tennis yesterday. I’ve never been the greatest at basketball, but that is generally a default game to play and fairly easy to (pre covid) get a pick up game going.
I used to play basketball until 1992. I started refereeing in 1984 and have continued to this day. Took up wheelchair basketball refereeing in 1997 and achieved my international licence in 2004. Am starting to learn wheelchair rugby from this afternoon at a national tournament!

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Au départ, c’était pour apprendre un nouveau sport, améliorer ma condition physique générale et ma coordination. Mais avec le temps c’est une famille que j’ai trouvé! Je ne changerais pas de gym pour rien au monde et aller m’entraîner n’est jamais une corvée, car je sais que ça libèrera mon esprit et mon corps de toutes les tensions négatives accumulées en cours de journée.
Pourquoi j’aime autant le crossfit. D’abord, parce que la diversité des entraînements évitent que je tombe dans l’ennui du quotidien. Ensuite, parce que j’aime l’haltérophilie et tout ce que ça implique. J’aime aussi le fait de me dépasser à chaque fois que j’entre au gym! Mais ce que j’aime par-dessus tout c’est de faire un entraînement individuel et de le réaliser en groupe. Je focus sur mes améliorations et je me compare à moi-même, mais je peux le faire en socialisant avec un groupe de gens ayant la même passion que moi et qui me pousse à aller toujours un peu plus loin! À 30 ans, les athlètes les plus professionnels ont pris la tête de ce processus et ont entamé la phase de démission. J'ai suivi - tennis, football et badminton. Cependant, leurs actions sont basées sur les exigences du jeu au niveau professionnel. En tant qu'amateurs. à 30 ans, je pense que le tennis est encore jouable. En fait, si vous avez 30 ans, vous pouvez commencer en tant que débutant. Au tennis, vous n'avez pas besoin de courir pendant 90 minutes comme le football ou sauter haut dans le badminton. Le tennis n'est pas très fatigant parce que le joueur de tennis ne court pas réellement, mais remue les pieds à gauche et à droite, et revient à la position centrale à la ligne de base, après chaque coup. Les joueurs de tennis sautent rarement à moins que l'adversaire ne donne un lob, mais le joueur a toujours la possibilité de revenir avant ou après le rebond de la balle. Dans les deux options, ils ont juste besoin de frapper la balle. Le tennis est également joué dans une zone ouverte où il est beaucoup plus confortable, contrairement au badminton, qui doit être joué à l'intérieur pour éviter les conditions venteuses. Si on peut être parfois extrêmement frustré de ne pas réussir à mettre la balle où l’on veut, d’être dominé et sous pression, la sensation lorsqu’on réussit un beau coup est jubilatoire.

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Music. I can pick up almost any instrument without really trying. I have guitar, bass, piano, drums, trombone, trumpet, tuna, euphonium, and various others.
All things sport. I'm just one of them people that can pick up any sport and be good at it in a short amount of time e.g. anything from tennis, golf, football (soccer for you heathens), to karting, snooker + pool
Bass guitar. I can play most bass lines by ear.. I dont really need to pactice, it just feels like I am "talking" or painting with sounds. Hard to describe.. I really love playing though and it is quite cathartic.
Imitating people's voices, doing cartoon voices, funny foreign accents. For years I thought everybody could do that, and just weren't as afraid of embarrassing themselves as I was.
Annoying people by succeeding at school without putting the effort in. I noticed during university as they would act a bit spiteful when grades were brought up. Now they joke about how far I would go if I applied myself. To bad I'm lazy as Fuck.
Learning to play video games. Somewhat useless as far as life skills go, especially because my ceiling for skill that much above average. But I love it when a new game comes out so I can play online and figure out all the best tactics before anyone else.
I remember when Monday Night Combat came out, I loved that game, but my friends and I were pretty much unbeatable. I ended up getting #1 on the leaderboards for a little while, it’s an amazing feeling that is just impossible to get with older games.
Adapting to any environment, from playing games, sports, social event, academics, work environment, etc. Can fit into any situation and survive. A chameleon if you will. Not trying to boast, it's just a life skill that I try to harness and develop.
For example: a while back I was visiting my hometown and was calling up a good friend that I had not seen in a while. I could immedielty tell that something was bothering him just by the way he said "Hello" when answering the phone. I asked him is he was okay and he told me something to the effect of, "Not my wife, not my brother, sister or my kids could tell that I've been depressed these past few days but within seconds you called me out on it man." and we had a chat about what was getting to him. I can also tell when people are done talking to me, so needless to say I can tell pretty good when it time for me to shut up and let them go.
I've had friends ask me for recommendations in cities I haven't been to in five or ten years. If I can't remember the location of the place I'm recommending off the top of my head, I can go to google maps, find a spot I know I visited, and retrace my steps back to any point in my trip. Even for cities I've only been to for a day, 10 years ago.

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1. I’m 25
2. I’m from County Durham, England
3. I have one brother and one sister
4. I have two nephews
5. One of my favorite things to do is read
6. Right now, I’m reading about Buddhism
7. One thing I cannot live without is my mobile
8. Something I’d love to get rich by doing full-time is drawing
9. If I could live anywhere in the world, it would be Australia
10. I’d most like to be remembered for being a good, caring person
11. If I won the lottery, the first things I’d buy would be a car for my mam
12. One thing I’m very afraid of is moths
13. If I could get paid to blog about anything, I’d write about books
14. My favourite movie franchise is Harry Potter
15. I love Nando’s
16. My least favourite sport to watch is tennis
17. My favourite sports to watch are football, boxing and ufc
18. I have been with my girlfriend for nearly 8 years
19. One of my nicknames is Tootey
20. I had fun doing this, feel free to ask any more questions
😊

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Oh bless you! I mean, I know you didn't ask but I going going to tell you all about them now.

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So Teddy is the red and white collie. He's a Welsh sheepdog and, whilst he is a working dog and can round up sheep, prefers to round up chickens. He finds it way more entertaining. He loves butt-scratches more than ANYTHING and demands the most attention. If you aren't loving him at precisely that second then he's very worried that you will never ever love him again. He is the most gentle dog I have ever met and ohhhhHHH I love him.

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Mia is the black one, and she's a cross between a lab and a collie. She was a rescue (they actually all were!) and has an only child mentality 🙄😂 She was my first dog who was properly mine so we are best friends. Her talents include grabbing food bowls and flipping them over her face, carrying three tennis balls and playing catch (she'll hold a tennis ball in her mouth and bounce another back to you. It's so cool 😂) She also loves it when you blow into her mouth. I don't know why, it's very weird.

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Rufus (Roo!) is my newest member of the pack! Hes a cross between a Yorkie and a Bichon (I think!) He joined me in early 2019 and is 3 next year! Roo has occasionally bitten people's ankles but nobody I liked so it's fine. He comes straight away when I yell "SNAAAACKS" but won't eat his breakfast. His many talents include being the grubbiest dog I've ever met - He loves rolling in gross stuff - and also the happiest dog I have ever met. He goes through life like its one massive adventure. He's the snuggliest of the lot of them.

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I always have fun hitting golf balls. Have you ever tried to play golf? When i was young my friends always tried to get me to play golf but I thought it was too expensive so I opted for tennis, road races and hiking instead. When I moved to Florida in 2010 I stumbled upon a 9 hole golf course and driving range within a mile from my house, took several golf lessons and started playing every week.

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What constitutes a quiet and lazy day for you Ray? Do you read books or listen to music or maybe go for a nature walk?

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I am happy that Boo enabled her account. Maybe she is getting back at me for disabling my account the other day? :) When I saw the she had disabled her account I was sad/upset and then I thought that maybe my followers felt the same way when I disabled my account, which is why I decided to enable it again. As much as I sometimes want to leave to focus on my music, I also enjoy talking to my friends on askfm. Maybe I will never leave... who knows, right?

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Ray, when I first saw your good morning message this morning I thought to myself: "Ray my buddy!" Simple things like that really excite me and make me feel that our time on planet earth is well spent and it is worth it. Without friendship and love, living would be too painful for me and I fear I would completely lose interest. That is why this Covid pandemic was so dreadful. Our government bureaucrats used Covid to divide and separate people for political reasons instead of uniting people, helping people and offering hope, they did the exact opposite. My prayer is that on judgement day, our corrupt leaders and their lapdogs will be held to account for their immoral and unethical behavior.

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Have a great day Ray relaxing and enjoying your quiet time.
/Alex

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Soccer!! I used to play soccer SOOO much when I was younger. I have stopped for a really long time though, I almost never play it and it makes me kinda sad. I'm planning on doing something about that once winter ends though. I'm really good at goaltending but I'm sure I'm going to need a lot of practice to regain my skills. I've only recently started getting into watching soccer. I used to watch basketball and have watched hockey all my life though. Love those sports too.
I grew up in Alabama, which has no professional team. The university teams (especially Auburn University & University of Alabama) are the highest level, and I actually like watching them better. Going to a game live is really fun. The cheerleaders actually lead cheers with signs and the "mic man" (male cheerleader who uses a PA so the student section can hear and cheer along). Also, I like the halftime shows better (which they don't show on TV because of music copyrights issues) because I'm a former marching band geek.
Play: Basketball. It's basically the only thing I know how to play at a high enough level. (Too skinny to play football most of my life, hate soccer, too weak to actually play baseball, and chose track & field over playing volleyball.) Plus getting a neat little dopamine rush when scoring a lot or doing really impressive things like defensive stops or pinning someone's layup on the backboard, that's also nice.
It's a sport that's still in it's infancy. We're still figuring out how the hell it's all going to work in the long term. I like following along with a sport as it goes through it's "wild west" phase. It can be a complete shit show sometimes, but it's also a mad crucible where we're figuring what actually works in combat sports.
It's a draw between AFL and basketball. Both to play and watch on tv - I don't really like going to either of the games though. AFL has too much of the crowd screaming at the umpires about what call to make whenever there is a tackle and it's always miraculously the call that will give the home team possession of the ball. Basketball is kind of spoiled by the announcer constantly trying to hype up the crowd. I think tennis is my favourite sport to watch live.
I don't like playing sports or watching them, but if I have to, I'll watch hockey or basketball because they move quickly. Hockey in particular. Watching a full football, soccer, or baseball game is like torture to me. I mean, if we're talking less-conventional sports, I used to be good at archery and skeet shooting. And I'd rather watch some kind of auto racing than any ball-based sport. And there's nothing like taking a nap to a game of golf on a lazy sunday.

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"Once Upon A Time" by Nico

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Once upon a time, I behaved similarly. I assumed that if I was kind, generous and loving, that those feelings would be reciprocated. How wrong I was! And so, I decided to study human behavior which taught me that not everyone is capable of accepting love. At least not in a way that was recognizable or acceptable to me.

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So I had to learn to become more cautious, more discerning, more vigilant, and more aware of the attitudes and motives of other people, especially if it involved a potential relationship with commitment and intimacy. So I created a mental list of the attributes and behaviors (positive and negative) that I was willing to accept, or at the bare minimum... tolerate. Next, I established personal boundaries that were fixed in stone and which I refused to compromise. Such things as no drug addicts, no alcoholics, no gossipers, no liars, no cheaters, no manipulators and no deceivers, etc..etc..etc.

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Most importantly, I had to change my own attitude. Instead of actively looking for a companion, I decided to just live my life doing what I wanted to do. So from age 20 to age 25, I played guitar in various bands, played tennis everyday, worked out, attended concerts and obtained a Bachelors Degree in Music from Berklee College of Music in Boston. And the best part is I did all of these things while single and without being with a woman for over 5 years. The truth is that I was a happy young man living my life the way I wanted to live it and living without concerning myself with irrelevant matters such as whether or not women liked me. Honestly, I did not much care whether or not I dated or whether people liked me or not. In fact, mostly I hung out with my male friends because we all loved to laugh, have a good time, and compete against one another without any head games or emotions that are about as stable as a roller coaster or an earthquake. Life was good, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

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Now... when young men ask me for my opinion about such matters, I simply tell them to live their life doing whatever it is they enjoy doing, and to not worry about meeting women. When the time is right, the person you have been waiting for your entire life, will magically appear. In my case, my future wife appeared in a swimming pool while I was working with young adults with physical disabilities. This young woman earned my respect, admiration and trust, because of her kindness and the loving manner in which she helped those individuals who were in need. I figured that if she was able to love them, that perhaps she might be willing to love me too.

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Guess what? I was correct in my assessment.
Not only am I a lucky man, but I am blessed beyond all measure because I have spent most of my life with an angel who loves me for who I am and enjoys spending time with me and sharing a good laugh.

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And now it is your turn to apply these same principles.
Good Luck!

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Sport und eine Auszeit vom Alltag nehmen helfen mir und bringen mich von Stress und schlechten Gedanken weg. Im Winter, wenn ich denke mein Kopf explodiert, stelle ich sicher, dass ich einen Tag lang Skifahren gehen kann, und das allein wirkt manchmal schon Wunder. Ich muss einfach nur weg und runter vom Berg, buchstäblich. Ich spiele immer noch leidenschaftlich gerne Tennis. Noch nicht so lange her, da war ich mit Papa und meinem Bruder um 7.00 Uhr morgens auf dem Golfplatz. Das war wirklich genial, die frische Morgenluft und Ruhe und es hat unheimlich viel Spaß gemacht. Das Wichtigste ist, einfach einen Schritt Abstand zu nehmen, was nicht bedeutet, wegzulaufen. Das funktioniert sowieso nicht. Einfach mal den Kopf durchlüften, das löst zwar keine Probleme, aber es ist wichtig. Oft möchte ich einfach nur einen entspannten Abend mit meiner Freundin genießen, eine gute Pasta essen, Wein trinken und kuscheln. Wir leben nicht in Nordkorea und hinter uns steht kein Taliban, der uns den Kopf abschlagen will. Das ist schon mal viel wert.

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Ma femme travaille la nuit à Charleroi. Les journées sont donc des moments où nous devons, nos 4 enfants et moi, être des plus discrets pour lui permettre de se reposer. Très soucieux de permettre à mes enfants de découvrir un maximum de choses, je passe mon temps sur les routes entre les clubs de sport, les académies et les activités extrascolaires. Après tous ces déplacements, je n’ai plus le courage, quand le temps me le permet encore, de me rendre au club de tennis auquel j’étais abonné depuis mon adolescence. Depuis, il y a eu un tournant important dans ma vie et j’ai pris le temps de me poser. Mon truc maintenant c’est « d’utiliser » ces trajets pour les consacrer à une de mes priorités : discuter avec mes enfants. J’en profite pour en savoir plus sur ce qu’ils ont fait la journée, ce qu’ils aiment, ce qu’ils pensent... Ça devient un vrai moment convivial alors qu’avant, c’était le stress, et on ne faisait que courir. Au début, j’ai vraiment du me forcer à ne plus penser au boulot, à tout ce qu’il restait à faire à la maison… Maintenant, ça roule presque tout seul !

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I'd construct quite a similar building..not necessarily the same materials used. It would be of reinforced concrete and reflective glass. I'd try to make it as eco-friendly as possible. The guitar structure would have 3 different floors(library..gym..game room) the roof would have solar panels on one side with a hot tub,lounging area and bar on the other end. The building's interior would be a fusion of goth,futuristic and minimalist design with a spacious feeling that's visually appealing and has a harmonious distribution of its elements... Possibly with a Zaha Hadid signature touch to it. It would be surrounded by a gorgeous vast landscape on all sides.. A green house on one side.. a pasture on another side with a horse barn and fence. A stone/brick path leading to a small recreational area with a tennis court and a pool.

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