[at-l] Patches, recognition, purism, etc.

[Phil.Heffington@oc.edu (Phil Heffington)]

Feel free to analyze my personality and mental condition.  I'm a big boy
and don't mind your evaluation of my sanity, motives, etc.

I love patches, posters, etc. that show what I have done.  Perhaps I'm
vain.  Perhaps I unconsciously like to brag.  Perhaps I just like to
have a conversation piece to break the ice to satisfy my need to talk
with strangers.  Perhaps I want your admiration.  Perhaps I am just
proud.  Perhaps it is just a good tool to satisfy my needs for providing
a method of self motivation.  Whatever it is, I'm not apologizing for
it.  

I have a poster map on my office wall of the AT which is marked in ink
showing where I have hiked and the dates and distances.  It provides a
great tool for beginning conversations with many students who come into
my office.  It reminds me of a goal I have set for myself in completing
the trail, and how much further I have to go, and how much I have
already done.  I have homemade patches on my pack showing the same
thing.  I have an OU patch on my pack showing where I graduated from
college (Go Sooners!! - both men and women!!)

I have two posters on my office wall showing that I completed the Dallas
White Rock marathon in 1990 and 1992.

It irritates me when people say they have done something when they
really haven't (even by their own definition).  I don't give a RA
whether you do something my way or not. HYOH !!  RYOR (Run Your Own
Run)!!  If you put up a poster implying you completed a marathon, and
you actually rode in a car for 6 miles of it, then it irritates me that
you are misrepresenting yourself.  I would have otherwise assumed that
you either ran, jogged, walked or crawled the whole distance on your own
two feet, hands, knees, wheelchair, etc.  Call me vain.  Call me an
egomaniac.  Just call me if you like (405-425-5236).  That's my story
and I'm sticking to it.

If you don't want to put any patches on your pack then the worst I'll
think of you is that you are in harmony with yourself and the universe
and don't have the same needs as me.  Go for it.  Just don't expect me
not to be irritated if you lie.