CROSSOVER UPDATE: David also posted about this event.

I’m not much of a bowler.

David and I went bowling with the ladies last night because Meggie (David’s fiancee) is part of a bowling league thing with her job. David and I escaped to our own private lane on the other end of the room as we weren’t feeling entirely sociable. Also, I’m not that interested in a lot of people watching me bowl. Because I’m terrible.

Prior to last night, the last time I bowled was in Seattle a few months ago. It was my son’s first time bowling, so we had the bumper rails up. I bowled really well that night. Before that, it had been years. Even at that point, when I was younger and my body didn’t scream at the mildest exertion, bowling didn’t come naturally. I get strikes from time to time, but I think that’s a matter of probability as opposed to skill. The law of averages works to everyone’s advantage from time to time, even with bowling. My first frame last night was a strike, in fact. I thought I was on fire. I was ready to destroy everyone else with my scores. I was incorrect.

Here’s how it went. In the list below, I was player “Awesome” and David was player “Stupid” for obvious reasons (unrelated to the scores).

Player	Game 1	Game 2	Game 3	Game 4	Game 5
Awesome	63	86	86	74	80
Stupid	75	62	111	105	91

Today my arm hurts. My hand hurts. And above all else, my pride hurts a little. I’m intensely competitive in certain arenas. Get a wedge ahead of me in Trivial Pursuit and I will begin to bring it. A few seconds faster in Mario Kart makes you an enemy. I have no expectation of success with bowling. It makes it all easier to bear the (literal) sting of defeat, I suppose.

I think David and I might pass up the next bowling night. There are more things out there at which we’re both decent and involve wearing our own shoes.

b

Filed under: General