Goofy Shoes

That Sound You Hear? » This Is The Life by Billy Dean
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Big News » New photos of the proposed Freedom Tower were released today. Here's one I like. This building will be built in Manhattan where the World Trade Center once stood.

Now, today's story...

I went bowling this afternoon with some friends (again, the core blog audience being the aforementioned folk). Still, I write for those of you without first-hand knowledge.

We've all been wanting to get together and do something this summer. Somebody (either Liz or me) came up with bowling. And that sounded good. As much as it's been probably almost six or seven years since I've gone, I really wanted to try my hand again. Then my mom found four or five gift certificates for free games. So I thought I'd save everybody $2.50 for no good reason. It went underappreciated. (More in a moment.)

I got to Oakfield Lanes in Brandon at about 10 minutes after 3 PM, which left me assuming I was late considering our planned meeting time of 3:00. Well, I was wrong. Brett got there only shortly before/after me. You'd have to consult him if you're constructing a timeline. (Sidenote: If you're constructing a timeline, please stop reading my blog. I'm not very comfortable with that.)

Back to the gift certificates, now. While waiting for the slow-as-molasses women (that for Brett), I decided I'd call them to let them know a surprise was waiting for them when they arrived. Only it backfired on me. Because on the phone Cortney says something about how I'm a "cheap-ass." So now I'm going to walk up and offer them free games? Still, I know the jabs come from a good place. (And if they don't, karma will have its way with them.)

We got our goofy shoes and the four of us started our game. Somehow I was elected to be first. Sounded good. I was eager to bowl again. It had been a while. It's possible the three of them didn't want to make fools of themselves, whereas I could give a crap. None of us have played in years. Who's going to mock anybody else's lack of bowling skills?

I threw a spare. My first frame of my first game since God knows how long. A spare. And everybody clammed up. Brett was up next and refused to take his turn. He demanded I bowl for him. People, on occasion, drive me up the wall. I tried my best to get him to throw the damn ball, but to no avail. So I went for him. I guttered it twice. And no, it wasn't on purpose. Why would I sabotage the game of a guy who doesn't even seem to want to play?

Then Cortney knocks a few pins over. Followed by Liz, who did the same thing I did on Brett's turn. Back to me. I never equaled that first frame for the rest of the day. The best I could shoot was a 9 (on two throws). On the other hand, I did manage to nearly win the first game. And by "nearly," I of course mean that I tied with Liz. Somehow she came out of nowhere and pulled a 79 out of her ass. Like me.

I should also mention that I got Brett to play his own game starting in the second frame, and the guy bowls a strike around frame six or seven. Craziest damn thing.

Then Gardner showed up in time to join us for a second round. Turns out he seemed to have the best bowling philosophy, which was just to fling the ball as hard as you can down the lane. He had a strike (which, because he entered his name as Malcolm, came up as Malcolm X on the screen) and more than a couple of spares. He finished the game with a 92. I was second with a 69. Nobody improved on their second game.

After we finished, everybody used the gift certificates, at which point we ran into Mr. BowlingAlleyEmployee enjoying a rare power trip. He didn't like the idea of four people using gift certificates from the same book that didn't belong to them. Liz wanted to bend him over the counter and beat the bowling balls out of him.

But all said I think we had a pretty good time, and with any luck, we'll do it again soon. And even if they don't, I am absolutely going back. Even though I sucked, that was too much fun.

It was.

Word of the Day: All right, so I'm starting a new thing to take effect the next time I blog. I'm going to write here a word and its definition and challenge my few readers to use it in a sentence via a Comment. We'll see just how many of you have brains up there. Harsh, perhaps. But your lack of current commenting warrants hit.