Stickin' to poker
April 28, 2008 | 03:07PM | maudie dot b - gmail d c | |
I engaged in an activity yesterday in which I have not engaged in a very long time. Naw, it wasn't that, alas, but
bowling.
Yup, I bowled yesterday. I won't say I went bowling. That would imply I intended to bowl at the destination point. Indeed, I did not intend to bowl. I intended to arrive, stay for a length of time - not too long, not too short - then depart.
Needless to say, my intentions collided with social pressure and my intentions lost out.
The occasion was the 50th birthday of a long-time friend. She chose a trendy bowling lounge in the trendy downtown OKC party district known as Bricktown to have her party.
I vacillated between 'go' and 'not go' all of yesterday due to a wavefront of gravity. That's the only way I can explain how I felt - like there'd been a sudden increase in gravity that made moving difficult - especially up my spiral staircase to my bailiwick of an office.
At the last minute I decided to go, driving up with two other friends with the mutual plan of not bowling, staying until cake and then departing. What we didn't know was that our freedom to not bowl had been usurped by the lane computer into which our names had been entered prior to our arrival. They only lacked our shoe size which was demanded with the drink order.
The shoes - ah - that's what warmed me to heaving an eight pound round thing down a slick lane gutter in repeated futile attempts to knock down those pin things. The shoes were, well, cool.
By the eighth frame or so, I was in a heated contest for last place. It was between me and another loser inexperienced player. At the tenth frame, she thought she'd nailed last place for sure.
"What's your score?" I queried.
"Forty-five," she smugly answered.
"HA!!" I proclaimed, "my score's thirty-six! I'M the big loser, hardy-har-har-har!!"
She skulked off to the corner and sank into her cocktail. I was never prouder, strutting in my cool shoes and filling my cheeks with birthday cake.
I was glad I went, even though gravity won the day, preventing my ball from hitting its mark and landing me on my ass after one particular throw. But, I diddent care 'cause I was cool, way cool in my pair of size five red 'n black bowling shoes.
