300, Not The Movie

I have a friend that I have been bowling with for a little over half of my life. He is one of my best friends and I have mentioned him before in earlier blogs, his name is Mikey J. He has been bowling great for the past 2 - 3 years averaging anywhere from 205-216. He and I have a birthday 26 days apart and he is now 31. Last year when he was bowling good I told him that he was going to bowl a 300, because it would be cool to have your first three hundred game when you were thirty! I don't know why it would be cool, just thought that it would be. I had bowled my first three hundred game when I was 19 years old. I had another two years later and haven't even come close since. It is because I am in a slump and can't control my release. I might get it back some day, but I will always know that I was good enough to bowl a 300.
There are a few bowlers in the city that have three hundred games that shouldn't. A small portion of a perfect game in bowling has to do with luck. There are a select few in the city who have a 300 simply because of that! There is another factor for some people bowling a 300 and it has to do with the bowling alley they did it in. There is a house in this city where we bowl that is extremely easy and people probably average 10 - 20 pins higher than if they bowl at another house. I bowled both of my games at the hardest house in the city. Thus my 300s were harder earned that some who have slopped on down or gotten one at an easier house. Mikey and I are on the same league (not same team) on Friday nights at the hardest house in the city.
Mikey J has always been a descent bowler, but I have always had the edge on him until these last three or four years. I am happy that he has been improving and his attitude has gotten a lot better as well. He has bowled a lot of games in the past three years where he has started a game with the first 9 or 10 strikes but that 11th strike has always eluded him. He struck the first ten shots of his first game. If you know nothing about bowling, a perfect game is 12 strikes in a row! Now in the tenth frame if you strike in the first shot you have a chance to shoot again on the same lane. League play rules state that you alternate lanes every frame. In the tenth frame there is a chance to score three strikes. It is only on frame so you simply finish that game on the same lane. I say this because most people who have struck their first shot in the tenth frame stand and wait for their ball to return and finish the game. Mike struck his first shot in the tenth frame like I said, but he stood there for a second and returned to his table to get a drink of beer. I knew that he was nervous and hoped that this unorthodox style of finishing the tenth frame didn't throw his game off.
Another sad fact is that I have always been a hex to Mikey for the past 2 - 3 years as well. Whenever my friend has had the first 7 or 8 strikes in a game I would go down to his set of lanes and watch his next ball. It seems 9 out of 10 times he would throw a split or obviously not strike. His mom has been telling me all year to stay away when Mike is making a run for it because she wants him to bowl a 300. I of course want my best friend to bowl a 300 too, but I would like to see it. It has been a joke for the past couple of years of how bad of a hex I am on him. The sad thing is that he doesn't even know I am behind him watching. Last night was funny, I walked down behind him when he was throwing his 8th ball. I told my uncle Henry who is on my team that Mikey is done for I am going to watch his next ball. He did throw the ball bad and I knew it was bad right when he let it go. I was like yep, I did it to him again. Well, he himself knew that he threw a bad shot as well, but his ball some how hit enough of the head pin and he did in fact strike. I have wanted him to bowl a 300 for so long, but just didn't know if he had it in him because he never seemed like a pressure player. I have always been good under pressure. I want the ball with the clocking ticking down, I want a chance to win the game. Mikey never seemed to have that drive, or so I thought. He still might not have that killer instinct and pressure mindset like me, but maybe, just maybe him calling a time out on himself is a way of dealing with that pressure?
He returned to the lane that he was finishing on and retrieved his bowling ball from the rack. Stood up on the approach just like any other ball. Mostly everyone was watching him, and for that I was nervous for him. He threw the ball and it was a good shot, just had to basically see if all the pins fell down. Regardless of how good you are and how well you threw a shot in bowling there is always a chance of one pin still standing. This time they all fell. For the first time ever he started a game with 11 strikes in a row. Then the lane broke! A minor fix, it actually wasn't broke, it was just jammed. Regardless he would have to wait for the desk clerk to walk back and fix it. What a time for this to happen! So, Mikey himself calls a timeout to wait and throw the 11th ball, but now he had to wait no matter what. I think this might have helped his anxiety because if he was nervous throwing his 11th ball he would be more nervous over the last and final ball for a chance at his first 300. It was my turn to bowl on my set of lanes 4 down from his. I took his broken lane as an opportunity to bowl my frame and return to watch his last ball. I bowled quickly and ran over behind his set of lanes about ten feet behind him. He threw his ball and it was perfect! All the pins fell and everybody of course cheered. It was a great moment for Mikey. I am so proud of him that he finally did it. Everyone was walking up to him shaking his hand. His mom, who is on his team, of course hugged him. She then ran over to me and hugged me, even before I congratulate Mikey! This almost made me start crying because she and I have seen him come so close so many times. Time and time again we would see disappointment on his face. I know that he had to wonder if he would ever do it. I doubted that he would! It is a mean thing to say, but it was a thought in my head because of that pressure packed moment. I knew he was a good enough bowler to do it. I just didn't know if he would be able to finish a game off. When he took his time in the tenth frame he said it was because when he had been there before he kind of rushed himself on his next shot. There is nothing wrong with him taking that little break in between shots. It was his way to deal with that pressure and I now know that he can handle the situation. He might not handle it the way I would, but he found a way to cope with it. I am so happy for you Mikey! Even though I had my doubts I always wished that you would bowl a 300. I don't doubt now that it will be your last and you are not just one of the lucky ones in the city to get one. You earned and deserved yours!

Holy Moly

I conned my mom! Here is just a little background for this story.

My parents were divorced when I was 5 or 6 years old. My mother gained custody of me and we were on our own. My mother had boyfriends here and there, but nobody treated her the way she deserved. Plus I probably chased off a few of them! My mom worked as a waitress for most of my childhood years. She would also work other jobs on the side as well to provide for us. My dad didn't pay child support for the longest time as well. Nonetheless I was a spoiled brat. This last Christmas I mentioned in a card to my mom how much I miss spending Christmas morning with her. She always found a way to purchase what I wanted every Christmas. I also mentioned this in her card. I think I told her that I feel sorry now for asking for such expensive gifts all of the time. Reflecting back and seeing how much my life is blessed, I am now grateful for any gift I receive for Christmas. I might ask for a bowling ball here or some cologne I like there, but usually I only tell everyone to get me socks. I keep my expensive gift ideas to myself in hopes that I can buy them later myself with poker winnings.

I guess for some reason my mom has felt sub par in her gift giving to me? She probably feels this way because of all the expensive crap that she had to buy me in the past! After growing up and realizing how spoiled I was I don't want her to spend anything on me now. Plus right now and for the past 5 years or so we have lived in her house basically rent free. So, for the past three or four years I have only asked my mom for socks for Christmas and my birthday.

My birthday was the other day and a couple of weeks ago she called and asked me what I wanted. I of course told her socks. She had also said that she had already gotten me something.

When we visited her in the beginning of November I found a basketball card in Seattle that I wanted. I hadn't been able to find the card here where we live, so I remember there being a card shop right next to her work in Seattle. We stopped there on our last day right before going to the airport. Sure enough they had this rookie card that I wanted. I didn't get a chance to purchase the card for myself because I had a personal issue to attend to. Actually it was an attack of the number 2 alright. I had to rush out of the shop and race next door to where my mom works and use the restroom. For some unknown reason I told my mom if she wanted to she could get me this card. It is a Deron Williams rookie card. Deron is the point guard for the Utah Jazz and he is amazing. I like to collect cards, not overly obsessive about it, but I like to have certain rookies that I know will increase with value over time. I told her that the card was like around $20, but if they had like a $5 one to just get that one instead. There are a ton of different kinds of cards out there now days and you can find the same person's rookie card as low as maybe $5 all the way up to $1,000. I was just hoping that they still had this card that I saw or maybe any other rookie card around the same price or cheaper.

She called a few days before my birthday and informed me that she stopped by the card shop, but they didn't have the card. I didn't doubt her because everyone has to be catching on about how good Deron Williams is going to be. She called the day before my birthday and asked if I had received my gift yet. I informed her that it hadn't yet arrived. She was told by the person at the post office that it should arrive the day before or the day after my birthday. She called me on my birthday and asked again if it arrived. It hadn't arrived on that day either, she wasn't too pleased! It did arrive the day after my birthday and I thought of calling her as I opened it. I figured I would open it and hope that she was just joshing me about the card shop not having the card. The package in the mail was light in weight and was too small to be socks, so I was extra syked that it might be my rookie card.

I opened the padded envelope and inside was another little envelope securely wrapped in tape. I was for sure that it was his rookie card.

I opened it slowly and peered into the envelope and saw a card in a thick case. I was expecting to see a normal rookie card worth somewhere between $10 to $20!

When I was a teenager my mom had gotten me a Barry Sanders rookie card for Christmas. One of the expensive gifts that I had hinted at probably a million times that year! She of course bought it for her spoiled brat. I think that she spent around $50 or $60 for it! I remember her not being too fond of spending that much money on a card. I was extremely timid about asking her for another sports card, but felt safe since it wasn't as expensive as that last card she bought me many years ago. I have treasured that card for many years now. It is my favorite card, or at least was my favorite card!

I pull this card out of the envelope and see that she spent way more than $20! I look at this card and see that it is not only a rookie card, but an autographed patch rookie card! Autographed is easy to figure out, it is obviously a rookie card that Deron Williams himself signed. For those of you out there that don't know what a patch card is I will explain. Sports cards have come a long way in increasing the value of trading cards. There are hologram cards, better quality made cards, numbered cards (in which there are only a certain amount of certain cards made) autographed cards and patch cards. Patch cards are about 4 t0 6 times thinker than a regular card. They are always numbered, and have a piece of clothing (probably the jersey that was worn by that person during an actual game or photo shoot) placed in a tiny framed area within the trading card itself. A rookie card is worth more than a card that is made of that same player in the following years . Thus, this rookie card that she got me is worth a lot simply because it is his rookie card. It being a patch card along with it being his rookie card probably triples or quadruples the value of the card. Now with the card being autographed on top of that it probably doubles or triples the value on top of that as well! I don't know how much she spent on the card, but I can look up the value (which I will do mom)! She didn't pay the guy full price for the card and she was a bit proud of that. I guess he looked up the value and told her how much it was. She asked him if that was his final answer, which he must have responded with a lower number, but she also talked him down just a tad more than that as well.

Like I mentioned it is now my favorite card, and I love it. But I think I will just tell my mom to only buy me socks from here on until the end of time! I love you mom so much and not just because you have always gotten me everything I have wanted. I love you because of who your are, because you are a great example to me. I have grown to learn that giving is a lot better than receiving. I have grown and learned to be grateful for everything that I have. I am most grateful that you are still here and are just about finished with this stupid cancer!

Close call

This last Friday night Sheri, Triton and I had a very close call. We had just left the house to go to bowling, Friday nights are our league night, when a moron tried to kill us! Okay not on purpose, but is was still a bit scary nonetheless. Less than a block from our house I was just about to attempt a left hand turn into an old abandoned parking lot. The nearest street light that we would have to go through forces you to sit at a red light for 5-10 minutes even when there is very light traffic. Thus, the reason that we were cutting through an old abandoned parking lot. The roads were still a bit icy so I was taking it slow. I was easing my way up to the entry spot for this parking lot when I noticed a car exiting the same lot. I slowed even more to make sure that the guy/girl wasn't going to just pull out in front of me. My turn signal was on and it was apparent that this person wasn't going to pull out in front of me so I proceeded with my left turn.
There was probably two car widths of area to the right side if someone where to approach from behind and want to pass. Any person who has a brain would know not to pass a person on the left hand side when they have their blinker on and are in fact beginning to turn left. Well of course if you can't see where this is going, that is in fact what this person decided to do. Out of nowhere this person came speeding up this hill on icy roads and tries to pass us on the left. He barely clipped the front end of the car. I think I put the car in park at that moment because I was assuming this guy would hit his brakes. He did not, and that was when Sheri said he was just going to keep going. If he had applied his brakes I would have gotten out and made the guy leaving the parking lot stay as a witness. However, when it looked like this moron who hit us wasn't going to stop I put it in drive to chase him down to at least get his license plate number. I pulled up about another 50 yards and saw that he was pulling into a gas station. I then stopped in the middle of the road again to flag down this person who was in a Neon (that was the car exiting the parking lot) so he could tell the police what he saw, but this idiot just drove off as well? It was apparent that everyone on the road that night was a complete donkey! So, we pulled up next to this guy who hit us and Sheri was already calling the police. This Hispanic kid who was probably no older than 22 comes over to my side of the car and is immediately asking how much. It was obvious that he didn't want the police involved. I speak a bit of Spanish and informed him that I was sorry, but we needed to call the police. I couldn't understand him because he was speaking fast and I only know a bit, but I tried to ask him why he was going to fast. He responded, but of course I didn't catch what he said. The police arrived and talked with me about what happened. The police officer only spoke a bit of Spanish himself so he didn't understand this other kid either. We then had to wait for a translator officer to arrive as well. They spoke to him and took down his side of the story. We were sitting in the car for almost 45 minutes when the officers had finally finished their report.
We were sitting there assuming that this Hispanic guy didn't have insurance and might even be an illegal. I mean why else wouldn't he want the police to come? The first policeman finally came over to our car and informed us that his story somewhat matched ours and that he was receiving the ticket. The Hispanic kid was in his sister's car who does in fact have insurance. We found out that this Hispanic person didn't have a driver's license. It must have been the reason that he didn't want us to call the police. I guess the kid who hit us told the officer basically what I told him but instead of passing us he was trying to make the same turn as we were! The officer then asked if that was what happened. I responded to him by saying he wasn't making that turn unless he was doing it at 30 miles per hour.
We had been in an accident just after we were married and that moron didn't have insurance so we of course had to pay to repair the damages to the vehicle. So, when we were talking about him not having insurance Sheri was getting pretty upset. She was saying well worst case scenario is we lose $500 because we would have to pay our deductible. I had to remind her that worst case scenario wasn't that we might lose out on $500, but that we were just blessed instead. I mean if I had started to turn a second earlier we might have all been injured including the baby that isn't here yet. A second earlier and the impact would have been directly at my door. The jolt would have probably given all of us whiplash. I for once saw the positive side of things. I am a pessimist for sure, but on this given night I actually saw the experience as a blessing in our lives. I of course was upset at the idiot who didn't know how to drive and it was apparent why he probably doesn't have a driver's license, but I was most grateful that nobody (even him) was hurt!

Too Long

It has been way too long since my last blog, sorry to any of you that read it. I mentioned in my last blog that I would show you what Triton did as his first act of rebellion. So here it is, I was spacing out watching a program on the television when I heard Triton over by the computer. I figured he was trying to get a movie. All of his shows are on top of the computer desk. I didn't pay too much attention because like I said he never gets into anything he usually isn't supposed to. I woke up from the trance I was in and finally decided to see what had him distracted and out of site for so long. I walked around the corner to see this!Who could get mad at that face though?
We had a really great Christmas. Triton says thanks to all of you that helped in spoiling him. He received a bunch of cars and Mickey Mouse stuff just as we suspected. Those are two things that he loves. He also got a few new Tom and Jerry movies that he loves. Thank you again to all of you that spoiled all of us. I missed you mom and am glad that you seem to be in much higher spirits since your chemo is over!
Even though I haven't blogged in a long while this is going to be a short one for now. Here are some pictures of Triton and Kelbi. Kelbi is the girl of a young man that I have known for many years. He and I have known each other from bowling together on and off for the past 15 years or so. His daughter Kelbi is about 6 months younger than Triton. They are still cute when they are around each other. Her older sister Tamara ,who is probably around 9 or 10 years old, chases Triton around and tickles him. Kelbi is learning from her sister and is almost to the point of chasing him around on her own. We bring Triton's DVD player with us to help keep him occupied. Kelbi will come over and make sure that she is directly in front of the movie and Triton will nudge her a bit or turn the player in his direction instead of hers. Even though they are sitting right next to each other both of them wants the edge. It is more funny when we break out his snacks (fish and cheese nips) because we of course will let Kelbi have some, but Triton doesn't like that. He knows that he will be reprimanded if he doesn't share so he tries to shove as much as he can into his mouth. He does that normally when he is eating on his own, but when she is there to eat his snacks it is a bit extreme.Here he is driving his car. This is the video game that he is always at if he isn't running up and down the bowling alley on Friday nights. He thinks that she is trying to tickle him, but it is still a cute picture.
This last picture is of him making a face. I guess a little over a month ago, Sheri caught him making faces at himself in the mirror. I think this is one that he came up with himself, I might have down him, but I can't remember. He isn't scrunching up as much as usual, but you can see he is for sure making a face.