Bowling and Boring Stuff As My Mom Would Say

If some of you don't know I used to be one of the city's best bowlers. I was averaging 213 and was just going to get better from there. I had no aspirations of going pro, but I did want to compete with the best. I loved the competition and trying to beat the city's/state's best. One day I woke up and couldn't throw/roll a bowling ball properly anymore. My average dropped from a 213 to a 175!
I tried to get help over the years from friends who were the city's best of course and they couldn't get me out of my funk. I would have a bit of success here and there, even got my average over a 200 again one year, but that was at a real easy bowling alley and even morons who throw the ball like an idiot could average a 200 or more at the house. Even though I was averaging that high one year I knew that I wasn't happy with my bowling game at all, there was no confidence and I didn't like playing. I told everyone that if I didn't figure something out this year that I was probably going to quit bowling. I said that because it was true and I wasn't enjoying the game anymore, but it was to also light a fire under my butt and force me to grow a brain. The year started out horrible and I wasn't even averaging yearbook of 184. I knew it was going to be my last year of bowling!
A friend of mine wanted me to sub on his league on a Thursday night which is a scratch league. Scratch leagues have no handicap and I told him that I sucked, but he still wanted me to sub. I showed and noticed that his team was bowling Craig Goodwin's team. Craig has been one of the city's best bowlers for thirty years or more. I told him before we started that if he could watch me and see what I was doing wrong to please help me. In the middle of the second game he pulled me aside and told me something that everyone for the past 7 or 8 years had told me. To follow through to my target. It must have turned on a light or something because for the past three months I have probably averaged a 205 or higher. The game is getting fun again and each week I am getting better and better with my release. I struggle and lapse from time to time, but I am at least on the mend and won't have to quit playing altogether. My goal next year is to get my average back over a 200, it might be a 193 now and I don't have enough games left this year to get it over 200. The difference between averaging 200 next year and that one year about 5 years ago is the face that I will be bowling at the hardest house in the city and I have more confidence. I can move on any part of the lane and get the ball to do what I want, whereas 5 years ago I was throwing one line and because of the house I was able to score. So even though you all helped me and told me the same thing Craig did, I have to give a special thanks to him.
Poker is going good too, I have a goal to win $1000 this year playing live and online poker together. I started the year with $4.58 online, and I have gotten that up over $50. So, I am far from the goal online, but obviously it is hard to win a lot of money if you don't have a lot of money to play with. But getting that $4 up over $50 is a feat in itself. As far as live games I am doing good, but I only play at the smallest game and it is pretty hard to lose at a game where 3 to 4 people go and lose $20 every week. I have won a bit over $130 there and I have missed a couple of weeks or I don't get to play very long because I have to go to work at 11:00pm, so I don't get to win as much as I might if I didn't have to work. So, I am close to $200 on the year and once I get my online money up a bit more then I can move up in stakes and win even more. Or possibly lose it, but it isn't money that I deposited I am still playing with the houses money and have been for the past 7 years. I am playing a live tournament this weekend, if I win I profit probably $100, but lose $20 if I don't place in the top 3 out of nine people. That $100 would make it easier to get close to that goal of $1,000. This game is once a month, so if I cash in half and win one I will have positive equity for sure. In that game I should cash half of the time and win it at least once. I played in it once and took third which gave me $30, but only a profit of $10. A profit is profit though. With the snow melting and the golf courses opening though I am going to have less and less time to play poker so who knows about that grand goal?