Any Day

Sheri and I moved into our new home August before last. The church that we go to I believe is the only ward in the city that has inmates (who are within a year of release) attending church. I never knew this until I was asked to teach them at the work center. The work center is where inmates (or offenders as we call them at the work center) who are close to their release dates have the opportunity to work, go to church and live a semi normal life before being released back into society as a free man again. There are four of us that rotate and go and teach these "offenders" at the work center. There is usually some 2-6 offenders that go to this class each week. We teach for an hour on something basically of our choosing that is church related. I have not always been a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints so most of the offenders in the class probably know more about the church than I do. Not all of them know about the church but I am sure that each one of them understands my conviction and passion about the church by the time that I leave after that hour we have together. I have always been a very quiet person, especially if it is the first time meeting a person. The first 4 weeks of going to the work center I was required by the state to attend with someone else who normally taught the offenders. Then after that I would be allowed to teach these gentleman on my own. My first time to teach I was terrified. I prepared a lesson and walked in with knots in my stomach. I was not afraid of the offenders themselves but afraid that I would not be able to reach them, give a good lesson and for sure was afraid that I wasn't going to take up the full hour. Where the offenders and myself were basically strangers I wanted my first day to be an introduction. I remember there were probably 5 gentleman in my first class that night and I asked if we could go around the room and introduce ourselves and maybe tell a little bit about what we knew about the church. Most guys took maybe a minute at the most to tell me their name and where they were from and that they had known about the church most of their lives. 4 of the 5 knew of and probably believed in the church but had just had a few things go wrong with their lives when they weren't allowing the church and Heavenly Father to help them. One gentleman did take up maybe 5 minutes introducing himself which I was very grateful. This left me with some 45 minutes to myself now! I had taught one lesson to grown men some 11 years before in an Elders Quorum, and that was horrible! It was probably 3 years after I was baptized and still didn't know much of the church. I was baptized a month before my 17 birthday. Of course I knew more about the church now but my confidence was still (still is) low as far as how I might conduct myself in front of people I do not know. I began to tell them about myself. How I grew up. How I learned of the church and came to know that is it the one true church on this earth. I rambled on and on and remember that I didn't even have time to teach the lesson that I had prepared! I rambled on and on about myself and the church for 45 minutes! I felt so proud! It was the first time in my life that I felt that I did a good job speaking to someone that I did not know! Since then there have been about ten to twelve times that I have taught at the work center and I am no longer afraid of not being able to take up the whole hour. We have a small discussion about their lives, work and what not since our last meeting. Then we have an opening prayer and then I ramble on for the rest of the time! With my confidence growing I was asked this one Sunday by one of these offenders why I am the only member in my family? I have a grandmother whom I am sure has felt the Spirit and knows that the church is true but she never goes to church. I have a half brother who is 12 years younger who was baptized when he was the same age I was when I was baptized but he no longer goes to church. I was able to baptize him and it was one of the happiest days of my life and I will not forget. Knowing that he was doing the right thing and that if he lived with the church being a part of his life he would be blessed immensely. Anyway this offenders question puzzled me. Why was I able to tell these gentlemen that were in front of me about the church (an not shut up about it) but was unable to tell my family about it. I have come to the conclusion that these gentlemen choose to come to my class. It is easy to teach about something when someone wants to hear about it. I have not had the opportunity to give my testimony to any immediate family. My father and stepmother heard me speak at Zack's (half brother) baptism but they must not have been reachable at the time. Anyway I have a (very close to family) friend that has been having some relationship issues. Their significant other doesn't treat them the way that they feel they should be treated. I had mentioned in passing a few times throughout this past year that if it weren't for the church I wouldn't be who I am today. I remember having told this person here or there that I know the church is true but didn't ever get any more questions regarding my thoughts on the church. Anyway just this past week of hearing that he/she is only in this relationship for convenience now and not for love saddened me. Then come to find out that this person didn't believe in God saddened me even more. We are on this earth and we have the right (agency) to do whatever we want. We live in a country where we can believe in anything and any religion we choose. However no matter what country we live in on this earth we have been given the right to do whatever we want. If you or I are walking down the road we could at any moment take a left and see what path that would lead to or the opposite and simply take a right! I had no problem with this person not believing in God but again it did sadden me. I was texting back and forth to this person and let them know that I have no clue how people on this earth can go day to day without this church let alone a simple belief in God or Jesus Christ. This person (who again is basically family [AT THIS MOMENT]) asked me how I knew the church was true! Sure this person isn't family but he or she is in a relationship with someone in my family. I then informed this person that I would not be able to text such a response to that query. I informed he/she that I would have to tell them in person, on the phone or via email. This person of course chose email. I have no problem with email and anything before a year ago (since teaching the gentlemen at the work center) I myself would have preferred email! I wrote a simple email to this person explaining how I came to know that this church was true. It was about a page long and could have been a lot longer but I didn't not want to overwhelm! The next day I received a text from this person informing me that the email I sent them was the most powerful thing that they had ever read! This person said how they cried after reading it. Cried uncontrollably for some 10 minutes. This person then said it was so weird looking up into the world after wiping away those tears and seeing it (the world) in a different way! I have been told that I write well, but I am not taking any credit at all. In the email I explained how I felt the Spirit (Holy Ghost) when I had the missionary discussions and at that time I knew the church was true. Because the Holy Ghost himself visited little ole me to give me the knowledge/conviction that the things that the missionaries had taught me were in fact true. After getting this text about this person having such a reaction to my email I told him/her that he/she had in fact just felt the Holy Ghost! I cannot take any credit in the email for him/her feeling this way. It was the Holy Ghost who not only touched me but him/her as well. I have no doubt that this person when taught the Gospel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints will know of it's truthfulness but will also have a blessed life because of it! Any Day is the title of this post because it is any day that we can pass from this earth. Anyone who has taken the time out of their day to read this I hope to one day to tell you about my knowledge of the truth. If you have heard things that have soured you toward the church but you know and love me then let me tell you with my perspective. This life is so short and any minute that we can have with this knowledge in our lives will benefit us beyond measure after we pass on.

Last Bowling Blog...for 4 months or so

So, two weeks ago was our last night of bowling. We made the finals. We usually always make the finals but I don't want to sound arrogant. It is pretty tough to make the finals in that league because it is a handicap league and we all know that handicap means that anyone can beat anyone on any certain night. Handicaps level the playing field thus the worst bowler could beat the best bowler! This league isn't setup that way, the worst will never have to bowl the best. It is handicapped in a way that the worst bowler on each team bowls the other worst bowler on another. Then so down the list where the best bowler has to bowl the best bowler on the team. On finals night however it is a total pins handicap so it doesn't matter if you beat the bowler you are normally going up against. There were 4 pretty tough teams in the finals. My friend Mike who I have mentioned was in the finals, his team won 2 of the 4 quarters in the league. We beat them in the third quarter if you can't remember by one and a half points. They are the toughest team to beat for sure. Another team has a pretty good bowler but the other members probably aren't strong enough to help him win the whole thing. Then there was this other team that had a bunch of extra pins in handicap and I knew that they were going to be the most likely team to upset Mike's team. Mike's team won it all last year. I have always been a pressure player. If it is the end of the game and I have a chance to have the ball I want to take that last shot. There are those who can't stand the pressure and don't want to be in that situation. This league doesn't pay hardly anything for the finals, but it is the bragging rights that I wanted! Everyone in the league is usually afraid of Mike's team. I relish the nights that we get to bowl against them because I have (even in my slump for the past ten years) never backed down from the challenge of bowling against the best. Obviously Mike has been one of the best in the city for the past three years. With me coming out of my slump I wanted validation on finals night. I wanted to win that league and gain enough confidence to bowl a scratch league next year (scratch means no handicap). Mike's average along with another person on his team was over 215, Mike's was probably 220. Sure I was only at a measly 205, but I only had 4 pins of handicap myself. Even with Mike's team having two players having no pins handicap to start our team was still actually the same as Mike's team or a little lower. So our team and Mike's had the lowest pins to start. Finals night begins and everyone on our team were bowling pretty dang good except for Sheri. She only bowled a 144 or something like that. Barbara bowled a high 180 game. Jeff and I put on a show! Jeff hit a 279 and I hit a 276. We hit the highest scratch game as a team (not just on the night, but the whole year)! We took an early 100 pin lead over the other three teams after game one. Game two wasn't so kind to Jeff as he hit a 179, Sheri bowled over a 200 which helped a lot and I had a good game of 245. Our lead was only 60 going into the last game. The team behind us was the ones that I feared the most. That being the team that had the most handicap. We had an 80 pin lead over Mike's team and I knew they would have to bowl a huge game to beat us, or we would have to really suck. Well, Jeff tried to really suck by only hitting a 178 his last game. Going into the tenth and last frame the handicap team had taken the lead from us! Their last two bowlers had 3 strikes a piece going into the tenth. It looked as if they were going to pull an upset. I told Jeff that if him and I got three strikes a piece in the tenth frame and if both of their last two bowlers (who had the 3 strikes a piece) didn't strike or spare that we still had a chance. Well Jeff stepped up in the tenth and hit his first strike! Their bowler didn't strike and left himself a pretty hard spare which he did in fact miss! Jeff only got a 9 spare in the tenth after his strike, but I knew we still had hope. I needed to strike out and their last bowler needed to open. I watched their bowler leave a horrible split on his first ball! He in fact did open, but I still felt that I needed to strike out to win. I stepped up and threw three great shots and struck every ball! Jeff and I filled 50 pins out of the last 60! We won by 45 pins! Mike's team did bowl dang good and actually passed the handicap team to take second place! We had won! Sure there was good fortune in that last two frames, but I bowled great. I hit a 723. My 5th 700 series in the last 11 weeks of bowling! The following Saturday we went to the banquet to get our money and rewards. I didn't plan on winning anything as an individual. I had hoped that I might win most improved bowler on the year, but on a handicap league that is way hard to do because someone could have a 100 average and end with a 130! 30 pins is going to win most improved all of the time! I had only improved my yearbook by 12 pins, but I was still hoping to win. We get to this mexican resteraunt and first eat. Then the sheets were passed out showing everyone's awards and games throughout the year. I had wanted to figure out what I averaged since having my bowling balls redrilled and since I figured out a new release. I was mainly interested in that. I didn't really pay attention to the award sheets since I didn't figure I was going to win anything. You get a little extra money for having the top three high scores for high games handicap and scratch along with high series. I knew I wasn't going to win any of those because there was a lot of great bowling by other people. I had to only hope for most improved average! After looking at all my scores through out the year I finally turned to the award pages. I see that we obviously took finals, took second in most points won by a team all year (that is where a team makes most of their year end money). Of course Mike's team was first, I think they have won that 4 years in a row! We also won high handicap series as a team or something like that to win a few extra bucks too. Then I turn the sheet over and see that I did in fact win most improved bowler! I was pretty dang happy about that! I got to looking through the other awards and noticed that my name was on another! You can only win one individual award because they want to reward a lot of people. There was a clause though that stated one person can only win one award except for the person that took most improved average! That person is eligible for two awards! What other award did I win? I had to ask because I didn't even remember there being this other accolade? It said bowler best w/lo % of the year Jason! I asked the secretary of the league what that was? He informed me that I had the best win/loss percentage of all the men (actually the entire league). Which meant that you were more likely going to lose against me over anyone else on the whole league! I was going to beat you more times than Mike beat you. There are 4 other people on that league that are pretty dang good bowlers! It is a handicap league which helps level the field which means a person with a high handicap could beat a person with a low handicap. All of that aside I had the best winning percentage! I won just over 66% of my points. I was most pround of the last 11 weeks though. I think I had to bowl Mike twice and I remember taking 8 out of 10 points from him. I bowled this other guy who averages almost 220 on this other team and took all 5 points from him those last few weeks. I probably had the highest series that was printed in the newspaper 4 of the last 5 weeks on that league! It was the first time in over ten years that I was actually sad that bowling was over. It is the first time in those ten years that I wanted to bowl from week to week. To have my highest winter average in all of my life after all these years of being in a slump, after only bowling the one league, and no practice between weeks all year shows me that I can for sure be one of this cities elite bowlers again. If I pick up another league next year (a scratch) and maybe get a few practice sessions in then I have no doubt that I will get that elusive 800 series. I will be asked to bowl city and state tournaments again! I will be feared. I will always now be known as the best bowler in my family. Sorry Josh you tried your best this year. I really appreciate you bowling with us this year. You starting off the year so great fed my hunger to figure this game out again. I owe you for helping me pull my head out! I have to thank Kevin for redrilling my bowling balls as well. With a bowling ball that fit properly I was able to figure out a release that helps me stay consistent. I know that I am not all the way there to figuring out that release, but I am close. I hope with this summer's break that I jump right back in the swing of things next fall! Only time will tell.

Close, But So So Far Away

So Friday I walk in and my average is up to a 204 which I am happy about because that pretty much guarantees me a yearbook of 200 plus this year. I am bowling Mikey and of course I want to beat him even though he has been my doubles partner and best bowling friend since the 6th grade. Plus we all know that he has been one of the hottest bowlers over the last 3 years. The first game I was bowling alright and he bowled like crap, I finished the game really good and beat him like 222 to 170? He might not even have hit a 170? Anyway I knew he wasn't going to stay down under 200 for long and that he didn't! The next game we both start with the first 7 strikes. He finally missed in the 8th and then I lost all confidence in my release! It was like I went back to the last ten years! I actually slopped down the next 3 strikes giving me the front ten! With lack of confidence and being completely lost in how to throw the ball my hands were sweating. It might have been due to a little nervousness but that usually helps me focus. I couldn't remember how to throw a ball though. The 11th ball I was way too quick with my feet and barely hit the head pin leaving the 2 4 5! I hit a 287 against Mike's 279! The last game I realized that I wasn't being aggressive with my release. Thus I pulled my head out and smashed the pocket. Mike and I were at it again. We both started out the last game with the first 5 strikes, I then hit the pocket in the 6th and for some reason the 8 10 remained? It was pretty weird so I opened nonetheless and
Mikey struck another 2 times eventually beating me that game 232 - 224 taking one point away from me. I hit a 733 series and took 4 of 5 points from Mikey. That should get my average up to a 205! I was happy about the series but so disappointed that I forgot how to release the ball in a moment when I could have obtained perfection again! Ahhhh, I guess there is always next week.

What's Next

So, this last week we were all able to take a trip to Disney Land! It was my first time there and obviously the little ones first time too. We went with Sheri's mom and step-father, as well as her half sister and her husband. We left last Monday and came back on Friday (I couldn't miss bowling)! That isn't the real reason we came back on Friday, it was just time to come back is all. We visited Disney Land that first night and the next day, then drove to Sea World on Wednesday and then back to Disney Land on Thursday. It was way fun, busy and it wore Triton out each night. Quinn would get in a little nap around 1:00 or 2:00 while in the stroller and then she would outlast Triton through the night.

Quinn was able to go on more rides than I thought she was going to be able to and Triton was just barely tall enough to go on Splash Mountain. That was probably the scariest ride that he went on. There was one other roller coaster that he was able to go on that was fast, but no big drop like Splash Mountain. Every time he would get off a ride, he would say "What's Next"? It was pretty cute how he just wanted to go and go. The lines were pretty long, but him and Quinn did pretty good while waiting in lines.

So many thanks to Crystal and Trevor as well as Darrell and Laura for watching the little munchkins while Sheri and I jumped on some bigger rides that the little ones weren't tall enough to ride on. Here are just a few pictures to share of the trip.

Not too sure what Triton is trying to do with his face?

This is Sheri and myself after riding the Atlantis ride at Sea World. You can't really tell but my shorts are soaked as could be. I actually did scream on this ride, but it wasn't because it was scary or cold. I was sitting in front and you can see the big drop just behind us there? That isn't where one gets most wet! There is another drop in the back where nobody can see and that part is where I got about 75% of the soakage that I have in the picture. I screamed because I was in front and I knew before it happened that there was going to be no escaping the wall of water that was coming! I screamed in frustration of not being able to escape the water. So again it wasn't because the water was cold or because I was scared! It was simply the fact that I had no change of clothes and I knew I was going to be wet as can be!!

Nothing Big

Just as the title of this blog is nothing big. I really don't have anything to say that is important, just going to give a quick update on how I bowled last week and maybe other stuff who knows. Last week we bowled on lanes 11 and 12. I have always hated these lanes because it seems that no matter what I don't get the carry I deserve on those lanes. I think I have had maybe one 700 series on those lanes and a high game 290 on those lanes. They must have had the flu on those nights. This night seemed classic 11 and 12 though. I started out practice striking like 4 or 5 times and was throwing a good ball.
The league started and scoring began and I was bowling pretty dang good. I was hitting the pocket and nothing wanted to fall. I threw a couple of bad balls, but was happy with the way that my ball was reacting I just wasn't getting the carry. I hit a whopping 155 or something? I didn't get a strike that whole game? I finally got my first strike in the second game first frame. I was using my Trauma Recovery (which is the ball that I have basically thrown 90% this year) and I think I might have gotten one more strike with it toward the end of that second game. I switched bowling balls to my Track in the tenth frame of the second game. I think I threw 8 out of 12 strikes with that ball. Guess I should have switched earlier? Kind of weird that I was throwing a better ball with the Trauma, but the Track carried better with a worse pocket entry? Some nights are like that I guess. I got an open in the tenth frame of the third game for a whopping 215. Shot a 550 series the worse that I have had in probably 4 months and I blame it on the lanes! Sure it sounds as if I should have just switched bowling balls sooner and maybe that is true, but it still doesn't change the fact that I didn't get the carry that I deserved. I had my average up to a 203 before that night and I imagine it might drop a pin after that 550? So, I need to work to maintain my 200 average in time for the yearbook numbers to be taken (which is the first couple of weeks in April).

Did I Blow It?

Last night we were in first place by 5.5 points bowling against my friend Mike who has thrown 8 three hundred games and three 800 series in just about 3 years. He has been one of the city's best bowlers for the past two years. I have been friends with Mikey ever since 6th grade. He and I have bowled tournaments and leagues together for so many years now. I am glad that he is a great bowler now. He was always pretty decent like me, but I was just a bit better than him and of course my funk slump came into play and even then he wasn't that much better than me until these past few years. He went to college for a while and really wasn't bowling much so that is why he never really got great.
With the way that Josh has been bowling I figured if we were to take first place for the quarter and earn a spot in the finals we would have to rely on the girls (Aunt Barbara and my wife Sheri to win the most of the points). Why did I not include myself in the list of earnable points for the night? Because I was in fact paired to bowl against Mike, and did you not read his resume above. Oh yeah I forgot to mention that he basically averages 220! There is a total of 30 points possible on the night and we simply needed to win 12.5 or something like that to hold off Mike's team.
The first game started out great we won 4 of the total 6 points available on that game. I won my point and Barbara won her point and we had the higher team score which was 2 points. I bowled a 227 against a struggling Mike who finished strong with a 202. The next game wasn't that great! Sheri was the only one to take a point out of 6 available. Mikey started the 2nd game with the first 9 strikes in a row against me so I didn't have a chance to beat him. At this point I am even rooting for him to shoot a 300. It wasn't meant to be and he tugged the 10th ball just a bit and shot a 277 against my 237. Yeah most nights when you shoot a 237 you are most likely to win that point. Not against Mike like I said! So out of 12 points available after game 2 we only had 5 of them.
The last game started out pretty good and everybody was winning on our team except Josh. I was only ahead of Mike by ten pins but I was throwing a pretty decent ball and just figured if I kept striking I would at least take 2 points out of the possible 5 against Mike. Sheri ended up tying her last game against her opponent and she won 3.5 points out of her possible 5. Barbara won her last game and took totals as well thus she won 4 out of her 5 points. Mikey shot a 246 his last game. I shot a 266 and beat Mike not only that game but series as well. He shot a 723 and I hit a 730! Pretty weird to shoot exactly the same series as the week before, but I was dang happy. I had beaten one of the city's best bowlers on one of 5 of the most important nights of a league! There are 4 positional rounds that earn a spot into the final (last night being one of them) and then you have finals! Without this win we wouldn't be in the finals unless we were to win the last quarter. It always loosens up a swing knowing that you have already stamped a place in the finals. Mikey's team had already won a quarter and thus they were already in the finals. Was what we bowled enough to win the 12.5 points that we needed? We lost the last games final score which I thought we absolutely needed. So we had Sheri's 3.5 points Barbara's 4 points and my 4 points which gave us 11.5 points! We did win that first game as a team and that gave us 2 points and gave us our victory 13.5 points! We took the 3rd quarter and earner ourselves a spot in the finals! Wahoo I didn't blow my good bowling either!
Another 730! I have now averaged just over 232 for the past 4 weeks and am feeling better and better. I beat one of the best bowlers around here last night when he shot a 723! I honestly think that is probably my first back to back 700 series since I started bowling! My average was up to 202 before last night and I imagine that it will probably move up another 2! I had two goals this year and they were to beat Josh (which I thought was going to be a lot easier that it was) and to get my average up to a 200. I am sure that I have the Josh goal in the bag, but there is still 10 more weeks of bowling to go. Anything can happen, but I am hoping to keep it going.
On January 20th Sheri had a chance to get her first 600 series. She has been bowling really good this year and I had hoped that she would get her first 600. She bowled a 220 her first game and fell slightly the second game hitting a 184. Thus she needed to get a 196 her last game. She knows that in order to get up in the high 190s to low 200s you will need to double up (that is getting two strikes in a row) and leaving no opens. Thus she needs to get a double and shoot all spares to get her 196. Well, it was the ninth frame and she hadn't doubled yet. She hadn't opened which was great, but she need to get them two strikes in a row yet. She asked for my advice. I knew she was throwing a good ball she just wasn't getting any breaks. I noticed one thing that might give her a bit more carry so I told her my advice. She stepped up in the 9 frame and missed! She got her spare and had one last shot to get a 600. She needed the first two strikes in the tenth frame to have a shot. She stepped up with the first ball in the tenth frame and smashed the pocket! Strike! The next ball was a bit light in the pocket but there was still some pins moving around and at last that final pin fell giving her that much needed double! She would however still need to get like 6 pins or something like that. I think she might have struck, but the fact was that she got her last 5 or 6 pins that she needed and hit a 604 series! I was so pound of her! With that 600 by Sheri and my 700 series last week we have all our team on the honor roll board! Pretty cool. We are probably the only team in that bowling establishment that have a mixed team (2 guys and 2 girls) on the honor roll board.
In order to get on the honor roll board you have to either shoot a 225 or higher as a woman or hit a 600 series. Barbara has not shot a 600, but she did get a 234 one week. Sheri obviously got her 604. Josh has been on the board for most of the year. As a man you have to shoot a 700 or have a score in one game higher than a 275. Josh did both of those things in the first 5 weeks of bowling. I finally hit my 730 and it is pretty cool having all of our team on the board! I am happy for us all, but hope that Josh doesn't get to down on himself for not bowling good. He did hit a 226 his first game and I thought he might be making a comeback from his last month of bowling, but his next two games sucked. I still think he is trying too hard and expects too much from himself. Keep up the desire to bowl good Josh and just have fun.

Better Blog Before I Blow It

So as many of you know I have been struggling with bowling for about a decade. I was a decent bowler averaging around 215 and was confident that I was going to get even better. I woke up one day and was unable to roll the ball properly and my average dropped down to like a 175. I have averaged around 190 for the past 7 years, but that is just luck because there was no confidence in my release.
Josh my cousin bowls with us this year and he started out the year on fire. He was basically averaging anywhere from 198-207 all year. I was just basically sticking around that 190-193 area that I have been in limbo with for years. I knew that I needed to do something to get my game back. I decided the first step was to have my bowling balls re-drilled and see if that was the issue (it was about 90% of the issue). The way all my bowling balls were drilled kept me from holding and releasing the ball properly and consistently. I had two bowling balls redone and from then on it was up to me. Was I going to be able to learn how to bowl again? It was about the beginning of December that this was done. I informed Josh he had 5 weeks and I was going to surpass his average. I know that he wanted to kick my butt at my own game since the year started and he was so great out of the gate. Well it only took two weeks to overtake him. However, he decided to bowl great the next week and passed me again. This happened again. I would work my butt off and then he would have a great week and pass me again.
Three weeks ago he bowled pretty bad not even averaging a 170 on the night and I bowled good and passed him with a 199-198 that following week. Two weeks ago I bowled pretty good again and he didn't bowl bad just not as good as me, and I was at 200 and he was down to a 197. That was my biggest lead on him for the year. This last week was pretty cool. During the ten minutes of practice before league started I could find the pocket for anything. I was completely lost. I thought it might be a good sign because usually if you do nothing but strike in practice you are going to suck the rest of the night. I was a little worried, but my first ball of the night I was instantly sure that I was going to release the ball properly and score good. I was correct. My first game was a 234, second game 230 and my last game was a 266 for a 730! I had the last ten strikes in a row in that last game and Josh once again didn't even hit a 170 average on the night. I averaged just over 243 for the night and my average will jump more while Josh's falls. I have averaged 227 for the last three weeks and hope to maintain whatever overall average I have tonight throughout the year. Just figured that I had to blog before I do in fact bowl horrible. I know that there is going to be a night where I feel lost again and I won't score worth crap, but the last 3 months have given me hope that I can someday be the bowler I once was. These last three weeks I have actually felt better than when I was bowling great as a young man. I have just seen too many people scoring perfect games and 800 series without me! I dream to one day have an 800 ring and to have Josh (my cousin who hasn't bowled a league since he was in high school) bowl his first league in forever and come so close to it shooting an 800 with his 787 just kind of woke me up. I could have cared less in fact I wish he would have shot the 800 that night, but it for sure has awakened my passion for the game again. I am happy with the way I have been bowling. I have hated bowling for the past ten years and didn't ever think that I would be one of the city's elite ever again. I never imagined that I would want to bowl. Sure Sheri and I have bowled a league every year that we have been married, but it was basically just something to do and get out of the house in the winter months. I haven't enjoyed the game and was pretty close to quitting a couple of times. The past month I have actually thought about bowling a ton. I have thought about bowling tournaments, I have thought that I want to have a Steve Stricker like comeback. I have no aspirations of being on TV, but I do want to go to some bigger tournaments this next year if I am bowling like I am now and still have the confidence that I have right now.
I thanked Josh for giving up on trying to beat me this year as far as average is concerned. He didn't really like that remark and said that the year wasn't over. I hope that he does not only try to beat me, but I hope that he does in fact bowl great. I don't think that he will be able to pass me though. I have a ton of confidence that he is lacking. He expects a bit too much especially since like I said he hasn't really bowled since juniors. He gets down on himself way too much too. Once a person is able to stop beating their selves up over little mistakes in any sport and focus on the next shot or task at hand is the day that they start excelling exponentially.
I now have no doubt that Josh isn't going to be able to beat me this year and I will still be known as the best bowler in the family, but that is hopefully just the tip of the iceberg. I expressed to Josh a sincere thanks as for bowling with us this year and pushing me to get out of the pit. I have been a big let down to my fellow bowlers for years. This is the first year that I haven't been asked to bowl city or state tournament by someone! Nobody! Not even fellow bowlers who aren't that good that have idolized me back in the day and would love to have me on their team in the past didn't even ask me this year. It really doesn't hurt my feelings. I wouldn't not want to have asked me either if I were them. Heck I don't know why I was asked for the past 9 of these 10 years. I literally sucked but I hope to have those multiple invites again next year when I prove to everyone that I am back!