Bitter Sweet

Tuesday night league was a late night but I played well and won so that helps putting up with not getting home until midnight. This league is usually over pretty early, but the owner of the bar is on the team we played so we only play one table. I think they do this so people will be there longer? Anyways, it's what I would call a classy establishment with the stripper poles and waterfall thing in the corner. OH YES, it's part time pool hall...and part time stripper joint. I don't particularly like playing there because it's pretty tight quarters where we play and I feel comfortable around the type of people that attend this kind of place. They did recently re-felt their tables which was helpful to playing conditions. The team we played is the best in the league by a long shot and all their players range from good to real goddamn good. I played a guy who was a notch below real goddamn good and I beat him 7-4. I played very well until the end when I started choking like a dog. I was up 6-1 with 3 balls left(playing 9 ball), basically a cosmopolitan and I screwed it up and then I stunk the last 3 games. I totally lost my focus when I blew the game and never regained it. All I could think about was how I should have already beat this guy instead of trying to beat him now and how embarrassing it would be to lose after being up 6-1. Pretty disappointing that my mental game folded like a lawnchair. Overall I'm pretty satisfied with how I played but I want to be real hard on myself so I don't get satisfied with playing an average or even good game if I know I can play better. But the first 7 games I played last night were off the charts for me, I saw the table well, made difficult shots, and got good position on just about everything.

I managed to get through a game of racquetball with only minor pain from my chest situation. I shouldn't be playing but it's just too damn fun so I'll put up with the pain(except for when I come on here and piss and moan about it) for as long as I have too.

Eventful Weekend, Sorta

What a weekend, I went to a poker game, bought a new car, and spent all day Sunday sick on the couch. Friday Night was a blast, I played poker with a few friends. We played very small limits which I really like because then nobody is worried about losing a lot of money. I won $12 and another guy lost $10 so it's more for bragging rights as opposed to monetary gain. I just enjoy hanging out with my friends, talking shit, and having a few beers as opposed to playing for a lot of money. Friday afternoon we looked at an Escalade that we really liked but it had some damage to the front bumper that they said they wouldn't fix so we decided to hold off and go to Longmont/Loveland area and look at a few up there on Saturday. I'm confused as to why they still call it a bumper? These new cars are made completely out of paper mache and so is the "bumper", it used to actually be made out of steel so if you bumped something it wouldn't damage it. Whereas now, if you so much as hit a gnat the bumper explodes into a thousand pieces on impact. Anyways, on Saturday morning the salesman call me at 8 in the morning and says that the bumper will be replaced at no additional charge. So we went back Saturday and test drove it and ended up buying it. This was a pretty tough decision for me because I really didn't want to have a car payment again but it was priced right and very low miles so hopefully this will last us for 10 years. We actually ended up pretty limited on the cars we looked at due to the features we wanted. First and foremost it had to be a V8, my wife and I both subscribe to the motto "drive it like you stole it". It's really stupid because I always leave way early if I'm going somewhere so I don't need to speed but I always seem to be in a hurry while driving. We also REALLY needed the third row seating for all the kids we don't have?!? We wanted something with low miles in the hopes that this will be the last car we buy for a loooonnnnggg time. And after looking at some other cars it made sense to us to pay only a couple thousand more and find a '05 or '06 Escalade with low miles and priced right as opposed to a Mercury Mountaineer. We got our '05 for well below blue book and sold our jeep for well over blue book so that really helped as well. I've still got a little buyers remorse going on but not because I'm not happy with what we got but because I really didn't want to have to buy a new car. Our P.O.S was falling apart though and I'm sure it was the correct decision.
Sunday sucked though, I was sick and watched tv on the couch all day. I did win a couple bucks on some bets I made but other than that it was awfully miserable. And I may or may not have, but definitely did crack my rib playing racquetball. It hurts like a son of a bitch when I do anything. I guess I could have ruptured my spleen or maybe I had a heart attack, I'm not real sure what's wrong but my chesty area hurts.
I will also be adding to my list of things that annoy me so check back with that.

Pretty Sad

Last night at league I played a pretty good player and lost 7-6. I would say that we both got some good breaks in the match but he got another roll or two. I played a very average game most of the night and gave away 2-3 games by missing DUMB shots. This last statement is why I'm not pissing and moaning about my "bad luck" during our match in which he combo'd in the 9 early twice and got super lucky kicking it in another time. If I play well I'm going to win regardless of what kind of luck he gets. He was a good shotmaker but he doesn't have all the "shots". By "shots" I mean cue ball control, english, and knowing how to get the cue ball where he wants it on a tough shot. My opponent was very friendly and a good player but I'm quite disappointed that I lost to him. I picked this guy to play because this team has the raging douchebag that I spoke about in an earlier post, the really good player that complained about everything. I beat him last time and I really enjoy playing people better than me but this guy was too much so I made sure another guy on my team had to put up with his shit.
This team has six people on it and all they all came to our place, their bar is clear down south and probably a 20 minute drive and only three people can play. I don't really understand this, my team has three people on it and one guy who said he would be a sub so he would only come if someone couldn't make it. I enjoy playing pool and being around it but I don't need to drive 20 minutes to not play in a match. When I see something like this that I don't understand I like to dissect why they would do that and all I can come up with is they hate their wives and want out of the house.

I'm really annoying myself with this damn car situation. I'm waffling back and forth on what to do and if I should buy this car or fix my car or maybe get that car...FUCK, SHIT, ASS!!! Just make up my mind already and stick the fuck with it. You know that guy that you have to see sometimes that really annoys the shit out of you and want to jab your pen in his eye, well thats the way I feel about myself right now. I'm usually a very decisive person so when I'm not I get aggravated with myself.

When I'm annoyed I have a tendency to let even more things annoy me that might not ordinarily do so. For your convenience and enjoyment I'll run down a list of these things:
1. I have WebMD on my homepage and one of the headlines is "Did malaria and bone disease kill King Tut"? Well I'll start by saying this-Who the fuck really cares? Really? Seriously? Where do they get the money to do these tests that 1 in a billion people care about? Couldn't we use this money for...well ANY-FUCKING-THING-ELSE!
2. Why do I have to dry my towels three goddamn times before they're dry? I've had a guy come out and check the vent out of the house, I've had a guy come and check out the dryer(and actually replace a part that was supposedly fixing the problem), and had to speak to "Steve" from customer service who can barely fucking speak english.
3. Why are brokers dropping my loads on me? I can't get a goddamn thing done today.
4. people who type like this. Move your goddamn pinky and hit the shift key when you type your first letter of the sentence. You lazy sons-a-bitches it isn't hard.
5. PEOPLE WHO TYPE LIKE THIS...DO I NEED TO ELABORATE. This is the faggot in the bar or at work that talks so fucking loud you can't hear yourself think.
5. People who can't count.
7. Anybody name Fred.
8. People, who when counting on their hands, use their thumb for number one. HEY FONZIE, use your index finger like the rest of the educated world!
9. Grown men who wear sweats in Public. Come on people, it's not like this is something that just came up. Put some damn pants on, nobody and I mean NOBODY wants to see what you're packin'. Grocery store or convenience store= OK, running out for something real quick in sweats. Driving 50 miles to get to a pool tournament wearing sweats= Douchebag.

That's all.

Uncertainty

I'm not a very religious nor superstitious person and I pretty much believe we make our own "luck". When something goes bad I try to find what I've done wrong or incorrect to have this negative result come about. The same goes for when something positive happens, and anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I don't mind sharing how great I am! Having said that I do allow myself to be susceptible to bad "signs or omens". The same is not true for good ones though, which obviously doesn't make any sense. Yesterday we decided to get a new car but the place that had the car we looked at before and liked, had sold it an hour before we got there. So today I'm thinking that this was a sign and we shouldn't buy a new car because if we were "meant" to get a new car then it would have been there. But when we first looked at getting a new car it was there and priced right and just what we (my wife) wanted. So why wasn't that a good sign? I'm not looking for "answers", just merely stating that it's something stupid that I do. Neither the Sun, nor the Mountains, nor Simon Cowell, nor the Greek God Zeus made the car get sold before we got there, it was happenstance. This goes back to my thoughts on being self-employed and being fiscally responsible and I guess being cheap has crept into my choices on personal finances as well. A wise man once said..."That's all I have to say about that."

Back at it.

So after not playing much pool for about a week or two I'm back at it. My Tuesday night league started up again this week and the Wednesday night is still going for another
1 1/2 months. Tuesday night we played a team that was pretty bad. I usually don't have anything to say about anyone's skill level but the Tuesday night league is supposed to be a Masters league and this team is quite poor. I don't get much enjoyment out of playing someone who doesn't even want to play me because "I'm to good" and beating her 7-1. I've spoke in ad nauseum about the mental side of pool but this attitude will get you nowhere fast and keep you from getting better. If there is only one piece of advice I could give to someone wanting to get better it is this: PLAY PEOPLE BETTER THAN YOU. It's not always the most enjoyable thing when you're doing more racking than breaking but if it bothers you enough then you will figure out what you're doing wrong or what you could do better and start winning more.

I drove clear over to the west side of town for tonight's match and there was one person there for the other team so they had to forfeit. This would normally get me a little pissy, to put in mildly, but it was at the Elk's club and they had a snooker table there. I'm a fan of pretty much any game played on a pool or billiard table, although I'm not at all familiar with balkline and only vaguely familiar with snooker, but pretty much anything else, I'm game. Whether it be 8 ball, 9 ball, 10 ball, one pocket, straight pool, or my most recent adventure golf. Don't be confused golf is played on a snooker table, which is a similar to a pool table. I played this old guy on my team a game of golf since we all drove clear over there any damned ways. He beat me up pretty bad but it was a good time anyways. I would have to say that one pocket is probably my favorite game but 8 ball is my best game, this is undoubtedly due to the fact I didn't play anything else until about 3 years ago. I believe straight pool is the most difficult game, it looks easy and sounds easy but you better shoot'em pretty sporty if you're gonna run some balls in that game.

I'm planning on taking a trip to Denver or possibly Wyoming at the end of the month to play in a big tournament, at least 32 and hopefully a 64 person field. I enjoy a different setting than league play offers on occasion and the competition is usually top notch. There is rarely a tournament in Colorado Springs with these characteristics so I'm forced to the Denver area. Both tournaments are handicapped in a form that you enter as a "C", "B", "A", or "AA/AAA", with "AA/AAA" being the best, and play people from that same level. I'm probably going to enter into the "A" field. This should be real competitive and force me to play rock solid if I want to do well. The "AA/AAA" players are out of this world good, and the only reason they group the "AA" and the "AAA" players are because there aren't enough of them in the area to get a full field, that will tell you the skill level of those guys. Playing in the "A" bracket might be a little over my head but I love a good challenge.

It feels so good to hurt so bad

I started P90x workout program with my wife on Monday and I'm very sore. I've got the gift of high metabolism so to the naked eye I appear to be in good shape. This is ABSOLUTELY INCORRECT. For the last 5 years I've sat at a desk for 8 hours a day and the majority of my exercise is walking around a pool table. Not exactly what the P90x gurus would call "high intensity". Last year we played softball which at least forced me to run, I honestly can't remember the last time I ran as fast I could before softball. My wife has been working out for quite sometime and is in very good shape so working out with her is helpful in the sense that I have someone to push me. But my DNA consists of having to be the best or quickest or strongest or, well you get the picture. So when I can't finish whatever devil exercise they're doing and my petite wife is having little problems I get PISSSSEDD OFF. Obviously not at her, I'm very proud of her workout and diet regimen that she is doing. I understand that I've only been working out for 2 days now and it takes time and blah, blah, blah. I've always been at least "good" if not better than good at pretty much everything I've ever done so when I start a new hobby and I'm not good at it, it's a pretty tough pill for me to swallow. The one thing that I've been able to stick with that I suck at is golf. I first played golf about 10 years ago and started playing somewhat regularly about 6 years ago. I've spent many a dollar, day, and golf ball on a game I'm still very, very bad at. It is just baffling to me, how I can play something so much, derive so much enjoyment out of, and still be just as bad as I was when I started. It is quite a humbling experience to go out and shoot a 110 after all the my years of playing. I've got pool league tonight after I workout and I'm hoping I'll be able to lift my arms that high. I put my seatbelt on yesterday and I thought my chest and arms were going to explode from reaching up and across my body. I'm excited to be getting back in shape and hope that I can get past the first couple weeks of being ridiculously sore and stay with it.

In Review

I'll review my last 2 weeks since I've blogged. I've been to Vegas, paid off the last of our personal debt, bought plates for 4 trucks, played very little pool, and fixed my jeep again. I'll start with the enjoyable part of time away which would be Vegas. It was a nice time away from work and a nice little vacation. It was like most vacations to Sin City, get up at 11 in the morning, start drinking at noon, and go to bed at 4 in the morning. Rinse, lather, repeat. Broke even for the trip which allowed us to use that money to pay off the last of Lori's student loan, and in turn, the last of our personal debt. This was EXTREMELY satisfying, we've worked hard to save money and I worked 3 jobs for a while to expedite this process. It took around 2 years to complete our debt free mission. The only significant amount of money we spent was the down payment on our house and going to Vegas two weeks ago.

Now the rest of my time away is frustrating to think about but here goes. I knew I would have to buy plates for 2 trucks but it turned out 2 other guys didn't put a penny away so I was left with 2 choices. Don't buy them and they stop work and, henceforth, stop working for me or buy them. I had a mental breakdown when I found out this was the position I was in, and that's not exaggerating. I contemplated, for a moment, getting rid of everyone but my 2 trucks and get a regular job. It was never something I was going to do as I would have felt like a quitter and a failure but it showed my HIGH frustration level with these 2 gentlemen who didn't do their job to save money for plates. So I had to write a check for $8200 instead of the $4100 I had planned on. Then there is the fucking loser who I was having take care of all my "safety" matters. He screwed up the paperwork on the plates the first time, failed to tell me I needed to pass an emission test to get the plates, and waited until the last day to complete my IFTA paperwork causing me to have to drive to Pueblo and pick it up so I could have it postmarked by that day. Needless to say he will not be working for me anymore. I must take responsibility for this loser though. In his case, and some other cases in my business matters, I've not been as involved as I should have been. My thinking was that I've hired him to do a job and he's knows what he's doing and I don't need to worry about those matters. It's my job and responsibility to ensure that everything is done properly.

I got back from Vegas on Monday afternoon and had pool league on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I played pretty poorly all 3 nights which tells me my pre-shot routine isn't quite my routine yet. I need to practice so that it becomes the norm and I don't have to remember to do it. I haven't practiced since I've been back which is a week now and need some quality practice before I can expect to play quality pool. I'm not including league as practice because it's not, it's "playing" and there is a big difference. Practice is doing drills, different shots, speed control, etc., not hitting the balls around. This is an important lesson for people who aspire to get better, don't throw the balls on the table and whack them around and think you're practicing. Proper practice will advance your game, but it is hard to do because it can get boring and tedious. I try to work in some "fun" things to keep me attentive and motivated to finish my practice time.

And lastly is my damn jeep. The P.O.S. was leaking transmission fluid like a sieve. It turned out only to be a hose that had a hole in it so the cost was minimal compared to an actual problem with the transmission itself. We've had many problems with it this past year and spent quite a bit of money fixing them. For now we're keeping it, but hopefully later this year we'll be getting a "new" ride. I also noticed yesterday that some worthless bastard hit my pickup. Put a dent in the driver side rear quarter panel. It looks like someone had to run into it with a pickup or high setting vehicle to do the damage it did. In an unrelated story my neighbors across the street have 2 pickups. I don't know if I should say something to them. I doubt they're going to come clean if I confront them so it's seems useless in that sense, but at least I would let them know that if they fuck with me I'll call them out. Confronting them seems like I'm looking for trouble in a situation that cannot be resolved so what's the point? I also have no proof that they did this other that my undoubtedly magnificent investigative work.