After the entry I made last night, I'm going to try to keep this one short and sweet.
We woke up, it was past morning, so it was much better. We ate, loaded into cars, and hauled out 45 minutes NNW to Century Lanes. The shot there was the short pattern and it is probably going to give me a little trouble if I don't stay on top of it. However, it is by no means unplayable or difficult to strike on. Before the squad started, AJ and Juan walked in the doors and helped us during practice, despite running on very minimal sleep, if any.
A quick note on all three patterns from my point of view. The one tomorrow morning should be fairly playable after the first game or so for me. I'll start in the track area with either the Widow Pearl or the Fury Pearl, then either move out to about 25 or in to 10 with my breakpoint remaining at 8-10. Sterling should be a little easier for me. I plan to start around 20, and move farther in and make correct ball changes to suit the lanes as the day goes on. At Century, I plan to start in around the gutter with my Fury Pearl or Widow Pearl and make parallel moves and change balls as the day progresses. Overall, I believe this shouldn't be difficult as long as you stay on top of transitions and MAKE SPARES.
On the way back we hit Steak n Shake. I believe Gaby hit on everything that needed to be said about that. Only thing I'll add is the mocha malts are the ABSOLUTE BEST frozen dessert drink ever! Everything else Gaby said about Steak n Shake stands...maybe even twofold. We came back and went to play some more pool and go-karts. We had a big pow-wow with Juan in which he gave us a final bit of information as a pre-tournament pep-talk. The meeting was followed by Uno-playing, and dinner-ordering. Following dinner, we had a bowling ball cleaning party. YAY, PARTY! I'll refrain from any jokes regarding this, but the temptation is incredibly strong. Then we decompressed until it was bedtime. Some people hit the pool, some people went straight to bed, and I made sure everyone was prepared for tomorrow.
So, seeing as the tournament officially opens tomorrow (the important part, anyway), I wish everyone good luck, good times, good bowling, and most importantly, good eats.
--Mike
Posted by Angel Zobel-Rodriguez at July 6, 2008 09:24 PM