Some People Have Their Own Bowling Ball, And Their Own Bowling Shoes, And...No Friends

So I happened to be looking at my Day Zero Project list earlier today and realized that my end date is only 14 months away! Basically it's time to step my game up. Some of these goals of mine either need a lot of planning or need a lot of attempts in order to complete them. Time is of the essence!

This leads me directly into one of the tougher goals on my list, at least in terms of the number of attempts I knew it was going to take to accomplish it. If the title of this post didn't give away the subject matter of this goal then I'll let Mr. Jim Gaffigan explain it a little bit further for you:





I actually saw him perform this live at one of his shows and I'm pretty sure I was laughing the hardest out of anyone else in the theater because he was basically describing me to a "T". I have my own bowling ball. I have my own pair of bowling shoes. And yes I own the accompanying "bowling purse" as well. (I do not sing the "Ball In a Bag" song however so I guess there's some saving grace in that.) It is pretty embarassing to own all this stuff, I'll admit it, but the time it saves looking for a crappy ball every time and the couple bucks it saves on shoes each trip is worth the embarassment. Hopefully...

Another aspect of owning your own ball and shoes is that you kind of have to back it up with some skill. You'd look pretty stupid if you're wearing your own shoes, then you bust out a fitted bowling ball, and then proceed to throw gutter balls for an entire game. At least if you're gonna look the part, you have to act the part too. Here's where the goal #40 comes into play -

Break 200 in bowling.

For the past 10 years it somehow became a tradition to go bowling on my birthdays and to bowl whenever I visited my grandparents but I didn't bowl too much other than that. My bowling average has always been around 130-140 but I could never get over that hump. But, as any person who plays sports knows, Practice Makes Perfect. Once I got my own ball, I started bowling a little more frequently and moved my average up to the 150-160 range with my game high being something like 165. Then when I moved to Irvine, where there's honestly not a lot to do and there just so happens to be a bowling alley located up the street from my apartment, I started bowling once every couple of weeks. Nonetheless, 200 was a lofty goal. I had never even come close and I knew it was going to take a lot of games and lot of luck to get there. If I could only turn a couple of those 9/spares into strikes and maybe pick up a few more pins here and there, I'd be on my way.

This brings us to a couple weeks ago. Enter me: bored on a Tuesday night with nothing to do. My solution - probably one of the most pathetic things a person can do - go bowling by myself. I figured what the hell, I've got nothing better to do and I need to start crossing things off my list. Maybe going by myself will help me get a rythym down. Let's just say it didn't start off good. I bowled a horrendous first game and scored a 116. But everything happens for a reason right? Maybe this gave me the drive that I needed since I didn't want to embarass myself any further but the second game was a whole different story. I bowled my highest score ever and got a 193! It was crazy that I could go from playing so bad to having my best game ever.

Obviously I was super happy about getting a new high score but at the same time it sucked that I was only 7 points away from accomplishing my goal. Why not bowl another game and try to ride my momentum??

Well that's just what I did. I rode that momentum 7 points farther and by some miracle from the bowling gods, I improved on my 193 and broke the 200 point barrier!! I was having a decent game but I finished rediculously strong with strikes in the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th frame. Going into the last ball, I needed 6 pins to get 200 and 6 pins is exactly what I got. It was like a weight was lifted when that 200 showed up on the screen and I was so happy to have accomplished this goal. I don't know if I'll ever get 200 again but for once in my life I felt justified in owning my own bowling ball :)

Goal #40 Break 200 in bowling