bowling

It seems to happen fairly frequently that something Tricia thinks "everyone" has done or "everyone" knows turns out to be something I've never done or never heard of. Then she accuses me of being an "alien" who was born on another planet.

For instance, bowling. Until Thursday night I had never set foot in a bowling alley in my life. For a good many years this was just the way things had turned out, but then more recently I had deliberately turned aside efforts by friends and family to get me there just because I wanted to keep my "uniqueness."

But I could not get out of it Thursday night. The boss had planned a bowling party as one of his "team-building" events and came around to say that, although it was not "mandatory," that I had better be there.

Of course I did not want to let on to my coworkers that I had never done this before. Luckily there is not much you need to know about bowling. I mean it's pretty obvious that you are supposed to knock down the pins with the ball. I have no idea what the rules are or even if there are any rules. There is an electronic thing that keeps score for you, so you don't even have to know how to do that.

My team never won a game but I don't think I looked that bad. My ball only went into the gutter a couple times and I even made a "strike" before the evening was over. It was even kind of fun. I might do it again some time.

So that is how I took one more step closer to being a "normal" person.

Posted by Bill Hopkins on February 7, 2004 04:49 PM
Comments

OOPs, Gotta ways to go there Dude. Now you gotta figure out how to pick up those splits!

Posted by: Mary Lou at February 8, 2004 08:52 PM

Bill, there was hope for you until you ventured into a bowling alley.

Alas, I was lost long ago when I joined the Bowling Club in junior high school.

Posted by: Joel at February 9, 2004 12:11 AM

I guess my main reason I avoid bowling is that when I venture into the alley and let that ball go it inevitably ends up in the next alley, sometimes making a strike of some stranger's pins.

I felt the same way about wanting to preserve my uniqueness about Disneyland. (there are many reasons I don't like or respect the Disney company) I had never set foot in one and vowed I never would, but in 1997 I had no choice. Tokyo has its own Disneyland (and now Disney Sea) and when my in-laws came to Tokyo from Brazil that's where they all wanted to go. And in the middle of Golden Week, too (the spring holiday season in Japan when it seems the whole world is on vacation in the same spot). I was surprised by how much I actually enjoyed myself. But more than eight hours of waiting on lines is not something I want to subject myself to again. Maybe I'm more normal now, too?

Posted by: butuki at February 10, 2004 06:34 PM