I guess I ended up with a hiatus last week when Hurricane Sandy hit the NJ shore. The devastation was horrible to see, the loss of power in our area was minimal compared to what other people suffered and are still going through. Needless to say there was no league last week - my beloved Palace had no power from that Monday night when the hurrican hit, until Thursday at 1 pm. I was already planning to already hit Facenda-Whitaker lanes in Norristown, desperate to bowl for my soul, when I learned that they also had no power, but Palace was open. So I was able to bowl a few practice games on Thursday, and came back on Saturday with Joey, and on Sunday with the Philly Pinoy bowling crowd, desperate to "get to know" my new Spinderella ball, my Ebonite Cyclone, prior to league night.
Spinderella likes a smooth, slow release with a touchdown at 6:30, which took a lot of practice to discover and will take more practice for me to consistently deliver. The release, coupled with finding good rhythm and timing, seemed to be the key to my getting better scores during practice. I was also getting the hang of playing my Cake Boss, my birthday cake-smelling Storm Tropical Breeze, for the more pesky spares, and was quite proud of how I could hit the 10-pin with it! I certainly still have a few kinks, so my practice games have ranged from a high of 153 to a low of 83 with this new ball. So I wondered which game was going to show up at league tonight....
We were playing the PinPals, but only Carole was there to play Sadie, me, Ann Marie and Ruth, the Scatterpins. Ann Marie and I were comparing the markings on our almost identical Ebonite Cyclones, both drilled to perfection by Donna Roberts in Pottstown. Both Ann Marie and Ruth gave me grief about using my Cake Boss spare ball for spares other than the 10-pin, but I am a stubborn gal, and it took me about 4 throws with that ball before I got back what I gained during practice and started hitting the 10-pin and 6+10-pin spares (thank goodness!), so they let me be! The sweet smell of the ball may have helped with the convincing also....
The first game went to the PinPals - Ruth was awesome but most of us were still trying to find our groove. My score was 110, which is below my 125 average: more work needed...
Boy did Sadie get hot in the second game! She was throwing strikes and doubles and bowling up a storm, it was awesome to see, love her to death, she deserved such an awesome game. I found my groove in the middle of that game, getting a couple of strikes and finally getting some spares. Both Sadie and I ended up with scores of 147, and we beat the PinPals soundly. I am ecstatic coz this is the highest score I've gotten in league in WEEKS, hallelujah!
Ruth was my bowling angel, advising me on my adjustments, where to stand, how to hit my spares. Ann Marie, my original bowling angel, would tell me to keep loose, hit the second arrow and get a big strike. Both of them were advising me to stick with just throwing Spinderella (and ignore Cake Boss) so I could get used to it. I sometimes would smile and just do my own thing (as with sticking with Cake Boss, even if it was not the 7- or 10-pin), to which they would roll their eyes and tell me I was stubborn, and I AM stubborn, but I did try to listen. So when I got things right after Ruth had told me what to do, I had to hand it to her, coz she WAS right, absolutely right! It was actually cool especially when the adjustment I was planning to make (as figured out and noted on my Handy Dandy Pink Notebook), was exactly what she recommended me to do, which tells me that although I may overthink things, there are times when what I come up with is actually the right thing. We are not completely BAD with the analysis part of this game: go BowlVersity! And we are trainable, we are not a lost cause!
The third game had me bowling close to my average. I had a couple of strikes but struggled once again with my spares. I scored a 129, giving me an average tonight of 127. Bowled at average, can't complain. I hope this is the end of the "plummeting average" trend I had the preceding weeks at league. I maintained average tonight, hopefully we can initiate a slow and steady upward trend back to, and maybe exceeding, my initial 141 average.
For additional celebratory items, I had ZERO gutterballs tonight = none, nada, zilch! My Cyclone Spinderella came to bowl and scared my gutterballs away. Gutterball Reduction Initiative is a whopping success. Now we need to keep that going, and keep making every ball count!
So we did good tonight, but still have some work to do. Hard work pays off. It also pays to be surrounded by bowling angels during practice, at league and at the pro shop. I am so blessed!
I am praying that tonight's snowstorm (called Athena) does not wreck too much havoc in the already ravaged North East tonight. The roads were icy when I left the Palace, and the footage on the TV screens of the snow accumulation in New Jersey did not look good. Be safe, everybody!
See yah at the lanes!
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