5/25 FINALLY, a 200 Game!!!

FINALLY, I have achieved a much awaited milestone: my very first 200+ game.  Yes, this was only practice at Facenda but after getting so close so many times both at league and practice, i can at least say that i have done it.  May this be the beginning of better play and more milestones in my journey to a better game.

See y'all at the lanes!

5/24 Let the Summer Leagues Begin!

Big week, with two summer leagues starting for me: the Summer Sizzler league on 9 pm Monday nights and my beloved Women's League on our regular Wednesday night schedule at 6:30 pm.  The nights are getting quite warm, which could make for some scorchingly hot nights on the lanes....

The Summer Sizzler league was bigger than we thought, with a total of 16 two-person teams.  My GoPapa Joel and I are JC Squared, and we played against the blind scores (140, based on 150 average) of an absent duo.  Playing against another absentee team on the lanes beside us were Philly Pinoy bowling buddies Romy and Blue.  Romy had just played with three Filipina gals (Grace, Alice and Bicoy) on team Lucky Strike at the 6:30 pm Mixed League.  Philly Pinoy rookie AllStar Bicoy currently has an awesome 150+ average on that league, and AllStar Romy had just played 200+ games. 

It took a while for the earlier league to wrap up, so it was 9:30 pm before we could start playing.  Romy and Blue were bowling up a storm beside us, throwing strike after strike. Joel got hot as well and ended up with a 230+ game!  I struggled in the first and last games (bowled 118 and 121, uggh) but got a 194 in my second game - SO close (again!) to a 200 game but not quite.  Romy and Blue were done early, sweeping their opponent.  Joel and I won the first two games and were on the last two frames of the last game when we realized were down by a few pins.  We want a sweep too! Our competitive juices kicked in, with Joel converting on a hugely improbable 3-6-7-10 split, allowing us to win the game by FOUR pins!  Sweep for us too! The guys all had averages in the 190s, i had to be content with my 144 average.  Great bowling, guys, awesome start!

Wednesday night for the ladies started out with a bit of chaos.  I could hear the Mission Impossible theme playing as we strove to figure out how our 8 teams could play on only 6 lanes, since two lanes allotted to us had apparently been assigned to the Men's League!  After much discussion, two of the eight teams, my IncrediBOWLs and the Split Enz, were assigned to two lanes on the other side of the building: poor Shirley was able to work this out for us but she was going to make sure we had our lanes together, as always, by next week.  On the Split Enz are Anjeanette, Sherry and Angela: all great players, and such a formidable opponent to be matched against on the first week, when our averages will be set.  My teammates Mitchie/Carmina and Chelo had had no practice for a while, and so i was voted anchor until my perrenial anchor woman Mitchie could get her confidence back.  Both Chelo and Mitchie played better than I did most of the night though - great for the IncrediBOWLs and a great start for us all!  We tied in the first game then won the second game, then the Split Enz, who had a hard time getting all warmed up, got their groove later on, especially after both Sherry and Angela got done selling raffle tickets during the second and third games.  They wound up winning the third game and total pins, so we lost, 1.5 to 3.5.  Anjeanette and I took a while before we got any strikes, i just struggled the whole night and could not recover like Anjeanette did.  Mitchie got hot in the third game and bowled a 178: that's my madam anchorwoman!  Chelo and I both ended up with a 141 average, what are the odds?  We had great fun, with all the high fiving and dancing we were doing, although Angela noted that I was not as noisy as i usually am, hmmm...maybe coz i was playing awful?

I brought home that night goodies from the Womens Fall League banquet that was held at the Thorndale Inn on May 15, which I missed coz i was home sick with a low grade fever and bad asthma, and could hardly breathe.  My dear Scatterpins did well as the #2 team for both the first and second half of the year.  I got a towel for bowling 60 pins over my average, the 197 i bowled when my average was 136.  I also got $15 for our team rolling a high team series.  Overall I received a whopping $133 in cash, together with a lovely handmade tissue box from Shirley and Ruth, some homemade lotion (which my daughter immediately claimed coz it smelled heavenly!), and some cool giveaways from the bank.  Awesome, I tell you... I truly feel like a winner and am so BLESSED to have found this lovely league!

On a related note, another Philly Pinoy team made its debut on the Tuesday night mixed league.  Angie's List is comprised of Angie (of course!), Raul, Desi and Roy, who is new to the Palace leagues.  Our newbie had awesome beginners luck on Tuesday night, bowling his first 200 game at league with a 230+ no less!  Way to go, Royster, i think that makes you our player of the week!

So we are off to a good start, folks, let us keep the momentum going.  See y'all at the lanes!

5/19 Reflections and Lists

Been doing a lot of reflection as my two leagues have ended regulation play. It has been a good long year since i decided to join my first USBC-sanctioned league on my quest to a better game. This week marks the start of my second year on the Downingtown Womens Wednesday Night summer league.  My GoPapa Joel and I are also set to start this week with the 2-person team Summer Sizzler League on 9 pm Monday nights.  How time flies (well, I AM having fun!).  My journey and my struggles continue, although i know i can, and should, so proudly say that i have improved as a player and hopefully also as a teammate.

My analytical mind gravitates towards lists to summarize my musings, so here goes the first list:


Accomplishments from May 2012-May 2013

1. Became a USBC member, playing continuously at USBC leagues for past 12 months

2. Increased USBC average from 117 to 137 over 12 months

3. Logged close to 1000 games over a one year period, both in practice and through league-play

4. Currently bowling a minimum of 8 games per week, 3 at league and 5-9 for practice

5. Played in two USBC-sanctioned leagues with the Downingtown Women (summer and fall/winter)

6. Played in two unsanctioned leagues, Adult-Child 2012 summer league, and Philly Pinoy 2013 winter league

7. Served as team captain for Bowling for Nachos (with Joey) and the IncrediBOWLs (with Mitchie and Chelo), summer 2012, and for the BowlStars (with Mitchie, Chelo, Liz and String), winter 2013

8. Was ranked #3 female player at Philly Pinoy league (all star player)

9. Increased Philly Pinoy league average from 110 to 154 in one year (graph from my bowling app tells the story...)

10.  Decreased injury and strain to knees and elbows by playing smarter, using correct form

Am I proud?  Heck, yeah!  But i also know i can do better so part of me is still a trifle disappointed.  So my lists continue:


Old Goals I Still Need To Reach

1.  Play my first 200 game (and then the next, and the next...)

2.  Increase my USBC average to 150 and above

3.  Consistently hit the 10-pin spare (and all my spares for that matter!)

It seems to be a shorter list than when I started, which is a good sign.  Why my first 200 game still eludes me is baffling, but part of my saga.  To each his own journey....

NEW Goals To Aim For

1.  Obtain coaching from Donna Roberts and successfully apply learnings

2.  Experience tournament play at least once within next 12 months

3.  Consistently play 450+ series at league (then, next aim is for consistent 500+ series)

4.  Play a 300 game, no-tap or otherwise (almost did!)

5.  Keep improving, keep learning, bounce back quicker from setbacks

My eye saga continues, so I am at risk of losing time at the lanes again.  The fact that i still improved overall despite my hiatus for my eye drama is another good sign.  But I hope if i take time off again, i will not slip down as low or take as long to bounce back.  Or, my most fervent hope is that all goes well and there is NO time off from the lanes!  

I pray, then I play.  I pray as I play.  Let the bowling gods smile on me, smile at my joy and laugh at my persistence.  

See you at the lanes!

4/10 Beach-A-Bye Golly-Wow!

Took a break from the blog for a couple weeks while on vacation in the Philippines but definitely did not take a break from bowling.  Had a date with an awesome bowling alley at the beach place (Pico de Loro) we found in the Philippines, and had a blast bowling with family. Then of course when we came back last week, I played at the Fun Night scheduled for my Filipino League last Friday night.  That was REAL memorable coz I got close to bowling a perfect 300 game in 8-pin-no-tap: was perfect till the first ball in the 10th frame but then threw a dud with my eleventh ball and ended with a 282.  Can't really complain about such a great outcome but, oh! what could have been!  Folks were telling me I should go on vacation more often, if I was to come back playing like that: beach-a bye-golly-WOW indeed!  My GoPapa Joel scored his second perfect 300 game at 8-pin no-tap = he truly is a clutch player, Go Papa!

Alas my mojo ran out after 8-pin no-tap this Friday night, coz I played dismally in lowest score (got a 170, NOT low at all) and in the scratch scoring game (got a 126, uggh, could not hit my spares).  I tried addressing my super awful spare shooting at Sunday morning practice, where my Beast Ball seemed to work best as a spare ball.  I had found sweet spots for the 6-pin and 10-pin spares (my favorites, uggh) at practice also, and had been hitting them consistently.  Had I finally addressed that weakness of mine?  We shall see.... 

So of course I was hopeful for good play tonight, coming back to play with my beloved Scatterpins who were up against the BOB.  It was Sadie, me, Ann Marie (so glad she kept in touch with me while I was on vacation!), and Ruth playing for the Scatterpins, and it was Lynn, Diann, Donna and Kitty playing for the BOB.  We had Ruth's super adorable grand-daughter Emma with us tonight, and we made sure we were giving her high fives with every good ball. 

And boy, was Emma darling our lucky charm tonight!  We ending up sweeping the BOB even through some super hot mama streaks and strikes from the BOB.  I started out cold (was it the jetlag-induced stupor?  not sure...) but I did get some well deserved raps in the butt from Ruth coz I couldn't seem to find my groove and make marks on that first game....  Thanks to the bowling gods, things got better as the night wore on.  Thanks also to Ann Marie, who I was trying to keep up with on the second game.  And thanks to Sadie who lent me some of her mojo on the third game.  I had scores of 114, 157 and 167 for an average of 146 and series of 438, allowing me (thank goodness!) to maintain my league average of 136.  I was hit and miss with the 6-pin and 10-pin spares, but I at least hit more than missed more tonight = good trend for me.

Seems that there are only a couple more weeks remaining for the league, with our banquet scheduled for May 15 and the summer league starting by May 22.  The IncrediBOWLs, my summer league team, is planning a comeback, and hopefully we do better than last place this year (11th out of 8 teams, LOL), all for the fun of playing and for the love of bowling.  I am still on the hunt for my first 200 game in league play, it is just around the corner, I can smell it.  And you know I will share it with you here, where I get to share my bowling adventures with y'all!

Thank you for reading, and see you at the lanes!

3/20 The Happy Loser

The Scatterpins lost to the Gutter Girls tonight, but I am still the happy loser: happy to bowl, happy in the company of mi bowling amigas, happy happy happy, even if absolutely NOT happy to lose and NOT completely happy with my scores either. 

Highlights of the night:

• Gutter Girl Gail got the highest score in our pit in the first game (152, baby!).  Bzzz bzzz busy busy bee (she had a yellow honey bee sweater on!), bumble bee buzzed those pins away!
• The Scatterpins blew the Gutter Girls away in the second game, when our most stellar anchor Ruth bowled close to a 200 game, hot mama Ann Marie threw a cool double and some pretty awesome spares, and I had my best game with a 163.  Too bad we could not play that way the whole night...some days the stars do not align.
• Fashionista Diann of the B.O.B. had a snazzy navy blue peasant top on with a trendy pair of denim palazzo pants, which perfectly matched her swirling ocean blue bowling ball.  I told her that it did not matter how she bowled tonight: she was the best dressed hot mama on the lanes.  Hey gals, why can't we all look that good when we bowl?
• PinPal Carole had some sexy hair going...she wore her hair down for once and boy did she look hot!  She started asking me about my most excellent proshop professional Donna Roberts of Pottstown, coz she wanted to get a "smelly ball" (LOL, she meant my sweet smelling Cake Boss, the Storm Tropical Breeze, which smells like a birthday cake!), so we got yelled at for holding up play...oh, behave!
• I got in trouble for clapping and cheering when Mary only hit the 5-pin with a 5-10 split, as in "what am i cherring for, coz she missed?"  I clarified that I was cheering coz she GOT A PIN!  Every pin counts!  So for the next few frames we cheered with every pin that fell.  Strike: boy that's a LOT of pins, whoo hoo!  Eight pins: that's still a lot of pins, hallelujah!  Then I missed my spare: darn, that's not quite enough pins, whatever....those who can't play, display (bow).
• Maggie threw a fair number of strikes = that is blogworthy... 

Fun, fun, fun, I still have to have fun, or else I'd be crying on the lanes, which I have done before (funny, but not funny...I was truly hearbroken then).  No crying in bowling (as in baseball), and for me no four-letter-words either (except for "darn") although the Gutter Girls were telling me after I thanked them for a good match and let them know how much fun I had playing with them, that I surely had some choice words I was holding back.  I was disappointed in myself, sure, but I truly try not to let my mind dwell there lest my dark side emerge (though I told Shirley and Ruby that my evil twin came out to play tonight!). 

My philosophical side strives to release mostly good things into the world, if I can help it, coz I believe that what I send out somehow comes back to me.  It's my belief in cosmic karma, since my name is Carmelinda (karma Carmelinda) = bet ya didn't know, that's my real name!  My name is also why I had considered becoming a Carmelite nun, but that's a story for another day....

Folks, I'll be taking a break from blogging and from my league for a couple of weeks as I will be on vacation.  I am headed for a beach with a bowling alley = that fits my definition of paradise.... 

Have fun and see yah at the lanes in April!

3/13 Jing Balls and Lynn Balls

Ann Marie was back tonight, whoo hoo!  Welcome back, girl friend, so great to be playing with you again.  So the Scatterpins were in full force tonight with Sadie, Me, Ann Marie and Ruth.  We played against Lynn, Diann, Donna and Kitty of the B. O. B. 

It was a good night for the Scatterpins coz we swept the B. O. B. 4-0.  We were really lucky coz we won the first game by only 15 pins, the second game by 60 pins and the third game by only 7 pins = it was close!

A few highlights:

• In Game 1, I had strikes where it looked like I had left a pin standing, which would eventually fall AFTER I turned my back on it.  So when Lynn (who had an awesome 165 game!) was able to convert on a 7-9 split, she said she had thrown a "Jing ball".
• Lynn finished her amazing 1st game with an explosive strike = that, my friends, is a "Lynn ball".  Very nice....
• I threw another "Jing ball" in the second game, converting a 3-10 split, whoo hoo!  Sometimes I can actually bowl...
• Kitty knocked down an awesome 3, 9, 10-split in the 3rd game.  You go, girl!
• When Ruth got up to bowl the last frame of the game, we were down by one pin.  Like I said, it was close, we got lucky, coz Ruth had an awful looking split with her first ball.  Go team, we still pulled off a sweep!

I had games of 132, 162 and 138, for a 144 average and 432 series for the night, allowing me to maintain my 134 USBC league average.  Not too shabby but my right hand spares were more miss than hit tonight.  Always something to work on....

See y'all at the lanes!

3/6 Kaboomadoodle

Tonight I'll keep it short and sweet

The Pathetics got the Scatterpins beat

And I really feel mighty sad

Coz I played so painfully bad

 

It somehow does not feel right

Coz we started out really hot (all strikes in the 1st frame!)

But at the end of our dismal night

One win was all the Scatterpins got (coz Beth bowled a 212 in that game, whoo hoo!)

 

Whoa! The Pathetics truly showed their mettle

Kaboomadoodle (Angela's word) = they were hot as a kettle!

Really got to hand it to their hot hands

Angela threw strikes while almost losing her pants.... (sorry, it rhymes, had to use it!)

 

Love my Scatterpins, we really did fight!

Sadie and Ruth played really well all night

Beth exploded in the second game (212, baby!)

I started fine, but was pathetic and lame....

 

Have to work on my confidence

How I was missing spares did not make sense

Need to believe in my game in my gut

To get myself out of this rut

 

Gonna post the blog then go to bed

To dream this night out of my head

'Nuff said!

SHOUT OUT to Ann Marie = miss you on the lanes, my dear.  I was so glad to see you today, I wish you all the best as you recover from your back troubles.

Thanks for all your help, Kevin.  I got work to do, don't I know it....

See y'all at the lanes!