500

We went in .500 and came out of bowling .500. Position round next week to determine whether we get a "post-season" tournament bid. I'm still hanging on to a high women's handicap game award. I've got one more shot at a 600 series.

Dad played today after a few weeks off and came back strong. He has a lower average, but it's low enough to have a chance at gaining pins by going over his average. My average is 155 now, which makes it difficult to score way above each and every time. I did manage to find the lane in the first game and nail a 4 bagger (4 strikes in a row) and beat my "arch-nemesis" by two pins.

There's a guy S who has lots of "arch-enemies" that he constantly challenges each week, game by game. I decided to take up his challenge in winter league. At the time his average was 40 pins above mine, so he'd make a good rabbit to chase. Now, we're more even and he takes some, and I take some. I remember when we met him during summer league last year when we first started bowling. I thought he was kind of crazy. But we got to know him a bit, and he's just well passionate and competitive. I can't hate a man for that. Plus he's fun to mess with and joke around with. And while I enjoy beating him (once tonight with that come from behind 4 bagger), I also try to push him up when he's down.

We're thinking of taking a break this winter. We're not quite up to all the folks who bowl week in week out for years. But we now know we have a life long hobby.

I'm going to miss the folks and characters we've bowled with all year. They really are a good group of people: friendly, competitive, supportive. Well, one more week to go!