So um, my hook seems to have disappeared. I have no idea what's going on, but the last like, three or four weeks I have been really flattening the ball out. I think that hideous fall league I was in totally screwed with my form. I was so used to shooting down and in on those conditions that I think I just naturally started flattening it out. Now I'm on pretty standard house conditions at Glendale, but the ball is still flat. It doesn't seem to be affecting my game much (I've got high ladies average in the league), but it's still frustrating nonetheless because I still have to shoot down and in! Pfft. So looks like I need to get in some more practice and get this thing back.

I think I said in my survey that Gala North was my favorite house. Well, no more. In fact, it is now my LEAST favorite house. It seriously blows.

And here's why. You see, my dad and I were signed up for their Friday night Mega Cash league. Well, it turned out that there were only supposed to be six teams. No big deal, really, for a summer league. Well, the first night three of the six teams showed up. Oh well, it was Memorial Day weekend, so we figured that people were out of town.

The next week, we get there to find that there were no lanes ready for us. My dad asked the person at the counter what the deal was with the league. And I kid you not, her exact response was, "What league?" After a lot of waiting, some guy who looked like he might be the manager came out and said yeah, there was a league, and there were five teams, one of which had pre-bowled. Again, only three teams were actually there.

Well first they didn't have the lanes for us, then they decided to stick us in the middle lanes, which had not been oiled and were in horrible shape. They did not have our info in the computer. They did not have any recap sheets or money envelopes for us. As we practiced on the crappy conditions, we all realized we were in trouble.

Finally they had our monitors set up and we bowled. Nobody could find a decent shot. Nobody could make their spares. Noboy could get the ball to go anywhere they had intended, because NOBODY HAD OILED THE LANES. By the end of the night we were all just chucking the ball down the lane and hoping it hit something. We all began talking amongst ourselves about whether or not we'd be back next week since this was the way they apparently treated their league bowlers.

The final straw came when they TURNED ON THE COSMIC LIGHTS before we had even finished bowling. At that point everyone took their money back out of the envelopes (which nobody had bothered to collect) and said sayonara. Hey Gala North, you just lost an ENTIRE LEAGUE.

So the moral of the story is: Never join a start-up league, especially if it in on Fridays in the summer. Who wants to bowl on a Friday night during the summer anyway? My dad and I now bowl on Monday nights at BZ in Glendale Heights. There are 16 teams and the league is about 8 years old, so there NO DOUBT that there is a league then. Phooey.

I have no idea if I'm going to be able to bowl this summer or not. I was in the hospital for a while (no, I'm not going to say why), and I just don't have a whole lot of stamina. So I don't know if I'm going to be able to make it through three whole games. I guess I'll find out this Friday, which is the first night of league at Gala North. I'm going to drop out of the PBA league because I probably can't deal with those kind of conditions, let alone two leagues a week.

Yeah, this really sucks. I hate feeling like this. But what can I do? Getting my health back has to come first.

Tonight I was very consistent. 159-153-159. Even if the scores didn't reflect it, I felt very good bowling tonight. I felt very comfortable. I didn't have all that many opens and even picked up pretty much all of my right-side spares, which is something I almost never do. (I think I've finally gotten the hang of changing hand position and putting less hook on the ball for corner spares.) The reason I didn't score higher was because I didn't get a lot of strikes, just a lot of spares. And I didn't string any strikes together when I did get a strike. Eh... I can't complain though. I'm just thankful to have gotten most of my spares for once. :-)

I even picked up a 4-7-8 split, a 1-2-4-10 washout, and ALL of my ten pins!!!!!

But, of course, my team didn't get a %&$#@! point again.

Two more weeks to go.............

BOWLING survey
How old were you when you started bowling?:	18, with a lovely back-up ball
Righty or lefty?:	righty
What's your average?:	normally about 165-170
Do you own your own ball?:	well yeah, I own several
Do you bowl in a league? Which one(s)?:	Monday Sportsmen at Fox Bowl, but the season's almost over
What's your favorite bowling alley?:	Gala North in Carol Stream
How about your LEAST favorite?:	Lisle Lanes
Do you like bowling with the "cosmic" lights?:	I'm neither here nor there about it
How about with music playing?:	I'm usually OK with that
Do you like to order food from the snack bar while you bowl?:	Only if I'm really, really hungry
Have you ever made the 7-10 split?:	Hell no!
Have you ever bowled a 300 game?:	Hell no!
If not, have you seen someone else do it?:	I bowl in a league where a 300 game is a regular occurence
Do you watch bowling on TV?:	Love it
When you go bowling on a date, who usually wins?:	Date? What's a date?
Any embarrassing moments happen while you were bowling?:	I've had the ball come flying out of my hand on the backswing a couple times
What's the highest game you've ever bowled?:	267
The lowest?:	ummm... don't remember (I blocked it out of my memory)
Ever had a birthday party at a bowling alley?:	No
Which of your MySpace friends have you went bowling with?:	n/a
Who won?:	n/a
Can you hook the ball?:	Hell yeah!
Do you use a ball with a fingertip grip?:	Hell yeah!
Ever left without paying?:	Never
Ever walk out while still wearing the bowling shoes?:	Never
Do you think it's easy to make the 10-pin (7-pin if you're lefthanded)?:	The 10-pin is my arch-nemesis
Lastly, wanna go bowling right now?:	Hell yeah!
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