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Friday night bowling

Usually I play board games in Meriden on Fridays. This past Friday was different in that the men’s ministry at the church had a bowling night. It’s been a while since I’ve bowled, and I was looking forward to it. I bowled 170 the first game, 155 the second game, and 114 the third game. There were two other scores amongst the 16 guys who bowled 3 or 4 games that night: 175 (I think perhaps Jay got that) and Nelson’s crushing 188! The other bowlers kept on speaking about the fluid style I bowled with, occasionally saying it was very “zen” and “smooth”.

I didn’t really tank on the third game. They turned the lights off and the black lights on, and had these runway lights along the bowling lanes. So you pretty much couldn’t see the lane, but the pins were lit up in normal yellow light. With that, I decided to “unzenify” myself and just toss the ball down the lane.

Normally when I bowl, I see and feel the pins and myself in relation to them. I feel the ball. I adjust my placement until it just “feels right”, and then I slowly walk towards the throwing line. I release the ball and send it, not fast, down the lane. I am able to be fairly accurate this way: even to the point of targeting single pins leftover for the second shot.