I Am Healed...

Editor's Note: Sorry for the original quality of this post... It was very late and done in haste and I now realize I had the 'type over' on which really screwed things up. I will fix it now.

If you haven't noticed, I have been in a total funk lately. Between, all the events of Pam's mother passing, the Great Flood of '06, my physical health, the fish not biting for the entire winter, and lastly, the long awaited and lusted after fishing trip being a real disaster, among other smaller issues, I have been basically totally bummed out and depressed.

Both of the pool leagues I was involved in for the winter turned out bad, for weird reasons that weren't of my doing, but ended up bad to the point that I had lost confidence in my abilities, and when you add it all up, Pam was getting pissed with my whole attitude and performance as the head House Bitch.

It was all going down the sewer from a low-flow toilet - slow but continual...

So Pam cam home tonight after another long and hard day at work, and I had again spent the second day in a row, since returning from the trip, focused on the computer and not doing anything else of value and feeling bad about it all. She had had a bad day at work at the Dell Hole, and wasn't up for it and got irritated with the house and my usual tasks not being done, to our standard common specifications. That pissed me off because I was being called on my act, for not performing my typical daily responsibilities. That ended up in a 'constructive criticism' that was appropriate, but 'unpopular' with me, in my current state of funk...

It ended up with her mentioning that she thought tonight was the weekly 9-ball tournament - which at that point, I jumped on as an escape mechanism, though I still felt physical bad and depressed.

So, on a moments notice, I went to the tournament to play. I left so quickly, didn't even take my cell phone and forgot I had taken my main cue stick out of the case. I just grabbed the case as was out of here.

So, I got down to the Pocket, where they play the weekly tournaments and signed up. There were 18 people signed up - most good players. I realized that I had left my cell phone and my regular main cue at home and only had my warped break cue with me for the event - which is a real pain to use being warped. I had very little time to practice and was doing horribly. The tournament started and I played my first match with a friend that I lost, putting me in the losers bracket.

The next match, I played this new guy and he had been watching me get beat by my friend the first match. I was playing better then and tore him up. He said that he hadn't seen any of that level of play in my first match and I told him the first one was with a friend... He got really mad and pounded on a table and left. Some people just can't take a joke, I guess...

I started playing much better and getting focus on my game and kept beating other losers bracket players until I got to the really good regular players that usually win weekly.

I had to play the guy that has beaten me a number of times and beat him badly. He was really pissed also, and that pumped up my ego considerably.

Then, I had to play my friend again, that beat me the first game from my not playing well and him playing by the 'friend' (no hooks - just try and run the balls) rules with no serious playing going on. I told him that we were beyond the 'friend' rules and it was for real. I beat him 5 to 2.

Then, it was to the third place match - again a very good and consistent player. I also beat him 5 to 2, so I had third place locked up. So, then I had to play the only unbeaten player twice to win. First, to put him in the losers bracket like me, and then we would play the final match as two losers fighting on common ground.

He is a Physiatrist and a very good player. I was able to get him very frustrated and convince him that this first match, where he was the only winner was actually just a warm up match for the real match between us. I was playing awesome and won the first match. So, we were then both losers and had to play the final match on equal terms.

He became more and more frustrated at my playing abilities and level of luck. He was even getting pissed at the crowd walking around the and making noise which is always happening - he basically lost it... I ended up beating him 4-2 and winning first place. He thought it should have been by different rules, but that was totally his problem. So, I won the tournament and got the first place envelope with the winnings in it.

The crowd was totally into the whole event and just couldn't have been better for me, or worse for him. Then, he wanted to play for all or nothing and I told him that the winning envelope was worth more to me, to be able to show Pam, any any amount of money contained therein, so I wouldn't do that.

So then, he wanted to play one game for the difference between the first and second place money, which I agreed to. We played and he ended up winning the $10 for the game. Then, he wanted to play for the additional $10 difference in the place awards, but I told him I was going to give it to the waitresses instead, for a tip, which got him a really twisted. I would sure hate to be his first patient tomorrow...

So, the end result was that I won the tournament, beating the best players in the area, in the process and feel great about the results.

Its like pitching a prefect game in baseball or running 200 yards in football and, in all the cases, becoming the star player that pulled it out of the hat and saved the game to the amazement of all. I am feeling much better about everything after this. Now if I can only catch that 10' Strugeon...

I am feeling great and 'healed' of all my recent stuff past and am looking toward tomorrow for new adventures and fun. Life is good here in DaHo again...