I woke up yesterday craving bowling. I'm not an avid bowler by any means (I can usually break 100), so this was quite a surprise. Anyways, we (Moonie, Han, Sulhye, Eurie) decided to go bowling at AMF in Durham.

Perhaps the cravings had build up my bowling karma, because I played an AMAZING first game; my previous bowling high had been around 120 - in that first game, I managed to turkey (three consecutive strikes) in the last three frames; my last shot looked dead perfect but I couldn't get any pins to fall. I looked up and saw a wonderful score of 155 and was ecstatic.

But the bowling gods were apparently not happy with my self-confidence, for they decided to put me in my place. The next game looked something like this:
9 | 9 | 7 2 | 8 1 | 9 ...

I was throwing the ball exactly the same, and for some reason, the 10 pin (far right in the back) refused to fall. And I was unable to finish for a spare.

I marked exactly once (a strike in the 8th frame or so) and ended up with a crappy 90.

In any case, our fourth game we decided to play for ice cream (loser pays). To be "fair," we decided to combine the two girls scores - except they decided to suddenly start playing real well (funny how girls suddenly do awesome once food is on the line). Long story short, Moonie ended up sucking it up real poorly along with me in the 4th game.

And it all came down to one shot - Moonie had a final 98, and into my last frame, all I had to do was knock down six pins to win with a 100 (I had hit a strike in the previous frame).

I geared up and launched. The ball looked a little to the right, and knocked down a whole bunch of pins. Of course, it only managed to knock down 5 of the self-righteous white pins (stealing a line from Family Guy), which meant I needed to knock down ONE pin to defeat Moonie.

I have a history with AMF in Durham. A few months ago when I went bowling, I ended up a 99 on my last frame. And guess what I did? I gutterballed it twice.

I wound up for my shot ... and the ball guttered left. One stinkin' pin. ONE STINKIN' PIN.

This is the SECOND time I've missed ONE pin with one shot to go.

So not only did I not manage to beat Moonie, but the two girls ... they beat both our scores. And I had to buy ice cream. And I had to relive the horrible memories of my 99 game.

::shakes fist:: Why must you mock me, o Bowling Gods?!

Currently listening to: OZMA - natalie portman
Posted by roy on October 25, 2005 at 10:22 PM in Ramblings | 4 Comments

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Comment posted on October 26th, 2005 at 02:04 PM
You should have had an extra beer before that last frame. That would have taken care of it. :-)
Comment posted on October 26th, 2005 at 01:24 PM
I had a similarly unclutch bowling moment. My previous bowling high I think was like a 181 (which might have been shot at that same bowling alley you were at; it definitely happened in NC), and I had a 170 going into the final frame (after turkeying the frames 2-4 and 6-8). I threw a strike with my first ball, a strike with my second ball, and I threw my third ball needing a strike for that all-elusive 200. I hit everything... except the 5 pin (exceedingly hard if you know which pins are which). So I finished with a 199, and the ignominy of being one of the few bowlers to turkey twice in one game and not break 200.

And no, I'm not that great a bowler either. Which means it'll be years before I get another chance like that.
Comment posted on October 26th, 2005 at 11:24 AM
oh that moonie, he bites thumb at you sir.
Comment posted on October 25th, 2005 at 10:51 PM
we were just out of power... we did bowl 4 games total... the last game just sucked for me... at least i got 160, 138, 163... and no i'm not bragging... =P