I'm Jacked

Well, I made the move...to a new, heavier ball! After bowling with my 12# Hammer Psycho for nearly a year, I was beginning to notice some deflection and decided with the help of LacubriousToo to move up to a 14# ball. I was happy with the Psycho but thought it would be lame to get the same ball (just heavier) so we looked at what was available and the Jacked was it. So I ordered the 14# and LacubriousToo ordered a 15#, both with fingertip grips! Yep, you heard right, LacubriousToo is moving to a fingtip to improve the rotation and reaction. He's really happy with it!

We had a pretty good lesson with the Pro shop guy, who also fitted and drilled our balls. He gave me some suggestions for improving my approach, which I am still trying to get implemented. Change is so hard! Plus, I'm not all about the sports so the whole muscle memory thing takes a while with me. I had a good practice session but totally freaked when I tried to use the ball in league on Wednesday. I managed to pull it out by the 3rd game, thank goodness. And we are still in 1st place!

LacubriousToo got some suggestions for his swing and release. He's an avid practicer and has bowled nearly every day since he got the new ball. I hope he doesn't overdo it.

We're going to try to get some practice time in this week and weekend so I can get my form back. We're looking forward to joining a summer league with some friends!

2009 MSUSBC Women's Championship - Results & League Results

I didn't blog much about the Missouri State Bowling tournament that I attended with my bowling team from ATI. I think I've been waiting until the final results are out, which they are! We had a great time shopping, eating out, drinking, relaxing AND BOWLING!

The unofficial final results of our team/doubles/singles events follows.

Team Rank (ATI - Div 4): 23rd out of 141, scratch 2144
Doubles Rank (Me and LS - Div 5): 52nd out of 164, scratch 798
Singles Rank (Me - Div 5): 181st out of 458, scratch 396

I have no idea if there is going to be any payout from these scores. A few other team members scored really well in their singles events. All in all bowling NINE GAMES in two days was rough on our old bones, but fun!

We had a pretty good season in our Wednesday Ladies League, coming in 9th the first half and 6th the second half of the season. I placed 26th out of the top 30 handicap spots, and several other players from our team also placed. I walked away with $90, not too shabby considering it's my first year bowling and I really did not expect much!

During one of the last weeks of league I bowled a 140 which at the time was 50 points over my average. This qualified me for the 50 Pins and Over Tournament on May 9th. I didn't think I would bother, but DH convinced me and I called up another team member who also qualified and she showed up too. We paid $15 to enter and along with about 40 other bowlers competed to get the highest pins over average. I placed 3rd with 76 pins over my league average of 93 and my teammate placed 2nd with 115 over her league average. I got $28 for my trouble!

It was fun and a couple of the other bowlers in our group gave me some suggestions after watching me bowl. They were surprised that I was doing so well for my first year of bowling.

I've got some tendon pain that I've been living with that needs to heal before I do too much more bowling. I'm planning to take the summer off from leagues to heal and simply practice for next season.

Doubles & Singles Scores

So, as of the MO USBC, unofficial standings of April 19th...

I'm at 112th place in singles, Lisa is in 11th place and we're 34th place in doubles (all Division 5). We'll see where we end up after they add in this weekend and next (final) weekend scores.

Our Team score from Sunday is 2144 which puts us in 17th place in Division 4.

We had an awesome time, managing to avoid the rain, hitting the mall, navigating successfully and still laughing as we got dropped off to go home.

Bowling 2.0

So I got my new 12# Hammer Psycho Raw bowling ball this past Saturday. I ordered it Wednesday night after consulting with the pro shop owner Terry Baldwin. He didn't have it in stock but had one at his other pro shop and would bring it in Saturday, drill it, and help me with it.

So Saturday, DH and I headed up there and Terry was just finishing up the drilling. He had me test out the thumb fit and made a couple more adjustments before handing it over to me to try out. I should mention that I opted for a fingertip grip on this one, as that's what was recommended...I was leery.

The first time I threw it, right into the gutter.

The second time it got farther down the lane, then guttered.

I was a bit disappointed.

Terry came over and helped me with my approach, my grip, my form, my marks, and really helped me understand how the new ball functions. He said I should be able to work up to a pretty decent score once I work through some issues. All in all it was VERY helpful.

I practiced a bit more on Sunday and scored two of my games at higher than my league average, so I have hope now of no longer being an embarrassment. The ladies on my team are all really great and supportive and are out there to have fun...but I still want to do better and at the least get a consistent 3 digit score! That would be super!

I do have plans to try and move up to a 14# ball sometime next season. When I bowl my strike ball, I tend to leave either the 7 or 10 pin standing. I've been practicing picking them off, but I still need more time on the lanes and less shoulder fatigue to work it out to a consistent result...fun...fun...fun!

LacubriousToo Wellness Day

LacubriousToo had his checkup today. The doctor said he is in rare form compared to some of his other wheelchair patients. LToo's activity level is great and his vitals are normal. Just a couple routine blood tests left to come in.

Of course AFTER this wonderful checkup, what does he go do? Practice bowling which would have been fine had he been reasonable about it. CAN YOU SAY 15 GAMES??? I knew you could. Yep 15 friggin games with that new Black Widow ball...I think the guys at the alley thought his arm was gonna fall off!

***UPDATE*** Needless to say there was NO BOWLING Saturday for him, and Sunday I limited it to 3 games. Now he just needs to recover and fine tune his process and KNOCK 'EM DOWN!

Got balls?

My new one, notice that it says Psycho.


LacubriousToo's new one

Choco L'Art & Bowling

The entire Lacubrious Crew plus 2 met up for dinner and bowling tonight. It was the 2nd annual Javier True Fans Dinner & Bowling Classic. You may recall the first annual event where MrsJonez kicked butt at Oasis Lanes. This year was an upset as Javier sweeped the frames and won against everyone. I think he was motivated greatly after betting against each person individually and on different terms. All in all, it was fun and I was not lowest score! Thanks Kristina!

Prior to bowling we had a primer at the Jonez' house, where BlueFrost picked us all up in the Green Machine. We headed over to Choco L'Art in Washington to check out their dinner offerings and martinis.

Everyone else tried a martini, I opted for a glass of merlot, but after trying the espresso martini wished I'd gone for that...yum!

The food was decent, everyone had something different. I really enjoyed the atmoshpere, and we were able to talk even with 7 of us at the table. A very pleasant evening and great prelude to bowling.

After bowling, javi headed home and the rest of us crashed at the Jonez's, ate cheese and crackers, and chilled a bit before heading home....around 2-ish.

Can't wait for next year's event!

Promises, Promises...

So my commitment to post once a week is not working out so well.

Regardless, I'm pushing on and posting what and when I can.

LacubriousToo and I are immersed in our classes. I'm taking an online class in freelance magazine writing, and work has been crazy busy lately. So with all of that we are left with little free time.

That's not saying we are all work and no play. We've managed a couple of dinners out with friends or family. And we've worked our way through our wine stash. I see a trip to Luka's Liquor in our future!

We also have a social event tomorrow night with the entire LacubriousCrew - bowling and what-not. So that will be a welcome break from work.

and IT'S FRIDAY!!!