How to get the most out of inspirational posters

1 pint of gasoline

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stand back and be inspired

Ok, I'm not the greatest pool player in the world, I can beat your average bar player, I have a national ranking but really, when it comes down to it I'd have to struggle to make the top 10% of players in my city. I think I might even be a little generous with that statement.

Like I told one of my opponents the other day, "Just because you play in an open division doesn't mean that you're an open player." and I accept that. Don't get me wrong, I'm not settling with my level of play, I am just realistic about how good I am and try to keep appropriately humble.

For me it's not if I can run the table, it's the frequency that I do it that I'm working on. So, where am I going with this mindless ramble? I wish I knew. The fact is I really wanted to write about the total self destruct my team pulled off this week. On a personal level, I'm somewhat satisfied that I'm playing better than I have been since about Christmas. I didn't want to come right out and say I was in a slump, but the rolls were not going my way and I had to struggle to play around and above my average.

The rest of my team however, (with exceptions) felt no compunction to play anywhere near what they were capable of and we ended up dropping 5 out of 6 round points to the last placed team. (ouch, bloody double ouch and ouch again)

What can I say, it's more than halfway through the season and patching a pocket shouldn't be an issue, it should just be a healthy habit. Player X on our team won all 5 of his games except he forgot the patch on not just one game but two and ended up with a 3 and 5 record instead of batting 1000.

Player Y got shut out and failed to even make his average in points for most games. Ugh!!!! Now Player Y is a good friend of mine and I've played with him for years. How does one approach a good friend and tell them to get their head out of their ass and play better?

I do have to keep in mind that this is supposed to be fun. I suppose the key is to motivate not castigate. I've tried to lead by example i.e. playing well but I find that's not motivation. I'll have to think on this and try a few things.

In the mean time I have to let it go and concentrate on my own game. After all in 2 weeks we'll be plaing in the VNEA western champitionships and for the singles events my team mates could end up being my opponents.

Note to self.... still need to find player with enough weeks to complete the team. crap....

Inspiration

I don't know what it was, perhaps the powerful speech delivered by the newly installed grand pooba of the United States, but I was on fire last night. I even managed to look good when I lost, although I only did that once.

The stars were aligned, I got all the good rolls, the magnetic fields converged at just the right point in the time space continuum or I had maybe just maybe got a good sleep the night before and was able to maintain my focus for more than 6 balls.

Happy New year too to all you imaginary readers. I know it's been a while since I've posted but winter has had me uninspired and too unimaginative to let my mind transfer random thoughts to my fingers and thus onto you. I promise I'll try to do better.

There are a number of things of significance in my life at the moment that I'll share. My girlfriend is moving in with me. Now for some people this would mean less pool, I don't know what it means for me, but early indications would be that it would mean more pool. She knows that it's my passion my raison d'être. (wow, google language tools rock)

The second thing that's big on my brain at the moment would be the Western Canadian VNEA Championships coming up in less than a month. I need a player. I have one potential, I even think he's eligible to play but my team wants a superstar. Nothing like high expectations eh. Right now I'd be happy with any warm body that has the required weeks played.

I was hoping to make it to the British Columbia 8 Ball championships early in February as well, buy my wallet, my fear of driving through mountain passes in snow storms in little cars with worn tires and having enough players made me reevaluate this tournament. I had a great time there last year, my team placed 2nd and we barely made enough money to cover the gas let alone lodgings and entry fees. Because we placed second last year we also would have played in a higher division so our chances of cashing in were reduced(not eliminated). All these things combined made me think it would be prudent to maybe wait for 2010. <------ wow can you believe we've already run through the first decade of the 2000s? Well that's it for now, I'll be back don't worry. Maybe I'll even have some interesting photos for you to look at as well.