Bowling vs NaNoWriMo

Tomorrow on the start of NaNoWriMo, I will bowl in my Tuesday Night League. Although scoring well will be challenging, I will find it less so than writing 1666+ words a day for 30 days to win the writing challenge. I have bowled well before. I have never participated in NaNoWriMo so I am less confident.

But let’s talk challenging bowling. I have bowled regularly for over 46 years. My first time bowling was an extracurricular high school bowling league. I bowled one match before suffering a shoulder separation while playing intramural football. So went my high school bowling career. This was 1961.

Fast forward to 1970 in Wahiawa, Hawaii. The department participated in the command intramural sports program. The only sport that did not conflict with my work schedule was bowling. I became part of the team.

Lanes At NCS, Wahiawa

The bowling alley had four wood lanes. There were sliding windows on each side of the building at lane height. The windows allowed a breeze to blow through the building directly across the lanes.  Did I mention it rains a lot in Wahiawa?  Some days a warm breeze blew over the lanes, other days a warm moist breeze blew. Sometimes, the management opened the windows part way which mean only part of the lane received the breeze.

Ancient Lane Maintenance

Lanes were dressed with bowling alley oil using a hand sprayer. The sprayer resembled an old fashion pump bug sprayer filled with dressing oil.  There were two processes for dressing lanes. Both involve the lane man walking down the lane pumping the sprayer to leave a coating of oil. The lane man then took a cloth mop as wide as the lane and drug the lane. The primary difference in processes was the direction the lane man walked as he delivered the oil and the way he drug the lane. Some drug the lane from pin deck to foul line and some from foul line to pin deck. Some lane men became proficient at providing the same condition week after week.  Others were less proficient, making bowling more challenging to say the least.

Modern lanes and equipment

I will bowl tomorrow night’s on climate controlled lanes dressed by a modern lane dressing machine. The machine will put down modern lane dressing oil formulated for the modern lane surface material. Modern bowling balls have scientifically designed ball cores matched to formulated cover stocks.

I will use my high tech, scientifically engineered ball precisely drilled to fit my unique hand configuration with a layout to ensure I can score on these modern lanes with modern oils. The major variable is me. That is still the draw for me. No matter how good the equipment or the lanes, it is up to me whether I perform my best or do not. Wish me luck bowling. While you are in good humor, wish me luck with writing a 50k novel in 30 days.

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo? Are you a bowler? I would love to hear from you on either topic. Use the comment form to share. Click the follow button to learn me as I journey through the Fall of My Life.

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I join a bowling team

I was in the Navy three years when I transferred to Naval Communication Station Wahiawa, Hawaii. It was here my love for bowling germinated and blossomed. I checked into my new department and was assigned to a watch section. I was invited to bowl on the department team in the command intramural sports program pitting my department against the other departments. I sensed the invitation was not one I could turn down.

1970’s bowling ball

I used a bowling ball provided by the bowling alley the first season. The ball was black and made of hard rubber. It had the standard three holes and weighed a whopping sixteen pounds. The grip pattern was the conventional grip which is still available today.

My first year performances were ordinary. The second year, I bought my own bowling ball and had it drilled semi-fingertip grip. My scores improved. I scored between 520 and 570 every week in the department matches. I remember getting frustrated no matter how hard I tried, I could not reach a 600 series.

Patience is a virtue, really?

The frustration ate at me.  My teammates told me to be patient. Patience in a virtue I do not practice often. (My wife will attest to that.) But the time came when I had a three consecutive game total over 600. Still not a 600 series in the traditional sense but I didn’t care. It was a 600 total for game 2, 3, and 4 of a six game tournament.

How to bowl 288

I bowled a 288 game a few months later. During this game, my teammates cheered after each strike and gave me a round of razzing. The cheering and razzing got louder as the number of consecutive strikes grew. I think the razzing kept me from appreciating what was happening. A beneficial distraction. The tenth frame is a blur. All I know is all of the pins fell. The bowling format dictated I immediately bowl the 11^th frame. I didn’t get the same intermission and razzing. Without a doubt, I was nervous. I pulled the shot, the ball crossed to the Brooklyn side and left me a wobbly six pin. I missed it for a 288.

The 288 is the most exciting score I have bowled.  I used a ball primitive, by today’s standards, on lanes oiled using a hand sprayer and evened using a cloth mop.  I have bowled higher games and higher series but the excitement was not as great. These scores had the advantage technology brought to bowling balls and lane surfaces not enjoyed when I bowled 288.

Technology has brought many wonderful things but has it cost us also? What do you think? Use the comment form to share your thoughts.

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