I woke like any other day,
and moved through the pre-ordained actions,
which were committed to the day before.
the bags are packed,
all i have to do is take them out to the car.
and then drive north.
such simple actions
with enormous importance.
first stop: Danny K's in the city of Orange.
In Orange County.
tested OnStar, upgraded to concierge service for 64 bucks per month,
and tested to find a vegetarian restaurant who would deliver food to the pool hall.
she actually found one!
tested the nav system,
it's ok, but clunky in the way it does things.
i'm sure i did something wrong because it wanted me to go back home
before i went to orange county.
so i was operating the nav system, the on-star concierge on the phone, cd playing, and in freeway traffic, all at the same time. i am reminded to the busy times flying the biplane where i had to deal with radio communications, weather, airspace, traffic, altitude, heading... you get the idea, it's really busy flying an open cockpit biplane. and the thing that makes it even more stressful is the fact that you can't see much in the direction you are flying because of the wings, and the big engine up front. not being able to see where you are going, and not being able to see other airplanes and where they are going, well, that adds up to some stressful flying. the biplane only flys 100mph, but other traffic can fly 250 down low with me, and that means that traffic can appear very quickly, as if out of nowhere. and that's another thing... that traffic isn't like on the freeways where it's all going in the same direction. in the sky, they can hit you from top/bottom/front/back/sides, you name it. it's very busy in a biplane cockpit.
so i guess i handled the busy corvette cockpit ok.
seems the nav system has difficulties,
but beats nothing.
went direct to the hotel, checked in.
bare bones place.
unpacked some stuff,
headed over to danny k's to stroke a few.
dan s. is walking toward the entrance as i pull into the parking lot.
that man is addicted to pool.
he claimed unspecified intestinal distress to get out of work to shoot pool.
he drives all the way to del mar to shoot pool on my table,
and never once have i made the trip to his table.
hey, what do you expect from a hermit?
i win the first set 7-4.
feeling pretty good about winning the first set of my road trip.
we are about 5-all in the second set when "Sensei" Roy Yamane walks in.
of course we start yakking and i wind up losing 7-5.
it's all about Focus.
Roy is trying to show me how to do a power draw.
I can do this from as far as 4 diamonds away,
but then draw quickly fades, accuracy wanes.
He has me hold my wrist differently to get more snap in the wrist.
And hit more Down on the ball.
And lift my body just before i launch the stroke, but keep delivery still.
Follow through into the cloth.
It makes sense.
It's going to take a lot of practice.
One hundred bucks.
Dan can power draw.
I can't.
That pisses me off.
Dan heads home to appease "she who must be obeyed".
Roy gives me the names of contacts in San Francisco, Portland.
Tournament starts. 12 bucks entry, 450+/- payoff.
They rate me an A2.
That's one step better than A.
They go all the way up to A11.
Strange.
An A2 must win 8 games.
An A3 must win 9 games.
So if an A2 plays an A3, the A2 get's "one on the wire",
and they play a race to 9.
i played awful.
single elimination.
the first match against Rick (gray hair/beard) was just plain bad pool.
he was missing shots too.
we went hill-hill and i actually found myself wishing i would lose,
so i wouldn't have to play another set
and i could just go home and rest, take a shower, stretch...
anything but endure more bad pool...
mercifully, Rick wins,
and then right before he sinks the easy nine,
he says he resigns, that i win,
and that he doesn't want to play in the tournament any more,
because he's going to play in the league that's going on at the same time as the tournament.
so here i am,
one minute i'm trying to win,
and then i want to lose,
and right when i'm all happy because i think i'm gonna lose,
the guy quits and now i win.
and the worst part is now i gotta play somebody else,
and that set was even more awful than the last one. fact.
7 hours of pool was just too much after the high intensity drive, little sleep.
i bailed back to the cheap hotel for a shower.
worst shower i've had in years.
that's what i'm going to miss the most on this trip: my shower.
i could write poetry about what a great shower i have in Mikie's Fun House,
but maybe later.
a shower is what a good hotel is all about.
thick towels, good soaps and lotions.
heavy water flow,
plenty hot, of course.
but not here at the Extended Stay Hotel.
fortunately, my stay will not extend past morning.
We'll keep connected with email.
I need to get a mouse for this notebook computer.
This finger pad is less than optimum.
i'm totally beat, need sleep.
