Last night, I went to pool hall, like usual and instead of playing barbox 8-ball, I decided to play on the big tables since I hadn’t played at all since last Wednesday for reasons I’ll leave out of this entry. I started off just hitting some balls, playing a very loose version of 10-ball.  Then my team captain came in and asked what I’d need from him to get a game going.  He didn’t want to play rotation, so one-pocket was the game.  I thought about it a while and came up with 12-7.  So, we tried that. I wasn’t sure what to expect.  It’s not a cake-walk for either of us.  He’s capable of running 5-7 balls given the opportunity, but not 12.  Just as I’m capable of running 3-5, but not 7. (depending on the layout)  I won the flip and away we went.  I played more conservatively than usual, but also took risks when I felt they outweighed the safe.  After about 3 hours, we ended up dead even.  He was never up more than 2 games, but I was never ahead either.  I never really expected to be ahead.  When we started, I set my goal of not being down more than 2 games by the end of the night.  It’s a reasonable goal, given my abilities compared to his and one I felt I was capable of achieving. 

The first few games, I was over-cutting most of my shots and it was really driving me nuts.  But after each mistake, I just laughed or made a goofy noise. I *had* to shrug it off.  So, shortly after I noticed the beginnings of a frustrating night, I made it a mental note to laugh at each and every mistake.  Even though my first reaction wasn’t always laughing, I eventually did laugh at it by the time I got back to the chair.  I really think this is what allowed me to come back so many times.

This accomplishment is a direct result from my readings from Pleasures of Small Motions. I’m finding this book to be excellent – and I will have to read it several times to get everything out of it.  Each time I progress to a new level of my game, I find new meanings in its words. I really can’t say enough good things about this book.