Mr. Random and I went to a Super Bowl party at a friend’s house yesterday. I’m definitely NOT a football fan, but Super Bowl parties are not really about the game anyway – the event is just a convenient excuse to get a bunch of people together on a cold winter day and eat a lot of really fattening foods, and drink lots of different beverages and just hang out and chat. It’s a post-Christmas celebration of togetherness and debauchery.
The main draw of this particular Super Bowl party was that the host had a pool table. It’s a very nice pool table too, not one of the cheap kinds, but with real wood with nice carvings and good table felt. I don’t get to play pool very often, but when I do I love it . . . even though I get really frustrated.
When I was a little girl of 6 or 7, my mom’s brother taught me how to play pool. He had a large pool table in the family room of his house and he showed me how to hold the pool stick and hit the cue ball to knock into other little balls. Whenever my family would go to his house, I would always run down to the basement and occupy myself for an hour or two trying to play pool. It was one of the few things I could do by myself, with no one else bothering me, not having to be in the middle of a group of screaming banshee cousins – just me and the pool table.
My uncle now lives far away and I haven’t seen that table in over 20 years. I play pool very rarely now – maybe once a year if I am lucky. I’m not really that good at it, but I do get off some lucky shots once in a while, which makes people think I know what I’m doing. Playing pool is about knowing how to hit the cue ball with enough pressure and at the proper angle to be able to hit another ball to go into the desired pocket. It’s a lot harder than it sounds, though sometimes it seems like it should be supremely easy. A little too much pressure or a little too little pressure and great frustration ensues.
It’s just another one of those puzzles that I love to try to figure out . . . and keeps my mind in the moment and on the task at hand.
Foosball? Now that’s a game I was having problems with – good grief, how many arms are you supposed to have to play that thing?
So, how did your weekends go?
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2 comments:
I couldn't believe it, but my "dinner" during the Super Bowl consisted of roasted peanuts, almonds, grapes and two beers. Yeahhhh. Had a great time watching the game with my friends.
Eric: I've had many "dinners" like that too - not the most nutritious thing, but you get so caught up in the event that food is secondary. So glad you had a great time! :)
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