Fast Eddies Houston

So I decided to play in the Fast Eddies stop this weekend held at the Fast Eddies off of 1960. I haven't been playing in many tournaments, and since Dalton was going to be back on Sunday anyways, still in the winners I decided I would go as well. I didn't do that great. I was on and off. Ended up getting 7th-8th. Dalton got 5th-6th. I was happy with one win in particular though. I'm not even going to bother mentioning this persons name, but we all know her, and most have had problems with her before. I tend to have a difficult time playing her. She free strokes A LOT and doesn't really play shape... it's a little annoying to watch and she just rubs me the wrong way. So, our match is announced... I go to the table, we flip the coin and I get the break. I tell her I am going to run to the bathroom, the whole time her attitude stinks. I win the first game. I get up to rack and as I walk away from the table back to my seat I realize she is re-racking my rack. Ok whatever. She looks up and says " The one ball rolled off. " I say ok.. and she asks me if I want to check it, I say no. I think she wins that one. Next time it is my turn to rack I rack, taking a lot of time, because the tables weren't racking that great. I get the balls frozen and walk away. As I walk past her she says " You can't see that the fucking one ball isn't touching anything? " OK, at this point I am annoyed. I respond with " If the one ball rolled off after I walked off that's not my fault." She says " It didn't roll off you didn't rack them right from the get go." Meanwhile I am trying to rack and she says "I gave you the chance to come look at it." She then says " You got a fucking attitude." I warn her not to cuss at me and she replies " I'll say whatever the fuck I want." So I say " and you can rack your own racks too." I go sit down knowing full well she is trying to get under my skin because she isn't playing well. This is just the type of player she is. After she racks she looks up at me with this stupid hand gesture like " see? " So I say " What do you want me to tell you... you rack better than I do.. congratulations." I am so annoyed at this point my heart is pounding my temperature is rising and I am trying to really not go off on her. As she walks past me she says " You really are a bitch aren't you." Now normally if I was in a bar, this might have escalated a lot more. I say " If you think I am a bitch now... I am about to show you what a bitch looks like." I know.. I probably shouldn't have even responded but I couldn't help myself. She asks me what I am going to do... the whole time I am thinking in my head... I AM GOING TO POUND YOU!!!!!
The rest of the match was a blur... I end up beating her and when I run out the last rack she makes a disgusted noise and starts packing up her sticks. I say good game and walk off. WHAT A BITCH!!!!! She didn't even have the common courtesy to shake my hand. Go figure. It was pure pleasure to put her out of the tournament... and nothing else that day even mattered. LOL Sad but true...
I am working really hard at not letting my emotions get to me during a match, and all in all I feel I am doing pretty good. If you would have seen my second match in Vegas that would have been proof enough. I know that most women feel like they have something extra to prove since most people think this is a man's sport... but seriously.. do you have to be so ugly to the other women you play too??????

Fasting and Easter Traditions

OK.. so this past week, starting on Sunday I have been fasting for our Holy Week. Some of you might wonder what Holy Week I am talking about. Well this Sunday just so happens to be our Easter.. and by "our" I mean Greek Orthodox. I know most Eastern Europeans also celebrate Easter this weekend. It has been a LONG time since I have fasted for Easter. Those who are very dedicated fast throughout the year, including twice a week, AND the 40 days before Easter which some of you might call Lent. The main difference between say Catholics fasting and me fasting is that Catholics usually give up one thing. I cannot eat any of the following, meat, fish, any dairy, eggs, pretty much anything that comes from an animal. The very strict also don't include oil or wine in their diet. So skipping out on meat is not too terribly hard.. it's the dairy that kills me! No cheese, no butter, no milk..... Want a salad for lunch... no dairy based dressings... I bought some snack mix and crackers yesterday to snack on at my desk and when I read the ingredients I realized the crackers had butter in them! DUH! I also have been CRAVING chocolate... but probably only because I can't have it.. what's the first word in milk chocolate? Breakfast is probably the hardest... no cereal, no eggs, no bacon.. I have resorted to toast with peanut butter. Last night I had a pretty yummy dinner... I made a Greek style potato salad which consists of boiled potatoes, tomatoes, cucumber, olive oil, vinegar, and salt and pepper. I threw in some marinated mushrooms and had some dolmades (stuffed grape leaves) on the side. I also went to the gym yesterday for the first time in a couple weeks I would say... We have gone running at the park several times but I haven't been to the gym... it felt really good to get in there and get a good sweat going. Today out of curiosity I weighed myself. I weighed 9lbs less than last week!!! How is that possible?!? I guess all that dairy, and meat really makes a difference. Note to self.. maybe I should take up fasting twice a week. :)
Today I went to my mom's house for lunch... since she is fasting too it's pretty easy for me to get a fast friendly meal there.. hehe When I walked in it smelled like church... she had the incense burning and the liturgy streaming live from Greece on her computer... we started talking about traditions of Easter and I thought I might mention two very important traditions the red Easter eggs and the Holy Fire.
Saturday we will attend the late night liturgy at church.. it starts at 11pm and goes till about 1-2am. It's a long service.. but I remember going as a child and just loving the way it sounded when you could hear everyone singing "Christos Anesti" (Christ is Risen) in Greek. Halfway through the service the church goes completely dark and one by one.. we receive the Holy Fire from the priest... It really is a beautiful site to see the church lighting up slowly. The tradition of the Holy Fire comes from the Church of the Resurrection in Jerusalem.

My mom has told me that the Archbishop of Greece actually makes the pilgrimage to Jerusalem and brings the fire back with him, as do all the other Patriarch's from other countries. The Miracle of Easter starts here at this church. A Patriarch enters the church with what I have been told is a bundle of candles, but some say it's only two.. after saying a prayer the light rises from the stone where Jesus' body was laid, from there the candles are lit and the Holy Fire is given to others. I read once that we tried to get together with other religions to celebrate our Easter on the same day as everyone else.. but when they entered the tomb the candles would not light.. the following week when they entered they lit.. so our Easter remains as it is. There are some pretty amazing videos on this site... http://www.holyfire.org/eng/index2.htm and on YouTube of course... Not only do the candles miraculously light, the other fixtures in the church light themselves, and people "wash" themselves with the fire that doesn't burn. You can click on any of the pictures to enlarge them.

I know there are going to be plenty of non believers that say it's impossible.. and that's fine.. but maybe someone out there will be touched by this miracle. After all, wasn't it a miracle in itself that Christ rose?

At the end of the liturgy for those of us who have followed the fast we take our communion and we receive our red Easter egg. Greeks traditionally dye their eggs red. This itself comes from a miracle. The story goes that Mary Magdalene went to the tomb of Jesus with a basket of eggs for the women mourning his Crucifixion. When she arrived at his tomb and saw it was empty and the stone had been moved she asked for a sign that He had risen.... upon which her eggs turned bright red.. some say it is to represent the blood of Christ.

So we drive home in our cars with our candles lit and our red easter eggs in tow. At home we feast on all the things we couldn't eat while fasting and "tsougrisoume" eggs. That pretty much means we clink our eggs together. You take your egg with another person point to point, first they hit your egg and say "Christos Anesti" (Christ is Risen) and you reply with "Alithos o Kurios" (truly He is risen). I have never been a very religious person.. but I have always believed... and Christmas and Easter services have always held a special place in my mind. This one will be extra special.. it will be Dalton's first Easter at church. I hope one day he has fond memories of these celebrations as well.

Ob Tour - Richardson Stop

So.. this weekend I headed up to Dallas for the third OB stop... first.. what a LONG and BORING DRIVE! I stayed in Richardson with the mom one of my best est friends growing up... Mom Wise... It was definitely a plus to not have to pay for a hotel room, plus it was just good catching up. I listened to some of my Inner Game of Tennis audio book on the way in.. when I wasn't too drowsy of course, and then listened to one of mom's meditation Cd's as I fell asleep. I got up Saturday morning feeling good. I got up to the pool hall shortly after 9:20 and was surprised that all the tables were already taken. I made my rounds saying hi to all of my OB friends and then sat and talked to Bobby for a while, while I waited for a table to open up. Finally I saw a lady that I had never seen before and I went up and asked her if she minded if I "practiced" with her for a little bit... Generally I don't see playing other people as practice, I like to get in and get adjusted to the speed, hit some follow shots, draw shots, stop shots and then get off the table. I don't like to practice anything too hard before a tournament. Lucky for me she let me hit balls around for a while and then we played a couple racks. I felt I was shooting OK. Bobby told me I looked like I was getting a lot better. That was kind of ironic to me since I hadn't really started putting in the practice time yet. First round of matches were called and I had to wait. There were 56 girls and only 12 tables. One table was streaming live and while I kind of wanted to play on it so Dalton and Mom could watch I was a little nervous about knowing people were watching and opted to not say anything.

First match I played a lady named Rosa Rios. Nice lady, I had never seen her before though, so I didn't know what to expect. She seemed very serious, I heard her later talking to Spetty about needing to have fun but just not being able to not take it serious. I can totally relate to that. I win the flip and she racks up the first rack. She sat at a table away from me and I was kind of thankful for that. I sometimes have a hard time playing when the person I am playing is talking a lot, or talking about all the shots they are missing, or how bad they are playing. I break and scratch. She proceeds to run out and then makes a mistake somewhere in the rack... I can't remember what happened really, but I quickly make a mistake and she gets on the board 1-0. The following game I win tying it 1-1. I think I end up winning the next two and then she wins another making it 3-2 me. I was a little perturbed at myself for not making it 4-1 but I quickly let that go... I played OK.. we were both making mistakes.. she just made more and I capitalized on it, making the score 6-2 with me on the hill. It's my break and as she is racking I think to myself " Man I hate it when someone snaps the 9 in on me on the hill". Those thoughts must have gone from my head straight to the ears of God as my mom would say because I break and make the 9. I felt bad winning that way.. but I was still happy to finish that match.

I go sit down with Terry, Kyu and Snowy and we have along conversation about dieting and exercise. I am so hungry since I hadn't eaten breakfast and I am looking at the menu trying to find something somewhat healthy to eat. I end up ordering a ham and avocado sandwich. While I am waiting I go to talk to Amy and Christy. It was Amy's b-day and they had brought a cake shaped like a pool table for everyone to eat.. It was yummy! Meanwhile Terry comes over and we start discussing the 3 foul rule. She mentions that when your opponent scratches on the break you should look at the rack and see if you can 3 foul them. While I know the way the 3 foul rule works I have never thought of the scratch off the break being included in that 3 foul even though I am well aware that it's a foul. This ends up coming into play in my next match. They finally bring my sandwich out and no sooner have I taken my first bite Amanda comes around the corner to tell me I am up... she sees that I am eating and tells me that they can call the match after me, which ends up being both a blessing and a curse. I finish my sandwich and they call my match.

Table 7 against a girl named Jess. Table 7 is in the most awkward table to play on, simply because there is NO seating close by. We were actually having to sit at a table with the people playing on the table next to us. Right away I am a little bit distracted by this. I make some early mistakes in the match and she is up 3-1. Christy is playing on the table next to me and we are staying neck in neck in our scores. I was also a little bit frustrated because Jess attempted to make small talk a couple times and seeing as I was making lots of mistakes I felt I really needed to put my game face on so I went and stood a couple times on the other side of the room to clear my head. This ends up working somewhat and I win another game making it 3-2. I don't remember much except for the fact that I was making mistakes late in my runs and giving away the match. Finally I tie it up 4-4. She wins the following match making it 5-4. I tell myself do NOT let her win this match... I win the next two in a row and make it 6-4. It's her turn to break. She breaks and scratches. Right away my thoughts go back to Terry's advice. The balls happened to be laying perfectly to play a safe. The one was down towards the head of the table right next to the four ball... all the other balls had stayed at the foot of the table. I play safe banking the one ball to the other end of the table and snugging the cue ball up against the four eliminating most of her options for kicking. Realizing the kick was unlikely, she opts to foul intentionally trying to push the four ball into the other balls at the other end of the table and cause problems. I tell her she is on two. There really aren't a lot of options for another lock up safe so I decide to skim the one ball and leave her the option to jump or kick. At this point all I can do is hope she can't do either. As she is looking at it I realize she must not know how to jump because she doesn't even go get a jump stick. I can see the frustration on her face and although it was a two rail kick I thought it seemed fairly easy. I am praying to the pool Gods with all my might. She kicks, hard and sails right past the one ball giving me the match. This brings me to one of my biggest pet peeves. The handshake. I go to shake her hand and she gives me a handshake half walking away from me. There are two things that I hate about the handshake.

1. The person that tries to break your fingers and cripple you with their handshake.


2. The person that shakes your hand like a dead fish.

I have read in body language books that the handshake tells you a lot about a person. I always try to give a firm handshake even when I am not happy about losing. I felt pretty proud of myself for three fouling her to win. I think IMO that it's pretty hard to three foul someone and I for one, have never done it before. Final score 7-5.

I had been doing good so far not trying to see who I played next and just rolling with it. I make the mistake of going to look at the bracket and realize I am playing my good friend Melinda Bailey. I knew right off the bat that this was going to be a different type of match since we are friends. Sometimes playing your friends is the hardest because you really have to leave your friendship somewhere else and not bring it to the table. Melinda and I start playing and right away I am making careless mistakes. I played two fail safeties and she runs out on me. I don't remember what rack it was but she made a mistake and left me the 5,6,9 I think. I shoot the 5 good.. get on the 6, fairly easy cut shot in the corner with built in position on the 9. I must have put some stun on it at the last minute and I stun the cue ball straight into the other corner. Melinda gets ball in hand on the 9. As I am walking up to shag the balls I say " I don't know what I did on that ball." I thought Melinda would say something but she didn't. I could tell she was trying to not talk to me. I understood and stayed quiet the rest of the match. She scratches and leaves me a 2-9 combo.. not the easiest but easy enough if you bare down. I poke at it half heartedly and miss. I did however have two amazing jump shots and I was pleased with those. Melinda ends up beating me 7-3. I really was a little disappointed that my game never showed up for that match. I really wanted to play well against her. I thought that I made great shots.. but she definitely was the one running out.

My next match of the night was against a girl named Trinh Le. Also someone I had never seen before, but I had watched her shoot some and knew she had a stroke. I was playing fairly well that match and had two rack and runs. Then my stomach started hurting really bad. Must have been the sandwich from earlier in the day. I went to the bar and got 10 TUMS! I ate every single one of them trying to fight off the indigestion and heart burn. She ends up coming back 6-4 and she is on the hill... I am pretty determined at this point to win this match. I win the next two making it a hill hill match. The last game I make a good shot to get on the 9, long fairly easy shot.. just roll it in.. I rattle it in the pocket and lose. She shook my hand and said good match and I could tell she really meant it. I was happy about that. I am still kicking myself a little bit for it but overall I was happy. I ended up finishing 17-24th. I have now added a new goal to my previous list.

1. Make time for at least one hour of practice a day.


2. Lose 15lbs by Vegas.


3. Stay on the top women's list at league.


4. Make time for yoga at least twice a month.


5. Finish in the top 5 of an OB event once this year.

I have a feeling this list is going to get pretty long. :)

Randomness

Ok.. so I have finally decided to jump on the blog bandwagon. I sometimes post blogs on my myspace page.. but it's usually when I am irritated at something, someone, or just sad.. which thankfully doesn't happen very often. I have been struggling all morning to get this damn slideshow to post correctly and it just ain't happening. Ugh! Oh well.
These next couple of months are going to be SUPER busy! This month starts off with the Ob Tour stop in Dallas this weekend. I am fortunate enough to have someone to stay with in Richardson so I won't have to fork out any hotel expenses. That's always a plus. I am a little nervous as always to play this weekend. Things have been so busy I just haven't had the time to put in to practice. That is going to have to change before Vegas next month. Between working, working out, cooking dinner, league... I have to find some time to squeeze some practice in. Dalton always says it's very important to stay "warm" at the table. I played a couple sets against the ghost last night, needless to say he tore me a new one. After a while of that I went and asked Dalton to come play with me. While playing the ghost is great, it really is all about running out, and I really wanted to practice some safe's and stuff. Dalton beat me the first set 7-1 I think.... Next set I quickly went up 2-0 before he started catching a gear. I played some good safes and ended up pulling ahead 5-4. He ended up beating me 7-6 but I felt good especially since he had killed me the first match.
Next weekend my friends and teammates Ricki, Rebecca and I, are hosting a poker tournament at the Moose Lodge in Pasadena to help raise money for us going to Vegas. The following weekend is Greek Easter, and the following is my bday! It's my last year in my 20's, and while I can't say I am sad about that, I can say where the hell did all the time go??? Then of course VEGAS! For ten days! OMG I am going to be so broke! While there are so many things to look forward to it is going to be a huge challenge to make time for practice. I really thought that this session (league) would be much easier since I was only playing league one night a week, until last week when I agreed to play on a Valley team with some friends. What was I thinking??? Does anyone know how to make more hours in a day?
I need to set some goals for myself obviously.

1. Make time for at least one hour of practice a day
2. Lose 15lbs by Vegas
3. Stay on the top womens list at league
4. Make time for yoga at least twice a month

I know it's a small list for right now... but baby steps...