I've never been more depressed about my bowling than I was tonight.  It was more of the same at this house, but 10 times worse.  To start off with, I wasn't bowling particularly well, but I've done worse.  My arm and wrist weren't giving me much trouble tonight, it was just inaccuracy on shots.  I couldn't carry anything, and I'm dead serious when I say it seemed like the pins were against me.  I tripped ONE 4 pin all night, and other than that there were no carried 10's (6 pin off the wall, or whatever), and even when I hit the pocket flush I wasn't carrying.  There did seem to be an inordinate amount of 8's and 9's for everyone tonight, however.  My good shots were 10 pins every single time.  My bad shots were either luck strikes (a very few evenso) or splits (I only had 4, so it wasn't exactly AWFUL), and my decent shots were 4's, 8's or 7's.  

I have NEVER done this before, and always looked down on people who did, but it was so bad tonight that I just gave up.  I had a great practice session last night, and was feeling great during warmup tonight, but things started out bad and stayed that way.  The shot was there all night, I was just moving to find carry, and never found it.  I played everything from 4th arrow to 8, 4th arrow to 12, 3rd arrow to 10, 3rd arrow to 6, 2nd arrow to 8, 2nd arrow to 5, and everywhere in between, and nothing made a difference.  I'm sure everyone looking thought I was being unusually inaccurate, and on some shots I was, but for the most part I was trying to find a line that would carry.  Nothing worked, period, and it was 90 percent carry issues.  I only had release problems 3 or 4 shots, I made all but one of my makeable spares (before I gave up in the 4th game), I only left a few splits, a couple of them being track burn issues, but still not great shots to begin with.  There was one ball I threw from 2nd arrow to 6 that I KNEW was going to react and set up perfectly right off my hand, and it was by FAR the best shot of the night, and probably my best shot in the last month, everything clicked and felt perfect, it just rolled off my hand, slid down the lane, set up, and left me another 10 pin.  I can honestly tell when a shot is going to hit weak or not carry, but some of the leaves at this house make my shake my head.  

Bowling is the only thing I'm good at, and because of reasons I won't get into, it's the only thing I look forward to every week, and anyone that watches me can tell you that I'm extremely hard on myself, I always try to do my best, and never let myself get comfortable.  I'm absolutely NEVER satisfied with any scores, I might be happy for the moment, but I always find the places where I screwed up or could have done better.  I'd sure save a lot of money and time if I quit, but I don't know what I'd replace it with.  I wouldn't have anything to look forward to, I don't have friends I see more than once a week, I just don't have anything else going for me.  You can say I'm just having a pity party, that I just really suck and don't know it, but I don't care.  I'm being honest, and dead serious, and I just need either some help or advice.  Again.
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I know Kung Fu!

I am the one, the one that will bring balance.  All the pins shall be destroyed!

Ummmm, couldn't you (ack, cough, gag) PAY (maybe at cost to lessen the blow) to have your equipment fixed?  Did you fool with stuff too much after your finished up youth leagues averaging 216?  The usual rule is to never change more than one thing at a time so you know how it will affect you.
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Strider
Penn State Proud
Teamwork is a lot of people doing what I say.

Hamster,
  I used to always get down on myself during games when I wasn't doing well and it killed my average greatly.  If game 1 was bad, you better believe that 2 and 3 were also.  But the 2 things that I found out were hurting me was 1) I expect to do well and 2)I try too hard.  I mean we all go out on the lanes and expect to throw strike strike strike, but that doesn't always happen.  Stay cool when u don't strike, spares count too.  And when the ball is hitting the pocket and u don't strike, keep throwing it, because odds are you will get easier spares.  And when u are having a bad night, just exhale and move on, thats life none of us are pros playing for a hundred grand so just move on, what is done is done.

BMM
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June 3, 2003 First 600 Series(208,258,170)!!!!!!

I already do pay at cost plus a little extra for stuff I do, which is still pretty cheap though.  The problem is that we have about 40 ounces of quick plug left which we use to make slugs, and they each take 2 ounces apiece to make.  That has to last for the next two or three months, and since the customer comes first, no matter how much either myself or the boss's brother pay for stuff, we won't be able to make any changes until the boss is sure we'll have enough.  I've been messing around with stuff to try to find that "perfect fit" but I guess I just won't ever find it.  Everytime I think I do, my hand gets used to the drilling and then I find another problem.  I think that the 4 5/8ths with the reverse pitch I stated will probably be as close as I'm going to get, because my X-Zone is at the 4 3/4ths with 1/4th rev in the fingers, 3/8ths rev and 1/4th left in the thumb, and that's just a little too long.  I drilled a ball the same, but at 4 5/8ths, and it was too hard to hang onto it, so I think if I back off on the reverse, it might be just fine.  I have to have more than 1/4th because of the nerve in my thumb that I pinch, which makes it ridiculously hard to hang onto and let go of the ball.  It swells up and shrinks from shot to shot, and I just don't know what to do with it.  Guess I'm just stuck in a bad situation.
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I know Kung Fu!

I am the one, the one that will bring balance.  All the pins shall be destroyed!