More Stuff

Racquetball:

I reclaimed the Club One AA title by beating Steve Basham 15-13, 6-15, 11-3 in a very exciting and exhausting racquetball contest last Thursday. My energy was very low throughout the match, though I felt good beforehand. I was sufficiently loose and warmed up, having arrived at the Club at 4. I warmed up on the court from 4-5, then took a shower, steam and sauna from 5:15-6. From 6-6:30 I warmed up my backhand and the match began promptly at 6:30.
The first game was fairly even. I may have jumped to an early lead, but then Steve evened the score at 8 or 9 and then jumped into the lead. It was 9-12 when I scored a point. Then Steve scored and it was 10-13. I then scored a few points off my serves. At 14-13, I served a drive serve to the right side, fooling Steve into thinking I was serving to my left. My right-side serve went perfectly along the wall without touching it, and I won the first game.

I changed shirts and socks, determined to win the second game, but Steve played phenomenally well in game 2. I was hitting passing shots that he kept cutting off. I mixed up my serves, but Steve was deadly with his return. Everything was working for him, and he was suddenly ahead 5-14. I scored a point, then he scored a point and we went to the tiebreaker.
I changed my socks, shirt and head scarf again. I did not want to lose. I was ahead 2-0 and felt good. Steve evened things up at 2-2. I then scored three points, up 5-2. Steve scored a point and it was 5-3. I then scored three more points, up 8-3. My serves were still hard and Steve was making mistakes. He wasn’t playing with the same intensity that he displayed in game two. I scored the next three points and the match was over. I was SO happy! I really wanted to take the title back. Now I have it. I’m the club champ once again. I’ve had the title 6 or 7 times now, more than any other player. That makes me feel very good!

Poker

I will not be playing in the 2008 WSOP this year. I tried, not as hard as I could have, but I did try and came close twice, but no luck in the end. My poker playing is developing. I’m reading important books and thinking about the game differently. My first priority is to figure out and beat the $1/2 limit game, which is something I have not been able to do yet. I’m reading an important book called How to Beat Tough Hold’em Games which has been a godsend. I’m playing to play a lot more poker in July and get back in the swing of playing many tables at the same time.

Writing

I’m writing and reading more. I feel I’m a much better writer at 44 than 24 or 34. I just seem to know what to worry about and don’t worry about what not to worry about. Not too long ago I worried about everything, especially writing right. Now I just write.

ACA

Adult Children of Alcoholics. Hmm. I’ve definitely got a lot of work to do but I feel I’ve made a great deal of progress in dealing with some of my most difficult issues. Lots of ideas have come to me and Gwen from our family issues with alcohol. More on this later.