never count your quarters before they hatch...

Ever bowled for quarters? That's when you and your pals bring a roll or two of quarters to your favorite bowling house, take a lane and place you bets. Each box is worth a quarter and the highest pinfall wins. If you mark, the win is determined by the fill. And if you tie the box, the ante is upped and you start over.

Well, my pals at Roll-A-Way Lanes did that last night and had a great time (although I got home a little late...thankfully, my future bride is understanding, but she'd rather me get home earlier). One box had me drop 9 pins, while my buddy to my immediate left dropped (I think) 7. Keep in mind, these totals are after 3 balls. Therefore, I'm feelin' pretty good, seeing as how the 3rd guy in our party dropped 7...and has a HIGH LOW JACKPOT with no wood on the deck.

So, as I'm contemplating how I'm going to spend his quarter, my pal drops the leave. Can you believe that? He made the shot...the 1-7-10 with no wood!!! However, in the end, the high low jackpot that night was worth, to him, 50 cents. Wow. I'm sure he invested the money wisely. LOL

Honestly, I've never seen that done in person before. I about died when they all went down! Hell, he's a really good bowler...but making the 1-7-10? No wood? That's nuts.

I did just fine...held my own with the big boys up there, and I notice where I'm making more shots as the chips go down. And in doing some math, I've found that since the beginning of December, my average is 108...so that's marked improvement from the beginning of the year! The bowling for quarters game helps give you some experience under pressure without the unnecessary trash talking that occasionally goes on during some of the higer stakes leagues, so it's a good game for me.

True to form, my future bride wasn't quite as blown over as I was as we were talking about it over breakfast. She's really done a great job of perfecting her best, "that's nice, dear." But she doesn't get upset about all the bowling I do...she's just glad I have something to do!

In reflection of the evening, the only thing I change is this...we start prior to league next week! I don't want to get home at 10:30 again!