So we had our weekly DUMBO bowling outing recently and there were a couple of surprises that happened.  For one thing, we had one of the largest turnouts we've had in a while with 24 people turning up, and 3 of them were people that had never been bowling with us before.  

The establishment that we use only has 12 lanes and our group was occupying 9 of them.   We avoid using the ones against the walls and support beams that are in the middle because some people, like me for example, really don't like bowling there and while it is totally psychological, it throws off some people's aim.   

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The day started off like it always does, with people socializing and greeting any newcomers with just me organizing the registration and designation of lanes.   Your placement on the lanes is decided completely by random unless you are involved in one of the two championships:  The overall "world champion" lane and the lane where promotion to the Premiere League is determined by a 1 on 1 showdown.   

We have a bit of clout here at the local bowling alley because we have been coming here for 4 years aside from the 5 months or so that the lanes were closed because of Covid regulations.  We routinely bring near 20 people here every week so the owners reserve the entire bowling alley for us.   Even though technically 3 of the lanes were not going to be used by us they know that we are quite fussy about how people behave on the lanes and they won't allow any other customers to bowl while we are.   I saw one set of foreigners and 2 sets of Vietnamese people that were turned away and told to come back at 12:30 pm.   That is normally when we finish the singles competition and if there are people waiting to play we will organize our tag teams so that we only need half of the lanes.   Since there are 4 people per lane during tag-team competition, there is no chance we will need all the lanes.   

They do us a solid by reserving the lanes for us and we do them a solid in return by not using all the lanes and allowing for others if there is any way that we possibly can.   One thing is for sure though, we will NOT bowl in a lane that is next to people that are not part of our organization because we have a strict "courtesy rule" where you do not line up to bowl your ball if the person on the sides of you are already in the ready position.  Unfortunately, most run-of-the-mill recreational bowlers, especially Vietnamese people, are unaware of the existence of this courtesy, and it gets irritating very quickly.   

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We have a total of total of 8 possible awards in our group, but only one of them can change hands multiple times in a single day.  That award is called the "gobbler" and it is awarded for anyone that gets 3 strikes in a row.   This accomplishment is called a "turkey" in bowling terms and I have no idea why that is.   We couldn't find an actual turkey sort of toy so instead we use this very common chicken dog toy as the award.   I originally got it for my dog but she is actually afraid of the sound it makes so when it came time to donate it to the DUMBO group, it was an easy decision to make and I am sure Nadi doesn't miss it at all.   

I started this week out with the award.  I started out LAST week with this award but it was kind of funny because while it was won by 2 other people that day, it was me... the guy who started the day with it, who got his turkey strikes last.  Therefore, the turkey simply changed hands 3 times and ended back in the hands of the guy who started with it.  

This week, I wasn't bowling very well and my first game was a mere 116.  This might seem ok to regular bowlers out there, but to me this is a very disappointing result.   In my second game I was doing similarly poor but for some reason I found magic in the very last chance that you can possibly have to get 3 strikes in a row.... the 10th from of game two.

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I was damn close to getting 5 strikes in a row and that would have tied the most strikes that anyone has ever gotten in a row in the history of DUMBO.   Despite the fact that once the game is over it erases the rest of your game for reasons that I will never understand, I was doing very poorly up to the 8th frame.   I only closed a single frame with a spare and was missing, just by a cm or two, quite easy spare pickups.  I just couldn't find my rhythm.   Well, I must have found it in the 10th because that was my literal last chance to possibly get 3 strikes in a row.   When I hit the first one I was thinking there is no chance I am going to get another one.... but then I got another one.... then I was thinking there is no chance I am going to get a 3rd one.... and **I got that one as well!**   The thing is, I kind of got lucky on the first 2 as my initial point of contact was less-than-ideal but the pins fell anyway.  That is just the nature of the game.   However, on the 3rd ball, there was no doubt it was going to be a strike as soon as the ball left my hands.   You sometimes just know based on the release and trajectory that the ball is going to absolutely smash the pins.... and that is exactly what happened.

The guy who had taken the turkey from me around a half an hour prior game me the finger from across the room because this is the 2nd week in a row that I have found last-minute glory and taken it away from him.   

This is my 3rd week in a row as the "gobbler" champion and like I said:  To many, this is the best award you can get and it is also the only one that makes a noise when you squeeze it.   By the way, I thought the above image being blurry was the fault of my phone camera but as it turns out the screen actually is blurry all the time on that TV.   This was verified by someone with 20/20 vision.      

Ending with a 160 saved me in a number of ways because the Premiere League works like this:  The person with the lowest score of the 6 people in the Premiere League gets relegated (eliminated) and send down to the lower division each week.   At the moment the Premiere League consists of 2 Americans, 2 Norwegians, one Brit, and a South African.   

Next week the randomizer already selected that it is yours truly who will face the current world champion for the overall championship, so I am going to get a couple practice games in next week.