Someone Midwestern in nature and upbringing posted a simple "?" in my journalspace entry, wondering what exactly IS candlepin bowling. Color me embarrassed! Forgive my oversight friends of (a)musings, sometimes I forget that we are a truly international sensation, and that the customs and games of our region are sometimes not known west of Worcester.
In Big Ball Bowling, or Ten Pin I believe they call it, there is a big assed bowling ball, and 10 fatish pins down the lane. You usually bowl two rolls in a frame, and there are some crazy things you do for scoring if someone gets a spare or a strike.
This is "normal" bowling in my opinion. It's what I grew up with, it's what most of the nation is familiar with. It is Woody Harelson in Kingpin. It is the Pin Pals on the Simpsons. It is Barney's Bowl-a-rama.
Candlepin on the other hand is prevalent in New England, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. It is played with a little ball, slightly larger than a bocce ball. There are no holes in the ball, and you hold it in your hand like you would a rather large softball. You roll the same, underhandlike (never overhand) and there are 10 pins down the other end as well. Only these pins are tall, skinny stickpins. Scoring is different too, as you have three tries to nail the 10 pins. And there's all kinds of wacky stuff you do for scoring. I still don't know how to do it right, even with the electronic overhead scoring thing.
In big ball bowling, the pin machine comes down and lifts the standing pins up after your first roll, and the sweepy thing wipes the knocked overs out of the way. In candlepin, the "dead wood" stays where it falls. You can use that in your strategy (which Geoffrey did to his advantage) and hit the dead wood and whack the standing pins out of the way. It's the coolest feature of the game.
Oh yeah, and some folks play Duck Pin Bowling, which originated in Baltimore as a summer alternative to Big Ball. It has short fat pins that are shaped like the big ball pins. But some of the rules seem similar to candlepin (three throws, tiny ball, etc...).
It looks like Big Ball bowling and candlepin had a baby.
NDBC has its own website, and youth leagues. I don't know of any duck pin lanes in these parts. If you're southern or Marylandish, let me know if this is something you entertain yourself with on weekends.
So I hope that helps you envision how we spent 2 hours yesterday afternoon. I don't know if I could big ball bowl anymore. My shoulders hurt like hell after throwing the little wee ball. The highest score I got was like 102. I suck at it, but it was fun to be out of the house with the shorties. And yes, I realize that was way more than you ever wanted to know about bowling, but hey -- what's this journal if not a service to educate you on the trivial. Eh?
Today we were slated to get together with Karry and the kids out on Cape Ann. Her kids are homeschooled, so today was a "vacation" day for them. They're both sick. Karry said she still wanted to get together, but... I am wary of putting our kids together and having my kids come out ill by Saturday night. Last thing I need is for either of them to come down with something and need to stay home from school on Monday and Tuesday after a week off.
So we took a rain check. I think today I will force them into the outdoors to go fix our Xeraphas Hill geocache clue that's missing, and check on the clues at Cleaveland Rocks. And maybe this afternoon I'll color my hair and get a haircut. Who knows. So much to do, so little time.
Once the kidlins go back to school it is cleaning frenzy time for me. I find it literally impossible to get anything done with them underfoot, so I'll drop them off on Monday, return here to the homestead, and have at it.
After my daily reads, of course.
C posted a comment in my jspace journal that she's so happy I'm laid off because I write more often. And indeed it seems I've had the time to do just that.
Oh -- speaking of laid off, money not flowing from every pore of my being now officially sucks because of this. BNL is recording each and every one of their live concerts on this tour and posting them up for sale on their website. And because I have a painfully slow internet connection, downloading the full cd collection would be a nightmarish pain in the arse. I'd have to purchase the CDs from Nettwerks, for six dollars more a CD.
But I can't purchase them in either form because I've got no dough.
Crap on a cracker. I hate not having a job. A lucrative, well-paying, out of control money job. Even a not quite lucrative job. Something to sustain my addiction. Bleaurgh.
And of course, because the heavens hear my bitching and moaning, my sister just called me. She said she'll download and burn one for me -- Amherst looks like the best bet because they've got "Break Your Heart" on that set list.
Hurrah for my sister! Dude, I owe you 13 bucks in quarters at Mohegan Sun. Rock ON!
Geoff's playing "Action League Now" with his action figures. He's dangling Spiderman off the back of the couch over the abyss in the back corner, and the action heroes have to come rescue him. We're watching too much Kablam! here in this house.
Anyway -- it's only 9am and I've managed to spew out this much content. I need to surf for some resumes and figure out what's going on for fun today.
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