Pissed Off and Spoke Up

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am short on time to play my final 7 straight pool matches by the end of Oct because of all my travels this month.  It literally have 5 days at the end of the month to play 7 straight pool matches.

So when I got back early from a weekend jaunt this past weekend, I decided to try to fit in 2-3 straight pool matches on Sunday.  Although I was EXTREMELY exhausted, I HAD to try and fit in a few matches or else I would be way to stressed out come the end of Oct.

Risk versus Reward.

Tired and not playing matches Versus risk losing matches because I'm tired.  Ugh.

The first match Sunday afternoon I started off badly.  So badly, I almost quit the season right there.

Yep, seriously.

I was upset at non-pool things, and extremely tired.  I was losing and playing bad, and I was already worried about if I could fit the rest of my matches in this season.

If I was to lose this match, then why play the second match that day? (which was a tougher match.) Further, I wasn't even sure if I could play all 5 of my other matches anyway.  That would mean really horrible stats for me this season.  :(

But, I finally got some kind of fire in me and after being down16-28 in almost 25 innings, I ran 7 then 13 then 12, etc, and secured my win 100-56.

I'm glad I pulled through the funk at the start of the match!

My next match Sunday afternoon was against The Talker.  Match #2. 

As you may recall, I wrote about him before.  He asked a slow player to take more risks to speed up their match.  The Talker was agitated over the slow player's slow play. 

I was already apprehensive about playing The Talker.  He's tough to fade.  Yep.  Because he talks too much.

Even before we played he said, "We are tied in wins so this will be the tie breaker."

Huh?

Why say that to me?

Why say anything at all like that?

As we start to play, I'm playing good!  I am up 22 to 5.

:)

Yay me!

Then instead of a safe, I go for a bank.  Normally I would play safe, but I already know he hates slow games and he already made a comment about how slow our match started off.

I missed the bank and that gave him a shot and then he ran 13.

Boy was I mad at myself!!

After all these years I haven't learned to play my game?  I let his comments get to me?  Was it because I was ahead I took that risk?  If it was close, I don't care what his words would have been.

So I was really upset at myself.

This gives him new blood.  I even overhear him tell his wife, "and I was about to give up."

Ugh!

He gets close in score and shares with me, "Ooooh, almost even."

I made another mistake and he again capitalized.  He gets ahead of me 31 to 36 and says, "Oh, now I'm ahead."

Why say that?

Seriously?

Do I point out when I'm kicking his a$$? 

Seriously.

Why does he think his comments are okay?

He talks every single shot.  To himself.  To anyone that can hear him.  He will tell himself, "What was I thinking?" 

Or, he will sit in his chair and talk to his wife.  Too bad he doesn't talk softly.  His voice carries.  Loudly.

Or he will make a comment after I miss.

I missed a shot because I'm rattled and he tells me as he walks to the table, "Wow, you really do like me."

Seriously??

WTF was that?

I finally can't stand it anymore and snap back to him, "Just stop talking.  Seriously.  You don't have to say anything at all."

His response:  laughter.  He laughs all the time.  And he just has a great time playing pool.  Talking, laughing, talking, laughing.

At this point I'm down about 42 to 58.

I'm still upset with myself, still getting more perturbed at him.  Upset in general.

Then he misses a great break out and shouts at the balls as he looks at the table, "Get bad! Don't leave her a shot!"

I go to the table, stunned.  I am SO livid.  I have no shot (of course).  Even tho he just broke out all the balls, I have no shot.

He's giggling in his chair and saying something out loud to the sweaters and I mumble, "Well, you got your wish."

I was so mad, I bet I was spitting.

He says, "what?"  All happily and smiling toward me.

I reply, "I asked you to be quiet and yet you still continue to talk."

He apologizes and by now I am just stunned.

Not only am I losing to a guy who I am allowing to shark me, I am now upset because I've confronted him.

Sure, it wasn't a fist fight or yelling, but this non-confrontational girl is now upset because I had to tell someone to basically shut up (again!). 

Why say anything at all when playing in a match?  Why tell me why you missed or that my miss was unexpected?

Why "thank" me for missing.  I'm already down in the match.  Is that necessary?  Is it necessary to say anything?  Anything at all?

Sure.  I let his words bother me.

I fully admit it.

But I find it pretty freaking ironic The Talker asked the slow player to change his game because it was annoying to him, yet he talks and talks and talks and his etiquette is out the window.  He has no respect.  Zero.

Sure, he's just an extrovert and he handles misses with laughter and thinks pool is just "fun."

But etiquette goes a long way.

And I want to focus on pool - NOT his inappropriate words.

Yes, he definitely rattled my cage.

Normally things that are my fault I will just fess up,  But I am FED up with his excessive talking while either he's at the table or I am.  It's uncalled for.

And yes, I'm still pissed!

I wonder if he is aware he is sharking people?  I wonder if he knows he gets under their skin?

I really, really wonder....

BTW, I tried as hard as I could to come back in the match and beat him!  I could tell he felt bad after I asked him AGAIN to stop talking.  He knew I was upset and he missed more.  He won only 100-83 and he's LUCKY toward the end of the match that I missed 3 balls, had 2 scratches and 2 miscues or else I would have won.  Dammit.

I want to state one more thing:  these learning experiences are extremely frustrating!!!  :-( :-(

Photo: Raffle Ticket Stamp

One of the more cooler and clever things I've seen! 

One of the Ladies OB Cues Tour regulars often supports the tour by buying lots of raffle tickets.

His last name is very long.  So, instead of having to write his long name and phone number over 100 times on raffle tickets, per 6-8 events a year, he had a stamp made!

He now stamps the info on each raffle ticket! 

He bought this stamp for this sole purpose several years ago.  I caught him in action at the last tour stop and wanted to share his cleverness!

(click on images to enlarge)

League Yikes

As many of you know, my Mom passed away in mid August.  I therefore haven't felt like playing in my straight pool league so I haven't played any matches in a month and a half.  I figured I wasn't mentally prepared to compete.  So, why play before I was ready?

I emailed the league director to see how much time we have left this season, because I couldn't remember if it was the end of Oct or into Nov.  I explained my Mom had passed and I had a lot of trips coming up in October.  He replied, "Hi  Melinda, League is over the end of October. Good luck."

Wow.

That's it.

I was pretty taken aback.

No help, no sympathy, no extension, no nothing.

So as I looked at my calendar, with all the trips in October, I only have the last full week of October to play 7 matches.

OMG... Really??

To top it off,Tue, Wed and Thu evenings are taken up with other leagues, so I would only have 5 days to play 7 matches.

Luckily, I played a match two Fridays ago (won 100-74), but how in the world would I get 7 matches in in 5 days?  And at the same time be effective and not too tired to play so many in a short time period?

Let's face it, straight pool matches can last 2-3 hours.  That's a lot of focus in 5 days!

I am more miffed tho that he didn't give a reprieve of some sort.  He gave me his sympathies in person a few weeks back, but via email about the league he offered no help or even an offer to see if we could work something out.  I don't need any excuses for not playing, but the reason is justified.

Oh well, I'll just see what I can do.  I admit I almost felt like quitting.  I wont be able to finish the season off well or maybe get all my matches in any way.  But... I will still try.  Even without help.  :(