Ten Pin and A Coke

"Tonight, WE BOWL!" - Adrian Zmed as Johnny Nogerelli, Grease 2

Last night I attended a bowling tournament hosted by some really cool people in another division of my company. It was a United Way fundraising event for the company's adopt-a-family portion of their fundraising.

The Decoder had wanted to go up, so he offered to drive. It actually worked out perfectly because he had stuff to do and I had work to catch up on after a day of meetings. So he came back later, with "Mindy" and off we went to Super Pin or Super Play or some such place on Dufferin just south of the 401.

Mindy was a really really nice girl who I liked a lot. She was asking me about my cats, and was quite amused by all my stories about how they came to be with me, and how in general, cats just seem to find me. After a scrumptous chicken dinner at a place I'd never heard of, we went to the bowling alley and got started. We had a fourth team member called "Tom", whom my niece will be very impressed to know works on post production for Max and Ruby, one of her favourite shows.

Tom used to work in a bowling alley as a kid and hadn't bowled for about 13 years, when he met a guy at a mutual friend's birthday party who also wanted to start bowling again. He's only been back at it since March. Tom was unbelievable, spinning the ball like baseball pitcher, curving it in at the last minute and getting strike after strike.

I've really been feeling a lot better lately on my anti-depressants. The primary thing is I'm sleeping through the entire night now, and that makes all the difference. So in feeling better, I'm trying to take advantage of fun corporate events where I can meet people I normally wouldn't encounter in the course of a day. I really enjoyed myself last night. Mindy and I gabbed and I did something I rarely do. I got a Coke to drink. Of course, I'm paying for it in Sudafed today, but it was still worth it. It was fun just hanging around and meeting new people.

Of course, the Decoder totally kicked my ass. But this was only because I discovered all too late a 9 lb bowling ball that had holes small enough for my fingers to fit into. Once I actually started having control of the ball, I was kicking some serious ass, scoring 122 on my last game. This is very good apparently as according to the Decoder, you basically have bragging rights on anything above 120.

After the tournament, we gathered as a group for the awarding of the tournament trophy to the highest scorer, which was, surprise surprise, Tom. They had made up this hilarious trophy made out of a bowling pin with a big huge fake green gem on top. Apparently the winner gets it for 30 days after which it is displayed in a company vault for all to see.

While all this was going on, I asked the Decoder if he and Mindy were seeing each other or if they were just friends. I asked this because, well, I'm just nosy.

The Decoder replied "No comment." This is course is male code for "I can't live without her and if this doesn't work out I'll be devasted."

She's such a nice girl. He better get a move on and take it up a notch.

Sometimes a girl needs more than a fried chicken dinner and a night of bowling, know what I'm saying?