Snookered II – Haines, Alaska – [08/05/2015]

Right now, he’s probably behind her,
Balancing a pool cue
Teachin’ her how to shoot a combo…

Pool in Haines has become a tradition – what has also become traditional is that I usually lose. There have been games where I get locked out so badly that I don’t get a single shot after the break. I kid you not. Then there’s that random moment where things shift sideways…

You know, if you tell yourself you’re going to lose you will…you can totally do this.

I…

*ahem*

Okay…maybe I can.

There hit a point where I just looked at the table and couldn’t see a thing. I mean that’s not quite right, I could see the angles, I could see which ball was going to go where – but I couldn’t figure out how to strike them right; I was either using too much force or too little, and so every shot ricocheted. Finally I just looked at Amras and said

Okay…what would you do?

This is probably the first time I’ve actually asked him for help, I’m really way too proud; but I was at this point totally and utterly stuck. So he told me, and I actually put my stubbornness aside and listened…

Click…click…drop

Oh…so that’s how you do it.

Okay so it wasn’t that simple, it took me several tries to figure out what I was looking at; and I am still far from the best at concentrating on lining up a shot – Amras says my biggest problem is that I don’t take the time to think my shots through properly. When I do stop and work them through in my head, they actually do tend to go where I want them to. Or at least they’re starting to. This was something of a surprise to me as usually the games end up with him shooting for the 8 ball and me with five colours still on the table. This time, we were both aiming for the 8.

Your shot hun…

And he steps back from the table to take a sip of his beer and continue the conversation he was having with one of the other musicians who was hanging out at the same bar as us; I line up the shot, take a very deep breath…and send the 8 ball spinning perfectly into the side pocket.

For a second I just kind of stood there staring at where it had disappeared.

Did I…really just do that?

Good game ma’am

And he just grins at me, obviously rather proud.

I won! I actually won all on my own! I don’t think I’ve ever done that before..

Aaaand what does that mean you get to say to me?

And I stand so that I’m nose to nose with him; and say without any menace whatsoever, what he has been saying to me for the last three weeks’ worth of games:

Rack ‘em up…loser

Sometimes it is absolutely about the little things.

Like winning 4 out of 7 games…