{"id":3871,"date":"2015-08-16T17:54:59","date_gmt":"2015-08-17T00:54:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=3871"},"modified":"2015-08-16T17:54:59","modified_gmt":"2015-08-17T00:54:59","slug":"snookered-ii-haines-alaska-08052015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=3871","title":{"rendered":"Snookered II \u2013 Haines, Alaska \u2013 [08\/05\/2015]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ec291e7d75b256befcf09b9823e3908f\"<\/a>Right now, he\u2019s probably behind her,
\nBalancing a pool cue
\nTeachin\u2019 her how to shoot a combo\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Pool in Haines has become a tradition \u2013 what has also become traditional is that I usually lose. There have been games where I get locked out so badly that I don\u2019t get a single shot after the break. I kid you not. Then there\u2019s that random moment where things shift sideways\u2026<\/p>\n

You know, if you tell yourself you\u2019re going to lose you will\u2026you can totally do this. <\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

*ahem*<\/em><\/p>\n

Okay\u2026maybe I can.<\/em><\/p>\n

There hit a point where I just looked at the table and couldn\u2019t see a thing. I mean that\u2019s not quite right, I could see<\/em> the angles, I could see which ball was going to go where \u2013 but I couldn\u2019t 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<\/p>\n

Okay\u2026what would you do?<\/em><\/p>\n

This is probably the first time I\u2019ve actually asked him for help, I\u2019m 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\u2026<\/p>\n

Click\u2026click\u2026drop<\/em><\/p>\n

Oh\u2026so that\u2019s<\/em> how you do it.<\/p>\n

Okay so it wasn\u2019t that<\/em> 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 \u2013 Amras says my biggest problem is that I don\u2019t take the time to think my shots through properly. When I do<\/em> stop and work them through in my head, they actually do tend to go where I want them to. Or at least they\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n

Your shot hun\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

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\u2026and send the 8 ball spinning perfectly into the side pocket.<\/p>\n

For a second I just kind of stood there staring at where it had disappeared.<\/p>\n

Did I\u2026really just do that?<\/em><\/p>\n

Good game ma\u2019am<\/em><\/p>\n

And he just grins at me, obviously rather proud.<\/p>\n

I won! I actually won all on my own! I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever done that before..<\/em><\/p>\n

Aaaand what does that mean you get to say to me?<\/em><\/p>\n

And I stand so that I\u2019m nose to nose with him; and say without any menace whatsoever, what he has been saying to me for the last three weeks\u2019 worth of games:<\/p>\n

Rack \u2018em up\u2026loser<\/em><\/p>\n

Sometimes it is absolutely about the little things.<\/p>\n

Like winning 4 out of 7 games\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Right now, he\u2019s probably behind her, Balancing a pool cue Teachin\u2019 her how to shoot a combo\u2026 Pool in Haines has become a tradition \u2013 what has also become traditional is that I usually lose. There have been games where … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alaska","category-northern-exposure-2015"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-10r","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3871"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3873,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3871\/revisions\/3873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}