Wow, it's been almost a year since I last wrote on this thing. So much has happened in the past year (both on and off the lanes) that I wouldn't have enough room to even fit 1/10th of it. Here's a short rundown:

• April-May of last year was spent retooling my RH game. A lot of effort went into that. I made some videos that I'll try to get up on here sometime.
  
• Went to the kids' states in Warner-Robbins, GA last May. Had a blast as usual. The kids bowled well overall. Man, I miss them terribly.
• Took one of my junior bowlers to a Junior Gold qualifier in Atlanta. He was wanting to bowl the handicap side, but nobody else showed, so he threw his name into the scratch part and ended up 14 out of 16...and he had the lowest entering average of 160. I was quite proud of him.
  
• Moved to North Carolina (Hampstead, actually) June of last year to be closer to my parents. Almost split up with my wife in mid-June
  
• Moved my wife down mid-July last year (what an adventure that was - driving a truck with no box lights - it's a wonder I didn't get a ticket).
• Ended up separating from my wife last month, but for all intents and purposes, in my eyes, we've been done since just before Christmas.

As for on the lanes, this year has been phenomenal for me. I bowl once a week on a scratch league on Monday nights. I brought my 215 from Georgia (for all of 24 games). I felt I would be fortunate to even come close to holding that average. Well, I've exceeded my own expectations, something that's usually been difficult to accomplish before. I really don't know what's changed my attitude, but whatever it is, I'm thankful for it.

As of this past Monday, I'm carrying a 221 average, and again, I'm only bowling once a week. The first night of bowling I shot a 298 (and received a chinsy 11 in a row plaque to boot) - got a little quick on the last ball. The rest of the year has been great, save for a 4 week mini-slump. So far I've had about 9 700's, which is more than I've had the past 8 years combined. I've had 7 clean series, not just games (I've probably had 40 clean games out of 63). I will say that the shot I face isn't exactly difficult, in fact, it's somewhat easier than the one I bowled on last year. But still, my 221 currently is 6th best in the league out of 60 bowlers.

I think a lot of my success this season has to do with two main factors; one, I finally learned (with the help of some great people over at BowlingCommunity.com) how to finally work myself into a more relaxed armswing with a better pushaway and two, I finally stopped getting ridiculously mad at myself and am controlling my temper much better. The armswing problem, I think, led to my original problem last year with the sore shoulder. I still have some room for improvement, but ultimately, I'm much better than before. As for my attitude, well, as I mentioned, I'm not sure what helped me change. Maybe it was working with the juniors so closely last year. Maybe it was shooting my 800 last year. Maybe it was having to bowl left-handed for 8 weeks that gave me an appreciation of my abilities as a RH, or maybe even some stuff translated over. Or perhaps it was the fact that finally, at age 33, I matured. Whatever it was, like I said, I'm thankful for it. Do I get mad still? Oh, sure, but it's not as frequent, for one, and for two, it doesn't last long. I try to have a "short memory" whether it was a good shot or bad, so I don't try to live in the past. Maybe that was it all along; quit living in the past. Well, for this post, that's a good lesson and a good place to end. Onto the future....

Well, I'm back on the comeback trail right-handed. My shoulder has healed and I made some adjustments to my equipment (went with 1/8" forward in the thumb instead of 5/16-3/8" reverse), and it's made a world of difference. I now have more "easy revs" from the right side than I did pre-injury, and I'm getting back to my 2000 form when I was really bowling well; that is, with a good bit of revs and the ability to adjust my tilt and rotation. I have better accuracy than I had 7 years ago, so that's a bit helpful.

Now, I'm not setting any scoring records during my comeback of only 6 games, but I'm just trying to "reinvent myself" a little - which is to say I'm trying to learn to loosen my swing a little more and stay in the ball as long as possible. Last week was my first week back and it was consistent; 182-208-214 for a 604. I was seeing more revs on both of my redrilled balls and it was tough to control them at times (Ebonite Xxxcel and Brunswick Command Zone). I used to be in the 320 RPM range at 15.5-16 MPH but now I'm up to the 400 RPM range at 16.8-17.2 MPH. That's a huge difference in power and reaction. This past Tuesday, I shot 197-161-244 for a 602. The 197 was a "dutch-esque" game; couldn't strike on the right lane until the 10th frame. The 161 has 2 opens but a 3 count on a spare (tossed the ball into the OOB - out of bounds), and the 244 was clean. In fact, that 244 game, every subsequent ball I was rolling the ball better than the last, with my slide lessening to the 2-4" range that makes me effective and my turn out of the ball delayed more and more until it was around my heel. That's something I haven't done since 2000.

I'm adding a Storm Shift to my "collection" this weekend. Rarely do I ever get "wooed" by a ball, but this one is an exception. It looks like something I could use to stay inside the track that's controllable, yet still carries a wallop even on softer backends.