Bowling

All the pretty balls lined up and ready to go.

Last night we were able to go bowling with some of Paul's friends from work.  Real bowling is sooooo much harder/different than Wii bowling!  :)  We hadn't actually been bowling in a real bowling alley in a loooooong time...like, since before we were married.  So our scores weren't the best.  In fact, they were kinda laughable.  But we had fun, anyway.  It really only would have been better if it had been COSMIC bowling!

His militant stance.  :)

Paul picks the heaviest ball he can (like his 16-pound ball last night), and he has a great first few frames because heaviness + speed = scared pins that fall down on their own.  But after those first few pins, he has a really hard time not getting gutter balls.  He tried lighter balls, but his fingers got stuck and the balls bounced on the alley once, twice, and into the gutter.  His second best frame was the last one, a granny shot between the legs that he didn't even care about--and got nine pins down on the first try!

I'm so goofy-looking!

Me, on the other hand, I pick the absolute lightest ball I can find that my fingers will even sort of fit into (like my 8-pound ball last night), and I have a terrible first few frames because I'm getting used to the swing of my arm and the angles my throw naturally has.  Then I start to pick up a little in the third or fourth frame, and I get the occasional strike followed by the occasional 4-7 point frame, kinda inconsistent, and all the points are usually from the first throw because I can't aim the ball well enough to actually hit the balls that are left.  And, occasionally, I have an entire gutter frame.  And I always either break a nail or make my knuckles achy.  But my score is more consistent than Paul's, so I usually win by at least 20 points anyway. 

At least we LOOK good.  :)

If it was wii bowling, though--we'd totally have kicked everyone else's trash!  :)

Afterward, Paul spotted this arcade game...

He's actually frighteningly good at shooting things, which is interesting but not surprising since he WAS in the ROTC since his high school days.  It was interesting to see him scope out the enemies, and it's nice to know that he could protect me if he had to, and if we had a gun nearby.  He played this single game for 8 or 9 minutes, which is fascinating because I've never been good at video/arcade games so I didn't even know the games lasted that long!  Hahaha.  I, on the other hand, have this thing about guns that just makes me feel uncomfortable holding one anyway (even water guns sometimes), especially when aiming them at real (or real-looking) people, and so I admired his work...from afar.  :) 

All in all, it was a really fun evening!  It wasn't our typical date night, but that's not a bad thing.  It was fun to get to know some of his coworkers and to see him in his "work face" mode...y'know, some people are a little different depending on what crowd they're around, and to see him cracking jokes with them and his good-natured losing at bowling made me appreciate all he does to be a good leader at work and to provide for us right now.  I'm looking forward to the next get-together!