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Too Fast a Start
2005-09-09, 1:08 p.m.

Day 383 Too fast a start

Much to my chagrin, bowling started out waaayy to well. Knew it was going to be one of those nights when my very first warm up shot was a strike. So was the third, 4th, and about 2/3 of the shots I took in warm ups. Started throwing spare shots with a full rack of pins up there just to avoid getting more strikes.

Once the first game started I was so zeroed in it hurt. Never missed the 1-3 pocket the entire first game. Shot nothing but 9�s and strikes � 12 in a row actually. Missed a couple of spares to end up at 226. When your lifetime average is only 175, you don�t like to start out like that. Consequently, my next two games were a little more reserved. Missed a spare or two, babied a shot or three, rifled a few more a little too quick. Managed to get my average to settle in at 182 by the end of the night. That�s a wee bit aggressive, but I think it�s maintainable. I hope.

Dave had a rough night. I actually beat him. Was only a 5 pin margin, but it�s a rare event. That also means I now have the highest average on our team. That ought to last for a whole week. Dave is starting about 30 pins below his long term average. I know he was messing around with shot selection last night, trying to see how the lanes were reacting.

That�s another thing. The bowling alley has finally switched over to synthetic lanes. Until last night I had never bowled on synthetics, only real wood. There are pluses and minuses with the synthetic lane. The biggest advantage would be the consistency from lane to lane. Wood lanes were all very individual, their reactions & conditions a little different, even if the maintenance was the same.

Made it in to the gym again this morning. That makes it 5 of the last 9, with 3 of those being the Labor Day weekend. Have plans to get in at least one day this weekend. Even if I don�t make it to the Y, I can get in a nice weight session at home. Made up a chart to keep track of exercise progression, then I can enter the workout into the FitLinxx system and let it still track all my work. Nice option.

Cindy�s hitting the bottle again. I�m sure she thinks it�s not noticeable, but she�d be wrong. She�s toying around with an extremely dangerous situation. She was supposed to go in for blood testing Tuesday. Since then, she�s been sucking down booze most every night. Even with her dad still with us. Scary part is that her dad is flying back to sunny Florida Saturday morning. With out him around to temper her drinking habit even a little bit, I fear for how much she may start consuming.

Next weekend, I�m heading off to a friends cottage for a little walleye fishing. I don�t think our friends wife is going, so Cindy probably won�t be going either. That leaves her home alone, Fri. and Sat. nights. She may try to hook up with Louise while Frank & I are ripping lips, but that�ll probably interfere with her drinking plans. Louise does drink. She favors nice hearty Merlots � and only a glass or two in the evening. I imagine Cindy will be getting the usual 1.75 liter of Canadian Leaf and a few 2 liter bottles of ginger ale, then try to make them disappear before Frank & I get back Sunday.

Frank and I will no doubt do our share of drinking. But we�ll also be out on a boat most of each day. In NY, you can get a ticket for operating a boat while under the influence, and Frank & I are relatively sane people, so I doubt there�ll be much if any beer out in the boat. However, when we get back at the cottage and settle in for the night, all bets are off. We�ll be eating well too. Frank & I are both decent cooks, and with any luck there�ll be fresh fish to be grilled. Just have to worry about veggies & rice or something.

The problem with the whole weekend is contact. If I remember correctly, there is no telephone at the cottage. That leaves cell phones. However, lakes are conveniently located at the bottom of valleys, which can leave them in a pocket with no cell signal. I think we�ve had success using cell phones at their cottage before. I�ll just have to risk soaking my phone and take it out in the boat with me. I really worry that Cindy is going to get drunk then fall and hurt herself. If she�s taking her coumadin like she should, and it reacts with alcohol the way it did a couple of weeks ago, if she falls, she�s risking internal bruising & bleeding. If she passes out after falling (it�s happened), she may not come to in time to call for help.

I don�t know if I should skip the fishing weekend (which she has blessed, btw) just to keep an eye on her, or if I should go, but call her every couple of hours in the evening to make sure she�s at least on the couch in one piece. I see the potential for resentment from her in either case. If I do nothing, there is the potential for resentment from everybody � because I wasn�t there to take care of her or fix things. If she should happen to hurt herself and I�m not there, well, I�d resent the decision too. On the other hand, if I stay, that�s sending a message that I don�t trust Cindy to behave and take care of herself. (It�s true, I just don�t think it�s necessary rub her nose in it)

I�ll ask her a couple of times during the next week if she�s going to be ok while I�m off with Frank. Find a way to somehow suggest that she ought to lay off the booze while I�m gone at least. Remind her what happened to her clotting times the last time she went on a mini-bender. Also remind her how often she�s fallen up or down the stairs while she�s been loopy.

After all, she is an adult and should be responsible for her own actions and the consequences of same. If she wants to drink herself to death, she could probably do it with or without my help.

How am I ever going to enjoy that fishing trip?

383 days under the belt. The belt that�s smaller by 4 inches.


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