Was there english on that?

"Why yes in fact there was." was my response last night in the 3rd and final game last night playing an old friend in my first match of the 8 ball season.

Let's rewind just a lil bit. I was nervous. Why? I'm gonna lose. I can accept that and we move on. I had a nervous stomach and I couldn't focus at work. So I went to the bar early to warm up. The warm up I did made me feel the folks wintering over in Antartica in a particularly bad winter. I sucked. Couldn't cut a ball in. I don't know if it was the nerves or what, but I reflected on where I was "at" last season. I looked back on what I believed and what I thought about myself. Nobody was there that I knew so I could think. I, in contrast to my nerves, felt pretty good.

Then we started and I ate. And I ate. I ended up getting matched with Mike Smith from my Outlook days. It was just nice to catch up. Also when he snookered me it was nice that I knew him well enough to look at him and go: "DICK!" and he just laughed.

First game came down to the 8 ball. I had the shot. It was clean clear and I missed the ball completely fouling and giving up the game.

Game two I won. It wasn't pretty or anything.

Game three I got snookered and I tried something mildly risky that I used to think I couldn't really do. It worked out. People gasped. I had left safe and when he completed his turn I had the shot. I ran out the rest of the table. (not that it was a huge run or anything) The cue came right up to the 8 at the end and I dropped it. It was one of my best games.

Looking back and looking forward, I've never been happier were I'm at and where I'm headed. Never.