Last Thursday I had my final midterm and then headed straight for St. Louis, Illinois. People say it´s a seven hour drive but I made it in 6 hours 45 minutes including a real long stop at the slowest gas pump in history, let´s just say I could count faster than the machine pumped. When I had driven about half way it started pouring and driving 80 mp/h but I finally made it just after 10 p.m. and went straight to bed, which seemed like a good idea at the time but after the 8 o´clock wakeup call, my back was locked. I could not twist my back at all, which was really bad news, cause I had to play in two hours. When I got to St. Clairs bowling center I found out that we were playing the Kegel "Boardwalk" oil pattern which is 35 fet with big volume of oil, and I went to the event with the idea in my head that we would be playing at least on a 40 ft. pattern, so in the first four games I could only use my total inferno until the 5th game the lanes were open enough to play 25-4. With my back so locked I couldn´t really open up and playing the gutter is hard, over these six games I had about 11 gutterballs and a lot of trouble with right hand spares and ended shooting 180 under. Scores were pretty high, the cut for top 4 was 1334 and Wichita had 1st and 4th spots so at least 2 men shockers will be representing.
I placed 99th which is not very good but considering the circumstances I´m okay with it. Good experience goes a long way. The following day I had a PBA Regional tournament, and I´m the first Icelander to partake in such tournament, which is kinda exciting. The tournament was held at a army air force base, and getting clearance for the weekend was a lot of waiting. Once I got the pass I was able get into the base and to the bowling center and check inn. Playing in a PBA tournament has a lot of requirements, such as a approved shirt with your name on it and only pba approved equipment and a PBA patch on your right hand shoulder. Once the practice began before the squad started my back really hurt but I was able to loosen it up but still was pretty bad. The pattern we played was the Viper, 37ft and your suppose to be able to play it from many angles but I had to open up the lane to play a lot of angle, I was fortunate to be playing with a very nice fellow called Jeffrey Gentry Jr. and playing with him was a blast, and he´s thinking about coming to Iceland so you could say that I managed to network. I started real bad with a 141 and after 4 games I had 642 ( which is really bad) however game 5 I had a 230 ( which dould have been a 240 but had a ringing 10 pin in the 10th and in game 7 I had a 240 ( which should have been a 250 if it weren´t for a stone 9 pin. I finished the round -100 which is all right, considering it was my first pba tournament and due to my back problem!
After the tournament I went back to St. Clair's bowl to watch the team event and it was really cool actually seeing it. However, I didn´t stay there for long cause I wanted to head home before dark. The drive home went real smooth cause over half the way and all the way to Kansas City ( which is not in the state of Kansas) I was driving along side of a black Camaro and we were driving together very synchronized and it was fun, both time and miles just went flying by and I made the drive in record time without exceeding the speed limit to much. The important thing is I got "home" safe and sound.
Returning "home" was a treat as this week is spring break or as known Easter break so a lot of sleeping and relaxing; however, the cafeteria is closed so I´ve been living on cereal and campbell´s soup with a couple of exceptions including Hooters, Chili´s and McDonald's and I have stay on that "great" diet until Monday when the cafeteria reopens.
I think I´m not gonna keep this any longer, finally got my microphone working so I´m able to talk to family and friends online...
That´s all folks
Stefán
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