Spare time

I've commented on my declining abilities in playing softball and accordingly I have reduced my playing time. I do like physical activity which is really a productive time killer. Working out and swimming at the gym fills some of that time but it's not what you'd call fun. One day I'd like to take up golf but it doesn't come naturally to me. That doesn't seem to stop the majority of golfers I've seen at driving ranges and golf courses.

So what else is out there? Basketball (never that good - too much running); Hockey (you need ice and huge gloves); Lacrosse (not a weekend sport for the middle aged); Soccer (foreign to me); Tennis (possibly..played recently and did OK. Would like to play more doubles)..There are other "sports" like jogging, boxing, karate & dodge ball - but who cares?

So that takes me into one of the possibilities. Our 3-person family was together this weekend to celebrate a birthday and we decided to go bowling!! Yes, bowling. Mmmmm, time killing potential I think. We actually have the equipment as we had been on leagues years ago and there are a couple of local bowling alleys. Caution - when you go to "open bowling" on a rainy weekend you may have a few kids to deal with. The lanes are now controlled by computer scoring and automatic "bumpers" that pop up when one of those cute six year olds KICKS the 6-lb ball down the lane. They don't always reach the pins. I used the kids' free-for-all behavior as an excuse for my mediocre performance, however, I still did have fun.

Not thinking of joining a league or anything drastic but I would like to find some time to go bowl when the median age is over 14. I guess you have to go at night but then I've seen they turn out the lights for midnight bowl. I'm not sure if you can consider this a sport as you can drink alcohol while playing and it actually improves your performance. Speaking of which I have to mention our family's youngest non-regular bowler bowled a 144 (ok, not a great score but he had 5 strikes)..Damn, those bumpers really work!!