We didn't get a chance to do much for Father's Day with our daughter who lives locally. When schedules conflicted, we decided to punt our plans until today. It was the most logical day to do things together, since today was her birthday. We picked an activity that we haven't participated in lately (for two years, come to think of it), in a location we never tried before. We went bowling at an "entertainment complex" in town.
We learned a few things about bowling in a place that doesn't specialize in it as a sport, namely that the lanes aren't built to competition specs. The first time I tried to roll the ball, I stopped short and nearly pitched forward onto my face. There was a smushed piece of food on the lane (they allowed food service all the way down by the pit!), and I thought that was what caused it. I asked an employee to clean it up, and he did a good job of getting rid of it, but I still wasn't able to slide properly. I assumed it was just me being old and stiff and out of practice. But the other two struggled as well. Eventually I figured out that the approach to the lanes was actually vinyl (while the lanes themselves were wood). They just weren't slick enough. They were also short. We had to start bowling back by the scoreboard control. Halfway through the second game, we got a good look at how the pins reset. They were on strings, and they were pulled up and out of the way. While it might save hassle on pins getting caught in the traditional kind of setter, it means that you don't get the same kind of action that can spin and knock out a split, for example. It was kind of cool bowling together as a family, but I think if we try again, we can go to a real lane, rather than an arcade version.
My arms are tired, as is my brain. If I'm lucky I can fall asleep quickly before it really sinks in how old my daughter is, and how old that means *I* am. The years are zipping by, and I don't want to let that thought gain a foothold on me.
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