Boy...I Suck At Pool

If you play pool, you may notice something in the above picture. There's the cue ball, of course, then all the colored and numbered pool balls.

Last weekend we drove a few counties over to visit friends we haven't seen for too long. We talked, caught up, and when I took the tour of their new-ish-for-them home, they cleared off the pool table. 

Ah, pool. 

It's a game I'd love to be good at.

Growing up, ours was not a home that had a pool table. I had friends with pool tables (and other toys, like boats and trampolines...), but I don't remember playing a lot of pool as a kid.

I once lived in a house that had a pool table. In college me and a few friends rented a house a couple of blocks from the University of Utah. Roommates would come and go and one roommate moved in and he brought with him a pool table. We set it up in the main room.

It was great.

Many have seen those amazing pool shorts made by professionals where they make the pool balls dance and shimmy and go exactly where they want them to go. Understanding how to master the game seems simple--it's all angles and force applied. Doing that, is a completely different story. 

At my friends, we racked up the balls and played a few games. The pictures you see are of the game almost done. It's almost over because all but one of the striped balls is on the table. The rest--all the other colored balls--they're solids, and they're all mine.

I'm okay with that. I had a blast playing. Sure, it's frustrating knowing where I needed to hit the cue ball so it would strike the other balls and go where you want them to go. But, I don't have a pool table in my home so I don't get to practice those shots.

One day, if we ever do get a pool table, I might find myself playing a game with a friend and I may be up on him/her to the point where I have one left and they have several. 

That'll be a fun day.