Stand!
In the end you’ll still be you
One that’s done all the things you set out to do

Stand!
There’s a cross for you to bear
Things to go through if you’re going anywhere

Stand!
For the things you know are right
It’s the truth that the truth makes them so uptight

Stand!
All the things you want are real
You have you to complete and there is no deal

Stand, stand, stand!
Stand, stand, stand!

Stand!
You’ve been sitting much too long
There’s a permanent crease in your right and wrong

Stand!
There’s a midget standing tall
And the giant beside him about to fall

Stand, stand, stand!
Stand, stand, stand!

Stand!
They will try to make you crawl
And they know what you’re saying makes sense and all

Stand!
Don’t you know that you are free
Well at least in your mind if you want to be

Everybody
Stand!, stand!, stand!

Listen here

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Taking a break from blogging.
Please keep us in your minds and in your hearts.
Thank you for understanding and all your support.
Rod

When I was reading NKHEA’s captions and read how his sister-in-law dropped her camera along the railroad tracks, I was wondering, what if someone found her camera? How would they be able to track down the owner to return the camera?

By looking at the pictures in the camera, assuming it was a digital camera, they might be able to figure out it was a passenger on a cruise ship.  And if they could identify which cruise ship, maybe they could call the cruise lines and see if anyone reported a missing camera.  But that’s quite a long shot with the many cruise ships and passengers.

Then I thought, wouldn’t it be a good idea to write your name and phone number on a sheet of paper, and take a picture of that sheet of paper.  That way, if the finder views the pictures, by seeing the picture of the sheet of paper with your name and phone number, they’d know how to contact you to make arrangements to have the camera returned.  But if you use multiple memory cards, you’d have to take that picture for each memory card because you don’t know which card will be in the camera if/when you lose it.  And if there is a way to protect that picture, then when you delete old pictures from your card, that one with your contact information would always be there since it would be protected from being deleted.  I use a camera backpack for my digital SLR camera and I have a card in the backpack with my name and phone number in case I ever lose it and someone tries to return it.  In fact, I have a card in all my backpacks.

Another tip I learned was to take pictures of valuables around your house.  Jewelery, collectibles, serial numbers on electronics and computers, etc.  Then if, God forbid, your house is ever burglarized, you’ll have proof of your items and it’ll help the police identify your goods should they be recovered.

It’s also be a good idea to store the memory card of your inventory “off-site”, for example at a relative’s house or a safe deposit box.  Then if there is ever a house fire, you’ll have pictures of these items to show your insurance company to help determine your replacement value.

Have I done either of these tips yet?  No.  But hopefully someday, before it’s too late, I will do these things.  It’s like backing up your computer.  You always say your going to do it - but put it off -  until it crashes hard and you lose your data.  I think I need one of those new Macs with the Time Machine feature that does the automatic back ups.

What are some tips that you can share with us MLCer’s to help make our lives safer and simplier?  Because we all know that an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.

As I briefly mentioned in the Remembering Bowling Alleys blog entry, my first “puka head” I got was at at a bowling alley.  Boulevard Bowl - when I just under 5 years old.  My dad was bowling in the Pearl Harbor league there.  My older brother was doing the “spin in a circle until you get dizzy and fall down” thing, so of course I had to try it.  But when I fell down, I hit the base of my head on the corner of the ball polishing machine.  I screamed.  Blood was everywhere.  I remember my dad holding a blood stained handkerchief to my head to make the bleeding stop.  He was pissed because he had to take a dummy score for the rest of the night and take me home.  I never was taken to the hospital.  It just healed up on it’s own and left a small scar.  If I cut my hair too short at the base of my hairline, it shows.  So if I look like I have a mullet haircut - it’s actually to hide my scar.

Then later when I was in my teens, we were surfing at Lighthouse.  I took off too late on a wave and by the time I stood up, I was diving down the face of the wave - head first.  My board followed me.  Somewhere in the mix, I felt my board whack me in the back of my head.  I immediately rubbed the back of my head, as I came up I looked at my hands and saw clumps of hair - and blood.  As I pulled my board to me, I could see the swallow tail was shattered with my hair stuck in it.  My surfing buds knew I ate it and looked towards me and yelled “Bleeding?”.  I nodded yes and we all paddled in.

After showering off, I asked my friend if it looked bad and he said it wasn’t too bad.  So we headed to my mom’s work place but she was out of the office.  I asked the receptionist how it looked and she immediately said “You need to get to the emergency room.”  So we went to the emergency room and the doctor stitched it up. Then my friend tells me “Yeah, it looked pretty bad, but I didn’t want to scare you.”  Thanks.

The weird thing is that the ER doctor rolled up a piece of gauze, like a mini tampon, and stitched it on to my head right over the cut.  So after that, while I still had the tampon stuck to my head, when I rode in someone’s car and they shifted rough, my head tampon would hit the headrest and cause some pain.  But after about a week, the stitches came off - as well as the mini tampon.

As for tankobus or lumps - too numerous to recall.

I remember my father-in-law telling us a story about how my mother-in-law was taking things out of the car trunk.  Just as he was slamming the trunk lid down, my mother-in-law says “wait” and sticks her head right in the path of the trunk lid.  BOOM!  My mother-in-law thought it must’ve been a hot day because as she rubbed her head, she felt sweat.  But it wasn’t sweat.  Yup, bleeding.  Small kine so no stitches necessary.

Fast forward a few years - Paula, me, and the girls go to a bon dance at Windward mall.  It was raining lightly so I open the back gate of my Explorer to get the umbrellas - you already know where this is going, don’t you.  And just as I’m about to slam down the gate, Paula goes to reach in and BAM! - right on the head.  Luckily, no blood.  I felt so bad.  Especially after I said “Like mother, like daughter.”

So share your puka head stories.  I’m expecting my big brother to share with us why he no longer goes surfing on Thanksgiving Day.  If you didn’t get a puka head, you’ve must have at least got a tankobu once or twice.  No shame.  Wear your scars proudly! Tell us your stories.

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Yesterday, I had the pleasure of meeting fellow blogger Melissa Chang of Urban Mixed Plate - IRL.  Here’s a little picture of us showing off the latest issue of Homescapes magazine.

A flack & a hack 

Righteous?

Now don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t a super religious guy back then, but that’s one of the words that we used to say - back in the day.

Which got me thinking of other words or terms we used to use back then, such as:

Far out - “That is so far out!”
Bitchin’ - “It was a bitchin’ wave”
Geev ‘um - “Go for it brah, geev ‘um”
Fast - “Us country girls not fast like you town guys” (Thanks for that one, Barb)
Boss - “It’ll roll, it’ll toss, the hula hoop is really boss”
Neato - “Wow, neato!”
Ice out - “We went ice out LB”
Trip - “Da guy was one trip”
Trippin’ - “Nah, they not going steady, they just trippin’”
Bag - “Eh you guys, I going bag.  See you tomorrow.”

Okay, that should get you folks started.  What other words or terms do you recall using back in the day?  If you can, use it in a sentence or give the definition.  Slangs allowed, but no racial slurs.  And keep it clean.

Maybe you don’t recognize his name, but maybe you recognize some of these titles:

• Hawaiian Surfing Movie (1953)
• Hawaiian Holiday (1954)
• Hawaiian Surf Movie (1955)
• Trek to Makaha (1956)
• The Big Surf (1957)
• Surf Down Under (1958)
• Cat on a Hot Foam Board (1959)
• Surf Happy (1960)
• Spinning Boards (1961)
• Cavalcade of Surf (1962)
• Gun Ho! (1963)
• Locked In! (1964)
• You’ll Dance in Tahiti (1967)
• Going Surfin’ (1973)

Honestly, the only Bud Browne movie that I saw was Going Surfin’.  And what a surf movie it was.  In my book, Going  Surfin’ ranks even higher than 5 Summer Stories.  In fact, since I thought the movie was so good, I went out and bought the soundtrack.

Yup, that’s an LP, not a CD.  And if anyone knows where I can get a copy of Going Surfin’ on DVD, I’ll be eternally grateful.

By Dennis McLellan, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
July 29, 2008

Bud Browne, a onetime Venice Beach lifeguard who became known as “the father of surf films” after he began showing his 16-millimeter surf movies commercially up and down the California coast in the early 1950s, has died. He was 96.

Browne died in his sleep Friday at his home in San Luis Obispo, said his close friend Anna Trent Moore, daughter of surfing legend Buzzy Trent.

Bud Browne began shooting footage on 8- and 16-millimeter cameras in the late 1940s. He screened his first film, the 45-minute-long “Hawaii Surfing Movies,” in California beach towns in 1953.  Admission cost 65 cents.

“Bud created the genre of surf films,” Steve Pezman, publisher of the Surfer’s Journal, told The Times on Monday. “What was unique about Bud and his films was the water footage, and the fact that he lived with the surfers he was filming.

“All those surfers actually just loved the guy, and he was a great athlete himself.”

A former captain of the USC swim team who learned to surf while working as a lifeguard at Venice Beach in 1938, Browne bought an 8-millimeter movie camera two years later and began making home movies of his fellow surfers.
In 1947, after serving in the Navy during World War II, he upgraded his camera to a 16 millimeter Bell & Howell and got more serious about shooting the action on the waves, particularly during his annual trips to Hawaii.
Several years later — after working as a middle-school physical education teacher and attending the USC film school — Browne had enough footage to edit into a 45-minute movie.

With handmade posters nailed to telephone poles near local surf spots, he debuted his first film, “Hawaiian Surfing Movies,” at John Adams Middle School in Santa Monica in 1953.

Browne, who charged 65 cents admission, introduced his film onstage, then hurried back to the projection booth to narrate it via microphone with taped musical accompaniment.

A couple of other successful beach-town showings followed, and Browne gave up teaching to launch his career as a surf filmmaker.

Between 1953 and 1964, he released a new surf film each year, including “Trek to Makaha,” “The Big Surf,” “Surf Down Under,” “Cat on a Hot Foam Board,” “Surf Happy” and “Gun Ho!”

In the process, he captured on film longboard-era greats such as Phil Edwards, Miki Dora and Dewey Weber and first-generation shortboard heroes, including David Nuuhiwa and Gerry Lopez.

Browne, who shot big-wave action from the water with a waterproof camera housing of his own design, was known to be fearless.

“He was completely at home in the water,” Matt Warshaw, author of “The Encyclopedia of Surfing” and a former editor of Surfer magazine, told The Times on Monday. “With a camera cased in housing, he was willing to go out and take lumps and get angles no one else wanted to get.”

In a 2005 column in the Orange County Register, surfing champion Corky Carroll recalled “running over” Browne one day at Pipeline in Hawaii.

“He told me to surf like he wasn’t there, so I did,” Carroll wrote. “I am tucked deep into this monster barrel, and there is Bud, right in the way, filming me. I figured that he was gonna dive under before I ran him down. Wrong. He just stayed right here filming, and I took him out like a Greyhound bus nailing a highway dog.”

As a surf-film pioneer, Browne predated other early surf filmmakers such as Bruce Brown, Greg Noll and John Severson.

Brown, whose film “The Endless Summer” became a phenomenon after opening nationally in 1966, remembered watching Browne’s films as a teenager. In fact, Browne captured him on film surfing in Hawaii.

“That was a big deal to go to Bud’s movies and to see if you were in it,” Brown told The Times on Monday.

He held Browne in such esteem as “the originator” of commercial surf films that “when I got a chance to make one of my own, I went to Bud and said, ‘I don’t want to do it without your blessing.’ He said, ‘No problem; go for it.’ ”
Warshaw said the work of Browne and other early surf filmmakers was, to surfers, the equivalent of passing around a scrapbook.
“When Bud first came out, there weren’t even surf magazines,” he said. “Everyone was so starved to see imagery of surfing.”
Nicknamed “Barracuda” for his tall, slender build and the amount of time he spent in the water, Browne was known as a top body surfer. In the early ’60s, he was famous for body surfing at the Wedge in Newport Beach, the most dangerous body-surfing spot in California.
As a filmmaker, Pezman said, Browne “made a film record of the surf culture that he was intimate with.

“He was allowed inside as one of them, even though he was quite different than they were,” Pezman said.
“He was a traditional, old-school gentleman, and they were rambunctious rebels, but somehow they coexisted, and he recorded their lives and their culture as it expanded from a few hundred [surfers] in the ’50s to several million in the ’60s, and he and his films helped fan the flames of that growth,” he said.

Warshaw said Browne retired for a while in the mid-’60s, then came back in 1973 with what many consider his best film, “Going Surfin’.”

Browne also shot footage for Greg MacGillivray and Jim Freeman’s 1972 classic “Five Summer Stories” and was part of the team that filmed the surfing sequences for “Big Wednesday,” director John Milius’ 1978 feature film.

Born in Boston on July 14, 1912, Browne moved to Los Angeles in 1931 to major in physical education at USC.

Browne, who lived in Costa Mesa for many years before moving to San Luis Obispo three years ago, was inducted into the International Surfing Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Huntington Beach Surfing Walk of Fame in 1996.

He was honored in March at the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival for his contributions to surf films.

Moore, who said Browne remained active until he developed health problems due to diabetes, recalled that she and Browne went on three bungee-jumping trips to New Zealand together in the 1990s.

“He loved to bungee jump, and he bungee jumped until he was 86,” she said.

Browne, who never married, is survived by two nieces and a nephew.

At Browne’s request, close friends will scatter his ashes at Pipeline on Oahu.

A celebration of his life will be held at 7 p.m. Aug. 25 at Waimea Falls.

As at tribute to Bud Browne - let’s recall our surfing memories.

MOVIES
When I was a young surf rat, I remember my mom dropping me off at Kapahulu theater to see 5 Summer Stories by myself - and I was hooked on surf movies.  However, as I mentioned above, Going Surfin’ was my favorite.

Other surf movies that I saw (which I can remember) was Pacific Vibrations (which we named our social club after), A Sea For Yourself, and The Inner Most Limits of Pure Fun.  I remember seeing Free & Easy and Endless Summer on TV before I started surfing.

There was a lot of other surf movies that we used to watch at Roosevelt Auditorium.  Some were hard core surf movies with no narration - just surfing and rock music.   Others has minimal narration and all surf footage.

WAX
The wax that we used to use was parafin wax.  Then Surfline had a square block of a light blue surf wax that smelled like bubble gum - which we appropriately called “bubble gum” wax.  Eventually, Mr. Zogg came out with Sex Wax and that became the wax to use.

SURF LEASHES
Commercial surf leashes weren’t available when we started surfing - just the concept.  We used to use nylon rope.  We threaded surgical rubber with the nylon rope at one end.  That’s the part the tied around our ankle.  The surgical rubber was to prevent chafing from the rope rubbing against the ankle.  A hole was drilled at the base of our skeg where we’d slip through the other end through and tie a knot on each end to keep it in place.  We also had to use knots to tie the surf leash around our ankle.  It was the pits when a portuguese-man-0-war would wrap around the surf leash right at the knot area.  Or worse yet when the man-o-war wrapped around the leash at the ankle - because it took a couple of minutes to untie the knots while the man-o-war was stinging our ankle.  Then later we replaced the nylon rope with bungee cord.   The Hobie Cats left on the beach had a lot of bungee cord that we cut off and used.

THE BOARDS
Pin tail “sticks” for big wave riders.  Rounded pin for shorter boards.  Box tails.  Diamond tails.  Swallow tails.  Fish tails.  Swish tails.  Asymmetrical tails.  Stingers.  And the board invented before it’s time - the Bonzer.

The Bonzer

THE SURFBOARD MAKERS
Surfline on Piikoi street.  Lightning Bolt on Kapiolani.  Rich Parr on Queen street.  Stonebreaker on Mililani street.  Hawaiian Island Creations on Hahani street.  Haleiwa surfboads in Haleiwa town.  Dick Brewer on the north shore someplace.  Town & Country in Pearl City?  And of course, home made surfboards.  At Rich Parr, you could buy a surfboard kit (includes blank, fiberglass, resin, skeg, rope, etc.) for $55 (?).  A custom made board without color from Rich Parr - $100.  Add $10 for tint or pigment.
Oh yeah, and Rich Parr was thee place to go for your Body Glove wet suit.
Mainland surfboard makers? Plastic Fantastic.  And Bing surfboards had the coolest logo.  Whether you read the logo right side up or upside down, it still reads “bing”.

THE  SURFERS
Gerry Lopez,  Ben Aipa, Tom Stone, Reno Abellira, James Jones, Rory Russel, Buttons Kaluhiokalani, David Nuuiwa.

Okay, that should start stirring up the old memories.  So strain your brain and add to the lists.  *I purposely left out surf spot names otherwise this entry could go on forever.

Rest in Peace, Bud Browne.  And thanks for all the footage.

Alaskan Cruise Pics 7/18 – 7/30

Arrived at night, view from room of the space needle

Getting ready to board the Golden Princess

Our cabin

Another view of our cabin

Seattle as we leave port

Bingo on board, amount of win depends on how many people play, last game for us was worth $2,200.00 plus smaller amounts for earlier games. We neva win anything. Also had slot tournament, which my wife won $500.00, got pics but she shy

1st stop Juneau

Salmon hatchery

Mendenhall glacier

City of Juneau

2nd stop Skagway, train ride up to Yukon

(my sister in-law dropped her camera on the way up so we took pic of it on the way down, it’s there but can’t make it out)

City of Skagway

(year round population 300, past year graduating class had 4 boys)

Dog sled ride at musher camp

(don’t ride in the front, dogs are trained to run and use bathroom at same time, things do fly when they do that)

Outhouses

Ketchikan, #1 for salmon in Alaska

Next day just cruise thru Tracey Arm see glacier (sorry forgot name)

Woke up that morning to sea planes taking off next to our cruise ship

City of Ketchikan

Back to Seattle, Pikes market, biggest king crab legs I ever saw, prices too.

Making cheese (sorry forgot name again, told you memory getting bad)

Chili peppers at market, don’t know if just for looks or can eat, but looks pretty

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A stop to be Victoria BC was scheduled but it was to windy to dock, so we just dropped anchor about mile out and stayed on board till we sailed that night.

1 day at 2 winery’s , Chateau Ste Michelle and Columbia, also 1 brewery, Red Hook. Also went out to dinner at a place called  Ohana Lounge, had karaoke also. The people that sang where really good, the beer was good, but the food not to ono.

Shop for couple days and back to home.

The eating on the ship is unreal, a 24hr buffet, 2 snack bars by pools (3 pools), 4 restaurants, lounge with live music, theater with movies, theater for shows like in Vegas, another lounge that they have guest speakers and shows, nightclub that looks like it’s hanging over the back of the ship. They also have mini putting green, jogging track, spa and fitness center, and some stuff that I know I missed.

As you can tell not to good at doing this, that’s why I work in the construction field. Next time I will know to take more pics of restaurants, food, and also some of the activities they have on board.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All the words in italics (including the captions) were written by NKHEA.  I say he did an excellent job!  Let’s hear it for NKHEA for taking the time to sort though the pictures and coming up with a beautiful entry.

Thank you NKHEA for sharing your vacation with us.  Paula and I are hoping to do an Alaskan cruise for our 25th anniversary.  Now I can hardly wait.

Have any MLCer’s been on an Alaskan cruise?  If so, what do you remember being the highlights of your cruise?  Even if it wasn’t an Alaskan cruise but some other cruise, share your memories.

Thanks again NKHEA.

So the meeting was set.  I went downstairs to the parking lot but nobody was out there so I go to the front desk and hang out a bit.  Here comes Shauna with Ynaku.  We meet and greet and look for Bruddah Lance.  Da guy no stay at his desk.  WWD?  So I go check out the parking lot again, no BL.  Did he forget?

Then Ynaku gets a call.  “Eh, get one guy down here at Moanalua asking fo’ you”.  As the guy was telling Ynaku that he told BL that Ynaku left a while ago, Ynaku could hear BL’s motorcycle haulin’ okole back to The Advertiser building.  So Shauna and I talk story with Ynaku while BL is whipping down the freeway.  Must’ve been about 10 minutes and here comes BL, walking in from the parking lot.  His face all red either from the embarrassment or the wind blowing against his face.  Ok, his face wasn’t red, but this is my blog. 

As we talked with Ynaku, I could tell that he is a real island boy - gentle, down to earth, and with a big heart.  We talked a little about work, family, and what else, blogs.  It was neat putting a face to the name.  Ynaku is the second person I met from the blogs.  Ocean Lover met up with me previously at a bon dance.  Who knew that blogging would lead to new friendships?

Ynaku then presented each of us with a box of the famous Two Ladies Kitchen Strawberry Mochi and a Mochi/Manju assortment.  The Strawberry Mochi is awesome!  It’s my first time tasting this treat and I’m sold on it.  Winnahs!  And the Mochi/Manju is up there too.  Some good!  Stay ono!  Broke da mout’!

But I know you folks like pictures, so here we go:

Shauna Bee, Ynaku, Me, and Bruddah Lance showing off the goods

Strawberry Mochi 6 pack - Paula already whacked one

Mochi/Manju Assortment

A big mahalo Ynaku for taking the time to stop by and letting us meet you IRL.  And thank you for the goodies.  That was very thoughtful of you.  Whenever you’re in town, drop us a line and maybe we can meet up and share a meal together.  Mahalos brah.

One ache that I’ve been dealing with for the past 25 years is a bad back.  Mostly my lower back.  It started when I was a computer operator and was retrieving a box of paper.  This was when reports were printed line printers on the blue or green bar paper.  This box was in the corner of a store room and on each side there was other boxes of paper stacked about 3 high.  So I bent over, reached down and pulled up the box using only my upper body strength.  And it was all good.

Then the next day as I arrived at work, as I spun my body to get out of my car like I normally do, I felt a little “tick” in my back.  I got up and walked into the office, no problem.  As the night went on (I worked the swing shift by myself), my back started hurting more and more until I could no longer stand straight up.  The next day when I woke up, I couldn’t get out of bed.  I had to call for my mom to help pull me out of bed.  When I finally got out of bed, I was bent over.  If I tried to straighten myself up, a sharp pain would shoot down my leg and buckle my knee.  Over the next few days I was slowly able to stand straighter and straighter until the pain was gone and I was walking normal again.

I never did see the doctor.  But from what others tell me, they say the symptoms sounds like a pinched nerve.

Since then I always make sure I bend at the knees and pick up an item as close to my body as possible, keeping my back straight and using my legs to do the lifting.  But if I stand for any longer than about 15 minutes, I can feel a “pulling” sensation in my lower back.  I slowly bend over forward and stretch out my back, but nothing beats sitting down.  I always watch how I lift now.

Another ailment - not sure if this counts - is allergy.  I never had a problem with allergy until I got married.  Paula on the other hand battled allergies from when she was a little girl.  She had to go to the doctor every Saturday to get her allergy shot.  I blame her and tell her that she gave me her allergies.  It’s not that often that it acts up, but today was one of them - what Paula and I call a “bad nose day”.  In fact, I just took a Rynatan so if I don’t finish this entry, it’s because the Rynatan knocked me out.  Who woulda thunk that allergies were contagious.

And finally, an ailment that I deal with is asthma.  When I catch a cold, I wheeze and feel like I’m going to die.  The coughing causes my chest to tighten up so I use my inhaler to open up my bronchial tubes.  The inhaler also loosens up the phlegm, but I have to cough to get the phlegm out.  But the coughing causes me to tighten up again so I use the inhaler again.  It’s a vicious circle.  When I go to the doctor, he prescribes me Prednisone.  That’s some good stuff.  Usually after the first dose, I can breathe again.  But I get a little amped up from it.  I always save a one or two tablets for emergencies.

On old ailment - or more like a sport injury - that I used to have was swollen finger joints from bowling.  All my balls were drilled fingertip so there was a lot of strain on my middle and ring finger joints.  The first joint just below the fingernail (technically, it’s joints - knuckles are the bumps on the back of your hand below your fingers), used to get swollen after a night of bowling.  And every so often when I’d shake someone’s hand, they’d shake with a tight grip.  The pain would be so great that I’d just want to fall to my knees and surrender.  But now that I’ve retired from bowling, my finger joints are no longer swollen and they don’t hurt.  And as an added bonus, both my thumbs are the same size!

How about you?  What ailments do you cope with?  Or did you have to deal with previously?  What kind of remedies do you have to ease the pain?  Does a change in temperature make your ailments better or worse?  And what about those “silent” ailments: high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc?  Did you know that eating Natto daily prevents heart attacks and strokes?

Same rules:

• No replying to your own post
• Try not to repeat previous entries
• Phrases allowed
• Go with the first post for multiple posting to the same word
  • If someone replies to the second posting, just go with the flow
• Keep it clean
• PPEU (Practice Proper Emoticon Usage)
• And like the other games, comments under the words are always welcome.

Let’s get started:

Gold Medal

*btw, on the right side of the page, under the Pages heading is a link titled Games.  This has shortcuts to previous games that you can still play

First of all, I would like to thank Edward Sun for the very informative entry he contributed in the Remembering Bowling Alleys blog entry.  If you get a chance, please read his posting.

When I was about 8 years old, my dad bought me my first bowling ball - a 10 pound Ebonite with the name “DEL” imprinted on it.  Cost $5.  My bag was a hard plastic case that we got at the Gold Bond stamps redemption center.

Later on in my early teens, I got my first brand new ball.  IIRC, it was an Earl Anthony Mag-7.  I loved that gyro looking logo on it so I just had to have one.  I believe it was soft rubber - and hooked just about a much as a rubber ball could hook in those days.  I didn’t bowl in any leagues - for recreation only, maybe once a year or so.

Skip to about 15 years later when I got married, I joined a team with my father-in-law in the Nisei Friday night Bowl-o-drome league.  It was the second shift league and between the machines breaking down and the first shift bowling slow, sometimes we wouldn’t get started until 10:00 pm.  Even though we were just a 4-man team, we wouldn’t finish until way after midnight.  But back to my bowling balls, since I was now bowing in a league, that meant I needed a new ball - a Columbia Yellow Dot.  I thought I was all that, until I saw the other bowler throwing something called a Hammer.  A urethane ball with a unique block - unlike the old standard “pancake” blocks.  Bought myself a black Hammer.  Oh, but the red hammer hooked even more so I needed the red Hammer.  Hmm, two balls.  Now I need the 2-ball Hammer bag.  This was getting expensive at over $125 per ball and about another $75 for the bag.  But I was having fun and my average was improving.

The Nisei league started to lose teams and was getting almost too small to make a league.  In fact, we only took up half the alley.  The other half of the alley (actually a little less) was used by 2 leagues that rotated on a 6 month basis.  The Department of Transportation league and the Department of Health league.  Eventually we joined forces and formed the Department of Health league that ran consecutive seasons.

But due to the late nights, over time the league got smaller every season until it disbanded.  Some of us joined a Thursday night league at Kam/Mak bowl.  Going from Bowl-o-drome to Kam/Mak bowl was such an upgrade.  No more broken down machines.  No more overground ball returns.  No more kicking the ball return when trying to pick up the 10 pin.  And best of all - no more manual score keeping!  At Bowl-0-drome I used to dread having to keep score.  When it was our turn to keep score, I had to keep score by myself.  My other team members just didn’t keep score.  Sometimes I’d even have to write in scores between my first and second ball.  Talk about throwing off the rhythm.  With the automatic score keeper, I could relax and joke around with my team mates and stay loose.

By then, my bowling equipment had advanced quite a bit.  I was partial to Track bowling balls with exotic drillings.  Axis weight.  Leverage weight.  Sanded.  Lightly polished.  Finger inserts.  Tape.  At that point, bowling balls were costing me around $235 each.  And the gloves and wrist supports all added up.  Oh yeah, and the 2-ball Hammer bag was just too small.  I had to have the Bruinswick Zone 3-ball bag on wheels.  The hard decision was figuring out which 3 balls to take to the alley that night.  I must’ve had about 6 different balls to choose from.  My theory was that, like baseball players that get a new bat because the old one “ran out of hits”, I had to get new bowling balls because the old ones “ran out of strikes”.  And the shoes, had to be the Dexters with the interchangeable soles for the different approach conditions.

But about 5 years ago, the Thursday night league also disbanded and that was the end of my bowling career.  I did manage to “break the bank” once.  That called for a game of 260+ with handicap.  But I never did bowl a perfect game - even with handicap…

Some bowling tidbits:

• Why isn’t bowling an olympic sport?
• Bowling is one of the few sports where you can achieve a perfect score.
• A 7-10 split is not impossible to pick up.  I’ve seen it done.
• The secret to keeping score:
  • A spare is 10 + the count on the next ball rolled
  • A strike is 10 + the total count on the next 2 balls rolled
• 2 strikes in a row is called a “double”.
• 3 strikes in a row is called a “turkey”.
• 4 strikes in a row is called a “4 bagger” and so on.
• A “coke frame” is when everyone on the team strikes in the same frame except for one team member.  That person has to buy the whole team drinks.  I’ve been “coked” many times.
• “Sand baggers or Dumpers” are those who know they have no chance to win the jackpot so they throw a junk game to retain their handicap.
• “Horses” are those you give their money back to after you win a jackpot - because they usually give your money back to you when they win.
• Most Embarrassing leave - a 5, 7, 10 split.  Means your ball has no drive when hitting the pocket.  Almost impossible to pick up.
• Most Macho leave - a solid 5 pin.  Means your ball has too much drive when hitting the pocket.
• Improper Etiquette: Going on the approach when a person in either adjacent lane is getting ready to bowl.
• Too Much Proper Etiquette: Waiting for two lanes on each adjacent side to clear before going up to the approach.
• Worst Nightmare: Stepping on water with your sliding shoe (can’t slide).
• Most Embarrassing: Having your ball slip out of your hand on your back swing.
• Best Times: The end of season bowling banquet.

We visited memories of old bowling centers in the last blog entry.  Now let’s visit old bowling memories that you have.  Any funny stories to share?  More bowling tidbits to add to the list?