I'm BAAAAACK~ to playin pool, that is

TV4U is a Vegas based Production Company which recently took an interest in pool matches. So to tape a pilot show and to get their feet wet, they decided to come and film the final matches at Putter’s 1st Annual Fall Classic.  It was a full line production featuring a local TV sports announcer and Jim Blakeman (a stong player who we were all glad didn't sign up) as commentators, multiple cameras/ crew and a stage.  Mark Estes with help of Adam Pfeifer spent many back breaking hours building the stage from the scratch and hung all the banners.

It featured 9 ball scotch doubles and 8 ball singles. Both events enforcing a well established local handicap system.  Criterias for the Scotch was that combined handicap of the players could not exceed 17 and the individual's handicap score set their race to on the 8 ball singles.  The event was alternate break through out and played on beautiful and awesome Diamond Smart Tables.  This event received quite the buzz, (haha- buzz. check out the http://www.vegasbilliardsbuzz.com/) and many sponsors stepped up.  Along with a leading billiard company, CSI (CueSports International) and USAPL (USA Pool League), it was refreshing - ahhh - to have Chrome Soda as one of sponsors.

Mark Estes coordinated the tournament along with tv4u and decided to throw in a women’s invitation event called “Queen of the Hill”.  This was discussed in their meeting many times before and they agreed it was a perfect time and place to get a demo shot to present it to possible sponsors.  And so Mark Estes was the sole barrer of deciding whom to choose for the part.  Decisions... decisions.

It wasn't too hard for Mark to choose Amy Encinias as his first choice.  After all, Amy had just wont the ACS National Women Standard 8 Ball Champion 2009 and becoming a fierce player of her own.  And I was thrown in the mix and soon we were billed as ‘two of Vegas’ top female players’. I laughed my ass off when I read that. Granted that I did win a BCAPL National title in 08, but I had hardly been competing or playing ‘quality’ pool for over a year. I was officially on a break.

However, this forced me to start practicing and gave me a push to get back in pool. It was sink or swim time, literally! So I took the deep plunge and signed up to compete in the whole sh-bang!

As for the Scotch Double… umm me and my partner went out in two. Race to 4 alternate break 9 ball can be quite brutal – to say the least.

8 Ball? I did ok enough to win the 2nd highest women finisher pot.  Holly Ryan nabbed the top women spot.  Way to go Holly :)

On the Sunday for the tv4u filming, Amy and I was up first! And we were both so nervous, we couldn’t even breathe!

The race was real short and once again alternate break it was impossible for neither of us to settle into the match. I could see my finger tips shake as I place my hand to bridge every time and it didn’t make it easy knowing that a camera followed my every move to catch my disappointment whenever I missed a shot or made an error.

If I wasn’t so lucky rest of the week, then the rolls finally turned for me. I got lucky couple times and it was enough to win the Challenge. So, if this thing gets picked up, there will be more of me and Amy :)

I know I put more pressure on myself and therefor, everyone else around me suffered greatly that weekend.  Especially Mark - poor guy.  If to change the billiard industry and be the savior of US Pro pool isn't overwheming enough, he married me with all my dramas, LOL.

This is great. It's not enough that I already talk to myself constantly, but I get to blog mobil?

It's over, my lover - you will always, always in my heart!

It's Over Benging, I'm calling end to our love affair!
OK, I have been thinking about this for a long time and gave it a serious thought. I feel it’s time to break off my love affair with food. My metabolism has finally reached its retiring years and cannot keep up with all my intakes…

I broke down and ordered the Nutrisystem Plan yesterday… Because, I am not equiped to do it on my own. I've tried many fad diets own my own but most seemed too restricted and often too complicating to follow with all the researching, counting and adding! Crap, how do I figure out the calories for a homemade sauce, that I don't know what its made up of? It started to feel like I was back in school and struggling with homeworks everyday. So many times, I screwed up without realizing or wanting and the results were slow or not even noticeble. So, maybe this way, I only have to stick to the planed meals and approved addatives and snacks.

I envy the people who eat food as a necessity, not as a pleasure like myself. Such a person is my husband, Mark. If he didn’t absolutely have to, he rather not eat and not waist time while doing so. He eats only because he knows he cannot function without at least one meal a day… Errr..

Me, on the other hand, I love food with a passion to the point of borderlining an obsession! I don’t even have to be hungry. I can be easily enticed just by it's aroma, color and presentation! I will eat just because someone next to me is eating…

Friends and acquiantances throughout my life's been amazed by the speed of my metabolism I once had and many seriously believed that I probably had belly full of tape worms from all the sushi and raw food I loved to consume. They always taunted me that one day, when my age catches up that I will ballon up like a Zeppelin...

How I wished they were wrong, but I start to notice the numbers on my scale increasing, along with little extra handle here and little giggles there. I hoped it would somehow magically disappear, because my clothes confiremed the reality. It was one gloomy day when I put on one of my favorite jeans and saw my reflection in a mirror. Long and behold...I had a “Muffin top”!

That was it! I went out and joined a gym and hired a personal trainer. It has been two months with a personal trainer, working out with weights and cardio, but I still have not lost much weight. It was apparent to me, but I kept looking away from the inevitable truth…

I have to eat healthier along with the excercise. No more binging, no more 5 plates at a buffet and no more eating until the bed time. And certainly, no more frequent alcohol intake.

I have to really keep myself motivated to stick with my meal plans.

I really have to get back in shape.

I want to feel good about myself again!

So, good bye, Lover, All you can eat,...I will always long for you...

Why do I worry non-sense?

I have been waking up with tingling numbness in my finger tips and at times with some pain.  My left hand was worse than my right.  I would wake up with my fingers so swollen, at times I couldn't take my ring off even with soap to lubricate.  I now take my ring off before going to sleep.

My doctor says it appears be an early stage of carpal tunnel syndrome and ordered me to use one of those soft braces to secure my wriste when I sleep.  It's been better, but only if I use the brace to go to sleep...and it's a pain in a neck...

Things like this really got into my head when I was having issues.  I wondered if I got out of Navy without taking care of my hand(s) and if this could ultimately eliminate me from playing pool altogether...

Silly me...