weekend bullet points
posted by catherine / May 07, 2006 /
walking down to a classmate's house yesterday, i passed jamba juice, and went in for my first ever official jamba juice smoothie. it was pretty good. but what really got me was that they offer WHEATGRASS SHOTS. and no fewer than THREE PEOPLE DRANK ONE while i was there. andd they cost TWO DOLLARS. i'm sorry, is this california in the late 90s? what is going on here? is wheatgrass, like, a real thing and not a figment of my fevered, terrified imagination?
at a spinning class, my instructor, who is actually the best instructor i've ever had and a really nice guy to boot so i don't mean to make too much fun of him, put on that fly away song by lenny kravitz. i know, ew. and then he said, "this song was the first one i heard when i was coming off a plane back from europe. i was living in knoxville, tn, at the time. i heard this song, knew my life had to change, and i packed up and moved to colorado." my question: is he weird for changing his life because of a lenny kravitz song, or am i a bad person for thinking it's so many kinds of wrong to have lenny kravitz be a life-changing force?
i would like to be better at pool. i know that the easiest way to do this is to play pool a lot. and i promise to try to do that. but are there other methods or tangible advice that i can be given and absorb and then apply? because frankly, it's embarrassing. and i must be able to win everything i play at.
Comments
On #3, if you are serious about improving your pool game, I highly recommend picking up "Byrne's New Standard Book of Pool and Billiards." It is the Bible. Not only does it go over form and shape, but it also covers strategies for 8-ball, 9-ball, straight pool, even one pocket I think. And of course play a lot!
Item the First: Maybe I spent too much time in California, but I'm not quite sure what's so upsetting you here. I was under the impression that wheatgrass is a pretty mainstream thing at this point (thus it being at Jamba).
Item the Second: No, you are correct, that is horrifying. It is one thing to agree that Lenny Kravitz is a bearable song to play in a spinning class. It is entirely another to reflect on the status of your life because of a Lenny Kravitz song.
Item the Third: Have someone who knows how to play correct how you hold your cue stick. I'd bet 50 bucks you're holding it wrong.
re the wheatgrass - it probably is mainstream by now, i just managed to ever avoid seeing it in real life and it weirds me out. it's grass. that they make liquid. in front of you. and you drink it. it's weird.
re the pool i think you're totally right. i keep being told something is wrong with my elbow...but by the time i ever get any advice i'm generally too drunk to remember it. i'll have to do something about that!
The Byrnes book could help on how you're holding it, complete with great pics... the two things I most often see done incorrectly are 1) the bridge and 2) how high up you hold the butt of the cue. Bridge should be done so that there is no room for the shaft to move around, and the cue should be held approx 2/3 - 3/4 down - not right at the bottom of the cue.
those are good tips, katy - i'm pretty sure i'm always holding the cue up too high. i wish i could remember what the elbow advice i always get is, though. something about it moving around too much? if that makes sense?
Re 2: It would have been funny if he said the song drove him back to Europe. Ha! Also, consider yourself lucky that every other comment made by your spin instructor isn't about Lance. Sheesh.
Growing up in California, I can promise you Wheatgrass is real. Really weird, yeah, but Real.
I always figured it was like licking the lawnmower once you were done cutting the grass.
if you're moving your elbow around from side to side, then maybe that has something to do with it. it should really be fairly immoble. and you always want to keep the cue as level to the table as possible. there's a great place to play up waaaaay north, at milwaukee and lawrence maybe? very old school - not a bar, just a pool hall. people there are quite good.
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