Journal: Bigness and Bowling

LUKE:

Pretty quick one today. Basically all I want to talk about is something I saw on the askreddit subreddit on Reddit.com, basically the question is what can you just not wrap your head around? The answer that I agreed with the most is just how big space, the sun just everything out in the universe is. I went to this sort-of demonstration of how big space is. What it did was if the moon was a z pixel, how far away would everything be, then you would scroll to explore. To get to Uranus it took 27 minutes of straight scrolling. After Uranus it would take another 6,000 of those maps to get to something else. That’s just mind-boggling and to be honest our minds can’t really comprehend it. Link for demonstration: 

RICK:

200GameWhen I was growing up in the South End, my Dad used to take me to Ken-Bowl on Southside Drive on Sundays to teach me how to bowl.

And if he could see me now, with my paltry 165 average, throwing a straight ball, I am certain he’d be disappointed. But, as the sign says out front on Ten Pin Lane, Fun is Bowling. I managed a 204 in one game tonight in my Monday night league. Mark keeps telling me I need to get a proper ball, drilled to fit me, and throw a hook, rather than throwing a pink alley ball straight at the head pin. He’s right, and perhaps I’ll get serious about it . . . next year. But then I’d probably really feel some pressure to score better, and I’m really only going to hang out with my buddies and drink beer.

The game is not as popular as it once was, and I’m old enough to remember some of the alleys where my Dad bowled that aren’t there anymore. Anybody remember Poplar Level Lanes, or Pee Wee Reese Lanes on Eastern Parkway, or even Parkmoor, over by U of L? I’ve seen the numbers in our league dwindle over the last decade, so much that we had to give up our 9:00 Monday league to join one that started at 6, because there weren’t enough teams to fill the late league.

I guess bowling isn’t that cool. I don’t think I know anyone, except my teammates, who bowls in a league anymore, but my parents were Friday night keglers for as long as I remember.  I spent many of my formative years in bowling alleys, bumming quarters for pinball and Cokes.