TheBanyanTree: Pool Shark

[Maria Gibson]

I have a confession, a dirty little secret.  Actually, if you've had the 
misfortune to play pool with me, you already know this.  I suck at the 
game.  I love to play, I just happen to not be able to hit balls into 
pockets.  Is that a problem?

Recently I have begun to care a little, no *lot* more, about how badly I 
play pool.  I mean, it can be downright embarrassing.  It's one thing to 
be bad at it, it's quite another to be so awful that the place starts to 
get all stinky and other players are forced to run holding their sticks 
close to their chest in fear I might touch and get cooties on it. 

I'm entering a new era.  I am going to improve my pool game.  What?!?  
You don't think I can???  Yeah, I have doubts about it, too.  My 
strategy is to play by myself until I can finally win against me.  Don't 
laugh.  I routinely lose against myself.  It takes me a little while, 
approximately two beers, to make it through two tables of lone pool.  I 
think a lot of my problem has been that I'm a weenie hitter.  Very often 
I don't hit the balls hard enough.  I also tend to always try for the 
easy or obvious shot but as I continue to play on my own I find that 
most of them aren't easy or obvious, at least not to me.  Hence, I am 
trying the bank option.  Between hitting the cue ball harder and 
banking, I'm actually getting a little better.  No, no, it's true.

I can run the table in less than a hunnerd shots, now.  Aren't you proud?

Maria