Pool Sharks

Right now, somewhere on the Upper West Side at Amsterdam Billiards my former billiards instructor Tony Robles is tapping his stink against his hand in sheer disappointment. Tonight, I was terrible, and all that money spent on instruction went right down the tube. The only redeeming factor was that I wasn't the only one who didn't have a good night at the pool table. We all pretty much sucked. I should have paid more attention when my parents had that mini-pool table back in the day. Anyway, I'm going to use the excuse that I'm both out of practice and really sore from the workout this afternoon, as the reason why I didn't play as well.

Couple of things I learned this evening:
1) Some slang phrases don't translate. I said to Yossi, one of the guys we were hanging out with, "Do you kiss your Mother with that mouth?" after he unleashed a slew of curse words that would have made Madonna circa 1980 blush. He actually looked pretty shocked with the statement, and I think he thought I was asking him if he made out with his Mother. Yeah, that phrase doesn't translate too well.

2) Don't ever order a Jack and Ginger in Tel Aviv. So, I decided to reduce my beer intake in honor of the fact that I really don't want Yehuda's workouts to hurt me anymore. I figured going the Jack, Jimmy, Jose or any Vodka route would be better than the carbs in beer, and so I asked for a Jack and Diet Ginger. This is what I got. Jack Daniels, and then a flask of what appeared to be ginger ale but wasn't (I'm still not sure what is was) that I was supposed to mix myself. Well, if I'm going to go to a bar and have to mix my own drinks, the bartender should share her tips with me. In the end, the drink was so awful, that I had three sips and called it a night.

3) It's good to be open to meeting new people, because they could turnout to be a lot of fun - As mentioned in my previous blogs, we met Tzachie (aka Zack) and Yossi on the beach this weekend and I they called and asked us to hang out this evening. Had this been Atlantic Beach in NYC, I never would have given out my phone number, much less agreed to meet random guys out another evening. In the end, it was worthwhile, as both guys were really nice and we had a lot of fun. Plus, Yossi walked me part of the way back home, braving the steaming evening and sweating the whole way. Now that is a true gentleman. Sadly, I think the fact that its already been a week since Ronen picked me up, it's too late for me to call him now and go out for coffee. At least I learned my lesson, next time I get hit up for a phone number, I'm going to give it and give the guy a chance. Why not.

Random comment and then I have to get to bed. It's already 2:00 am and I have to be up at 7:00 to deal with school administrative issues (i.e. unless I have an acceptance letter from the Masters program, I can't register for courses, and my date for registration is less than 3 weeks away). Tonight was the finale of Israel's version of NBC's The Biggest Loser and of course I watched it, it nearly made me cry and ruin all of my eye makeup. Anyway, the woman who won lost about 40% of her body weight, which is really incredible. What was funny is that the male personal trainer, who was the one responsible for the female weight loss, actually works out at my gym. In fact, last week we were simultaneously doing chess presses on benches opposite one another (except my weights were like 4 kilo and his were like 45 kilo), loads of people were coming up to say hi to him, and I was oblivious and just assumed he was someone in the gym a lot. Who knew I worked out with a bonafide Israeli TV celebrity.

Compared to Roberta Flack, Stone Phillips, Bill Evans, and the plethora of soap stars I used to work with, my new gym is starting to feel like home.

Song of the evening is Fields of Gold by Sting, in honor of Tzachie, Sting's #1 Israeli fan.

Rock on