You didn't think I was just going to stop talking about bowling did you? Well, we had our Christmas bowling special this past week and we got a pretty decent turnout of 20 people as well. The people were in high spirits and the music that we were playing started out with Christmas carols. After half a dozen people, one of them being me, requested that the music be changed, we didn't play any more Christmas music. It's not that we are a bunch of Scrooges, but when you live in a tourist area the way that almost all of us do, you are constantly subjected to loud Christmas music by almost any restaurant or business who think that this is what we foreigners want to listen to at all times. We do not.
The bowling alley in DaNang that we go to, as well as almost every other establishment in this city, has a Christmas tree up in the lanes with fake presents under it and they must just keep this in the back every year and pull it out every now and then. There are quite a few Christian Vietnamese people and Catholicism is the number 1 "global religion in the country. However, the Vietnamese people tend to not celebrate the holiday in a commercial way that we do in the west. I am extremely grateful for that because while it was fun as a kid, it is just a really wasteful holiday in my mind and one that I can do without.
Back to the bowling
After my return from Mexico I was back in the premiere league after just two weeks back. the rules for promotion have been changed a bit so the person with the highest score in the 2nd division automatically gets to be in the match for promotion and the next 4 high scores have a chance at bowling against them. On my first week back I got the highest score and while the woman who bowled against me was decent, she wasn't really on my level and I defeated her by nearly 100 points across 3 games.
Now that I am in the premiere league, I have a spot with 6 other people at the top as we capped the top-tier at 7 names. It functions just like international football/soccer outside of the USA. If you perform, you stay up, if you get the lowest score of the week, you are relegated (removed) and replaced by someone who just got promoted.
I have been in the Premiere League for 2 weeks now but my name has not come up in the random name generator wheel for who is going to bowl for the overall championship.
In both weeks that I have been in the premiere league since my return from Mexico, I have been in the top 3 high scores, but never the very top. When you get the top score for the day your name goes into the "wheel" twice and the next 2 highest scores get one spot. Every single time that we have done this since introducing it the person whose name was in the wheel twice ended up getting a shot at the title. Next week we have a pretty interesting situation because there has only ever been a female champion in DUMBO once in the history of its existence. The woman who is bowling against our current (and newly crowned) champion is very good. For example, had she been playing for the title last week with the scores that she got, she would have won it. But as we say "you gotta be in it, to win it!" and getting a higher score than the current champion means nothing unless you are selected bot play against them.
I think that one of the things that could be considered an advantage for the woman who is going for the title shot next week is also that Thursday just happens to be the day after Christmas this year and I know for a fact that the current champion sees holidays such as this one as an opportunity to go out and get absolutely slobberknockered at the bar. He is VERY likely to turn up on Thursday with a banger of a headache while she, a sensible drinker, is unlikely to be in the same boat.
So we very well could have a new champion crowned on Thursday and if it ends up being the woman, history will be made.
I'm glad that the bowling league continues to thrive. Did they keep things running while you were gone on your vacation or did they take a break until you got back? It sounds like you have it set up well enough that they would have been fine without you. I'm also with you, I usually try to make it a point to avoid Christmas music if at all possible. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day it is okay, but any other time, nope!
They did OK while I was gone but attendance dropped and the speeches, according to people that were there, were awful. That kind of made me happy because I kind of put a bunch of work into this every Thursday.
That is good. Nice that it still ran, but not quite as well as when you are there. That definitely has to make you feel a little good!
Yeah it does actually :) When I came back a lot of people privately told me that it just wasn't the same without me. They also said that things were very disorganized and it always started late. I didn't feel like I was running a tight ship but with me the events always started on time. Without me they were starting 15-30 minutes late and it go to the point where people were turning up late intentionally because of this. On my first day back I joking/not joking - ly stated that "if you are not here by 11 (our start time) you don't bowl, period"
The following week everyone was there at 10 minutes to 11 or earlier. I don't like to treat adults like children but I think when left to their own devices large groups of people will devolve into chaos.
Sometimes you just have to do that. If you are on time you are late. That's kind of my point of view. We have friends that are reliably late and we have gotten into the habit of giving them earlier times just to be safe. Sad you have to do adults like that.
Isn’t that what most people do?😂😂
Carefully arranging everything that screams Christmas and brining them out the following year is just so funny!
yeah, it is what everyone does. My condo does the same thing. It's a bit stranger here though since almost nobody actually celebrates Christmas in Vietnam. I think they just want to be part of the western hoopla.
Merry Christmas, buddy! I hope you are having a great time out there.
still doing well pal! I hope you are the same
doing fine, just staying busy with work and family stuff. I need a vacation! hehe
⋆ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ ғᴏʀ sᴏᴜᴛʜᴇᴀsᴛ ᴀsɪᴀɴ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ ᴏɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ
⋆ sᴜʙsᴄʀɪʙᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ
⋆ ғᴏʟʟᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ ᴠᴏᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʀᴀɪʟ
⋆ ᴅᴇʟᴇɢᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ʟɪɴᴋs 25 ʜᴘ⇾50 ʜᴘ⇾100 ʜᴘ⇾500 ʜᴘ⇾1,000 ʜᴘ
Merry Christmas and happy New Year 🎊🎆.
You do start to wonder who won't be slobberknockered amongst the ex pats community because it sounds like everyone fully enjoys themselves. I would say that having a hang over can actually improve your game because it forces you to concentrate more. My money is on hang over man to pull off the win.
it's just a few hours until we find out!