Daily Report: Thoughts On Pool

I didn't do anything on Tuesday or Wednesday of any interest: Just worked, and watched some TV. Susan has been working her way through the cookbooks we bought though. For lunch on Tuesday, we had stir fried beef with snow peas. For lunch on Wednesday, there was beef and asparagus in oyster sauce. We had pork chops for dinner. I'm eating better at home than I have in decades.

Today, I got in a good day of work... but with my two favorite work accounts gone as of April 1st, my speed has gone down quite a bit... by about 20%. I'm working more hours now to offset it, but the days of phenomenal paychecks are gone... for the time being.

This evening, Epril and I went down to the local pool hall where I got in about 2 hours of practice. (Epril mostly sat and watched TV and sent text messages to her friends on her phone.) I'm getting better... although my back still complains a lot about bending over the table so much.


Pool champion Efren Reyes
is The Philippines' most
admired and famous athlete,
and is one of the most famous
Filipinos in the world.When I moved to the Philippines, I expected to find every pool hall filled with some seriously excellent local pool players. After all, the Philippines' most internationally-famous people are billiard champions, and during the 1990's, this country was the world's epicenter of pool-playing excellence (only to be challenged by Taiwan in the last 10 years).

However, there aren't any A-level pool players that I've seen so far in Cagayan unless there is a pool hall that I don't know about: A-level pool players live in pool halls, just like A-level body builders live in gyms. So, since I don't see any A-level pool players in the pool hall I go to (and this pool hall seems to be the best out of three pool halls in town), I think it is safe to assume that there aren't any pros or semi-pros in town.

In fact, based on what level of pool playing I have seen on the tables around me, it's most probable that as soon as a Filipino decides to dedicate his life to the sport of billiards, the first thing he does — even before buying a cue — is to buy a ticket to Manila. It makes sense: You won't find your game or any action in the provinces.


The village below my house.Well, I'm too old to harbor any hopes of even getting back to the high B-level that I was previously, let alone running off to weekend tournaments. I certainly won't be playing for money either: The money I consider worth playing for, most Filipino kids would consider worth killing for; no need to get into no-win gambling situations around here.

Nope: Now, I'm just a hobbyist. I just want to enjoy myself and enjoy being good at a pass-time that I can hopefully participate in well into old age.