Hard Times Summer Jamboree

I decided to give it a try...since they had a women's division this year. The result wasn't so great...got whopping $30. I got to see where I stand. I'm still behind a lot of these women players.

Got there Saturday morning and found out that my suitcase was missing! My cue arrived but not the suitcase. Good thing it wasn't the other way around. Apparently, I checked in too late and the suitcase was coming on the next flight. Great...I didn't have the time to wait for it so I told them I'll be back later.

Here's how I knew there was something seriously wrong with me. I tried to eat breakfast but I wasn't hungry. I've been sick since middle of last week and it hasn't gotten any better. It's not the worst ever, but still hard to concentrate and care about anything. I noticed that I started playing bad when I didn't have my cough drop in my mouth. My chest felt congested and I wasn't thinking clearly. I also played nervous for some reason. I almost never play nervous like that. Especially during a match that I really should not be worried about. Sure enough it caught up with me and I lost the match on the hill.

Called Southwest to track my luggage. THEY CAN'T FIND IT. Fabulous. I kept calling to see if I could get a different answer but they stopped picking up. WTF!

I play my next match...I still can't breathe. The woman wasn't as good of a shotmaker as the last match so I got away with it this time. My next match was between a pro and my 1st opponent's twin sister (there were three sets of sisters playing in this tournament!). Since the pro was playing in the open division, we all had to wait until she was done with the other match. The wait was over 3 HOURS for me.

I finally got to play. After watching her beat her opponent hill-hill, I was a bit worried since she got back in stroke, but I did my best in focusing on my game. In the middle of my match, my friend who was kind enough to go to the airport to pick up my luggage signaled me to tell me that it was found. Things were starting to turn around for me. What if I got my luggage AND won this match!? She was a little shaky and I managed to hang in there. In the end though I screwed up and left her easy. booooooo

For the rest of the trip, I decided to watch the tournament and just enjoy myself. After all, it's a mini vacation anyway. The next day I spent the entire day watching. Better than being back in LA in the heat with no air conditioning. I still felt like crap, though :(