Dinner and a Curling

I feel that when life presents you unique opportunities you should pounce on them, so I went curling* yesterday.

The owner of the company I work for went to an auction for the Adopt America Network. She ended up winning a package offered by the Bowling Green Curling Club (I didn't even know that there were people in BG curling). The Curling Club's offering was for a group to come out and learn how to play and have dinner (which was delicious). Our Owner offered that any managers in the company could come to the event, but I wasn't originally going to go even though I didn't have to work. SH, who is another manager in our company, she worked at our store over the summer, and I were just going to hang out and probably do nothing, so I suggested we go if there were any openings left.

I got a call from the Owner a the day before telling me the time, that we would need rubber soled shoes, and to dress warmly. I had to decide how the "dress warmly" thing applied to me. I mean, c'mon, I'm always warm, but I decided pants instead of shorts were probably a good idea and a hoodie. After we got started playing I, of course, got too warm and had to start shedding layers and everyone thought I was crazy, whatevs.

I'm glad I went though. All of the club members were super nice, and seemed glad to be able to share their little known sport. I think everybody had a really good time. There were the inevitable falls one would expect from a group of people who are unused to walking on ice doing so, but nobody got hurt. The club members were all modest "Oh, I'm not really that good", but they still made us look like retarded monkeys.

Other than the basic rules of the game I learned a few important things about curling: it is a lot harder than it looks, and I have no natural talent for it. Obviously, you'd have to learn the strategies if you're the guy at the end calling the shots to your teammates, and sweeping seems something that would come with practice, but there is a whole knack to doing the actual throwing (you don't actually throw them, you slide them) of the stones. The members were all graceful and their stones would actually go all the way down the ice. This one guy actually would slide about half way down the 100 foot long sheet following his stone, all laid out and insanely graceful. Meanwhile there was our group, our rocks would only go a third of the way, or off to the side, and we're falling all over the place. Personally I think I hit me knee every time I threw.

There were just so many variables that every time I'd get one thing right I'd forget something else. You stand with one foot on the block to push off. Hold your broom in the off hand (you know, for balance...hahahaha!). You hold the handle of the stone in the other hand. Then your other foot is on the ice, but it's not just standing on ice, oh no, you've got this little teflon thingy that you're going to slide on (prob why it's called the "slider"). Teflon. On Ice. Do you see what I'm getting at? No fucking traction, none. Then you push off the block, put your weight on the foot with the slider, the other leg is behind you like you're doing a lunge (hence the knee hitting the ice thing for me), hopefully you remember to throw the rock before you lose all momentum, and finally don't fall on your ass as you stand back up (*hint* don't try to stand up on the slider). Oh, and when you let go you have to remember to give the stone that little twist that will make it curl as it slides.

Still, like I said, lots of fun. And I wouldn't mind doing it again sometime. Sometime after my thigh muscles forgive me that is. And during the next winter Olympics I'm sure I will say at some point, "Curling? Omg, I have totally done that!"

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*You know, it's in the winter Olympics, sometimes they'll stick 5 minutes of coverage somewhere in the broadcast...4 people to a team, sliding rocks around, on ice, there's lots of shouting and brooms...google it if you don't know what I'm talking about.