Small Update (OT)

If you've been following along...

...I love the new-old pool table and the pool shed. The whole project worked out much better than I expected. The space is very comfortable, peaceful and quiet, and fully large enough for the nine-foot table. The table is better than I expected, too—it still has its original Monarch cushions from the mid-'60s (they made them right back then), the slates are superb, and it's eminently playable. The best table I've ever played on, actually. (I had never played on a Gold Crown before I tried this one out at the seller's house. I like it even better than the Diamond I had.) There are no problems anywhere on the table, no spots where it rolls off or dead places on the rails or anything like that.

I've played way too much these past ten days, but we've gotten into a great rhythm—as I shoot, Butters trots around keeping his ball from me, putting it down and then snatching it up if I go for it. Every now and then he'll present it to me, and I put the cue down and fling the ball out the door. He gives urgent chase and comes trotting happily back inside, and we start the whole process over again. He loves it. Inside the house, he's always sitting there looking at me expectantly, wanting to go out.

I'm slowly getting back into stroke. I do drills in the morning and just shoot balls in the afternoon and evening. Usually I'll stay out ten to twenty minutes every couple of hours, then come back inside to work. In the evening I'll spend an hour or two out there. The table is demanding but I like that, because it's a challenge and it gives me a better opportunity to work. Eventually I'll post a video. Can't wait till COVID's over and I can have friends over to play.

It's still pretty lonely. But that's these times. We all just have to get through it. And I have nothing to complain about.

But all is well. It took a lot of work but the result was worth it. I'm glad I did it. Everything worked out great.

Now then, that's enough of that.

Mike

Book o' This Week:

Peter Lindbergh On Fashion Photography, with text in English, French, and German. Original coffee table version or small 40th Anniversary version, take your pick. Both are hardcovers. The links above will whisk you away to Amazon.

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Peter: "I’m delighted for you Mike. Made my day to read this. I can imagine the joy it will bring when you can entertain. Soon."

Alan: "Have you played darts? I think a dart board might go very well with that pool table. Love the whole setup. I wish I had one just like it."

Mike replies: I did play darts for a spell in college. I lived on the top floor of an old dorm. Across the hall from me was one of the largest dorm rooms on campus, with a large living room and a bunk room for four guys. (401 Middle Fayerweather if there are any Dartmouth alums hanging about.) We had a dartboard in the living room there. But it's never been my thing, really, and I'm inclined to keep the pool shed single-purpose as far as activities are concerned. I've scrapped my plan to keep my books there, as I now realize bookcases would crowd the table. I'm still planning photos for the walls, but that's a project that will begin in Summer at the earliest.

Nikhil Ramkarran: "I’m so happy you’ve finally got your game on. Been reading your (OT) pool posts for so many years. Enjoy, Mike." 

Bandbox: "Pool tables, politics, and inequality. Not my cup of tea, I'm afraid, and that's probably why I don't read TOP as often as I used to. But the drone piece was good, so I keep coming back from time to time."

Michael Ryan: "I have zero interest in pool and less interest in building cabins. But for some reason have been eagerly following every update on this wonderful addition you have added to your life. Very much looking forward to your video. Have you thought about doing a Zoom call live pool game with some of your followers? It might also help with the loneliness."

Comments

[MarkB]

Extravagance!
;)

[So true. --Mike]

[Dan Khong]

At this rate, there will emerge a new champion to dethrone the incumbents. I just love the likes of that Netflix series "The Queen's Gambit".

[Jean]

Lovely to hear updates from your shed and the joy you and even the dog gets out of it. Hoping that you and everyone else gets through this ordeal in a way as good as possible. At least small things are more appreciated.

[Greg Heins]

Cheering news, along with all the other cheering news this week. Well done.

[vbsoto]

Glad you are getting to enjoy something that engages you on so many levels.

"Treat Yo' Self" - Tom and Donna -Parks and Recreation.

[Joe Holmes]

The question about darts reminded me for the first time in years of my college friend George.

We played with a dart board in one of the rooms, and sometimes George would stand next to the board and grab darts right out of the air when we were throwing. It was both supremely annoying and supremely impressive.

I decided to try that trick myself one day but I just couldn't work up the courage to stick my hand into the path of a flying dart.

[Christer Almqvist]

I would not call that a shed. Please think of a better description. Do not be humble.

[c.d.embrey]

Mike, you picked the wrong job. You should have been a pool hustler 8-)

When I was young, a local beer-bar had eight tables. $100.00 games (8 ball mostly) were common.

[Eric George Rose]

What next "The Online Poolplayer"?

[Jim Arthur]

I’m glad it all came together. Congratulations on your new sanctuary. I came across this video the other day of Ronnie’s first and fastest maximum break at the age of 21 and thought of TOP. If it weren’t for TOP I would not have known what the video was about and would have surfed on by. Amazing stuff.

[Bob Cook]

I didn’t realize it is a nine-foot table. Although I’ve never played as seriously as you are, I had enough time on the longer table to learn that the difference between eight and nine feet is way more than 12 inches. You can probably shoot blindfolded on a seven foot bar table. Have fun.

[Joe Massey]

Mike, I've been reading TOP with great pleasure for several years now. I've enjoyed lurking here quietly getting to know you. This column, with your usual "aw shucks" charm, prompted me to say hello and encourage you to keep up the off topic stuff and discussions of film cameras. I like pool too, but am just awful at it. Maybe if I had my own pool table I'd improve, though having reached 80 that looks doubtful.I wish I had never sold my Oly OM2n and earlier, my Konica FTA (I worked one summer in the late 50's in the stock room of Konishiroku, which led to my learning Japanese and eventually becoming the Assistant US Trade Representative in charge of trade negotiations with Japan in the 1980s and early 90s. One thing I've been meaning to ask is when were you at Dartmouth? I taught there, in the Government department, from 1970-1980 and then again at the Tuck School from 1992-2007. Also please tell John Camp to write more. I'm in need of another of his novels to help me through this damn COVID plague.

[I don't think a stockroom job inevitably leads to a career as a trade negotiator! Congratulations on your manifold success.

By chance I had a welcome visit from an old Dartmouth dorm-mate and friend just yesterday, Greg Aftandilian, who from my view has had a rather dazzling career as a Middle East analyst among other things. Freshman year we lived in Lord Hall, which as you know is tucked in a corner of campus near Tuck, on Tuck Mall.

I matriculated (with Greg) with the class of 1979. Unfortunately, after four quarters, my father abruptly "withdrew his support" and interrupted my education. It was not a matter of money.

I did well during my truncated Dartmouth career. I was exempted from English 5 (mandatory for all freshmen at the time) by the professor on the basis of my first paper; I earned almost all A and B grades and a College Citation in an English course; I was a columnist for the "Daily D" newspaper as a freshman; and in my fourth term, the Summer after freshman year, I was invited to take an English 89 one-on-one seminar that was normally only open to upperclassmen. I was one of (IIRC) only two freshmen invited to a breakfast reception for Saul Bellow, who had just won the Nobel Prize. So while I wasn't a standout student on an absolute basis, I had made a pretty good start toward success as an English major. (My goal throughout my childhood had been to become either a teacher or an academic or both.) I was also privileged to be one of the students President Kemeny spoke privately with on an intermittent basis, I assume in an effort on his part to keep a finger on the pulse of student issues. (His secretary disliked me because our meetings, which were supposed to last an hour, often ran over.)

I very much regret not being able to continue at Dartmouth. It changed the course of my life for the worse. I never earned an academic degree. However I eventually did earn a BFA in photography, a studio art degree.

I will pass your comment along to John! --Mike]

[Jeff Hohner]

Pictures please! :)

[Ramón]

Instagram livestream? Play pool and talk to us. We can just watch and listen.