(Temporary) Promotion to Vice

Warning: This post may contain lots of curling-specific words and phrases.

"But first I decided to buy some doughnuts." First, an update on the doughnut situation. For the last two weeks, I stopped by the same place that gave me the free doughnuts. Both times, there was a different cashier, and he charged me 65c for a doughnut, rather than letting me have it for free and telling me to take more. I'm not sure what it is about free food. I'm fortunate to be in a financial situation were I can afford a few dollars for a half dozen doughnuts once a week and not miss the money. But, I'm still hoping for to get some for free. I guess the sociologists or psychologists out there can probably give me an explanation.

At curling tonight (not that I'm bragging) we won 13-3 against the team that we all assume has the best skip on the ice. We got lucky and I'll assume he had an off night. My skip mentioned that our vice skip is going to miss a few of the upcoming games, so he's promoting me to vice for this duration. (Or maybe until I mess up!) He also gave me a bit of advice that seem to help with my delivery. I'm paraphrasing, but it might have went something like this, "Aim for the broom, you idiot!" Whatever it was, that advice helped in the short term.

I had been curling lead or #2, and starting to decide that I like lead better. So, being vice will but the pressure on me to not mess up with a crowded house. I'll also have my opportunities to sweep reduced by a third. Since sweeping is the best workout of curling, and since the doughnuts aren't free anyway, I'll have to take it easy on the doughnuts.

Finally, when it comes to curling, I've been told more than once that I have good form. This, more than anything, surprises me. Those that know me know that I'm not afraid to try new activities. But, I don't tend to have good form or grace or style at anything I do. For example, while I don't golf much (I do make it a point to golf once or twice per decade) my golfing has been compared to someone more than 20 years my senior with a bad back. Those sorts of comparisons are what I'd expect from my particular style in anything. Maybe the people complimenting me are just trying to be nice...