And Here We Go!

Today is my first day back at work. It seems like forever before I get to see these great people I work with over here at the Clarion Hotel Scottsdale! Everyone here always wants me to keep them updated on MY POOL LIFE lol. Yesterday I took a day off from my practicing routine. Sometimes I just need a day to myself, to think and process all of the angles and english that I hammer into my head each day. I started back on my practice routine last Monday when I went back to drilling shots 100 times each. Ive found that it really helps to have my MP3 player on for these long practice sessions.The time goes by so quick. For my 100 times each i usually pick a shot that I don't feel to confident about when I'm at the table under pressure. Its good to keep track of shots you need to work on that way your not hitting and hoping. After about 60 times i notice that the shot isn't as complicated as it use to be. Whats funny is that after you practice a shot 100 times you cant wait for it to come up in a match, but it never does. I also like to play a couple of ghost sets after I'm done with my 100 times just to practice my pattern play. I practiced for about 6 hours before I just felt like collapsing to the floor. The first day back isn't very easy but it has to be done.
I went home , took Cheese my chihuahua out side, popped open a Vanilla Coke and played my Game Cube for 2 hours.Just for future reference Nilla Cokey aka Vanilla Coke is my Favey lol. I know my life is so glamorous ,but I think everyone needs an escape. Like for instance ive been going to the recording studio for the past two months. Singing is something I LOVE to do. When I was younger that was my dream. I won the National American Miss Talent competition in 2004 and I used the money to go to the recording studio to record a demo. I never really ran with the whole singing thing so I picked up a new dream of being a professional pool player. What a huge difference in dreams. What I'm getting at is when I'm singing at the studio I take my mind completely off pool for two hours or even more. Pool gets extremely stressful when that's all u do day in and day out. I think its a very good thing to take sometime to yourself and give yourself time to absorb all that you are learning.
Tuesday I usually get to the pool hall around 4pm because I play the TUESDAY NIGHT TOURNAMENT at Kolby's in Tempe , AZ. Its a great tournament you get to play with all the best players in the area and you have a great chance at beating them. Ball weighted tournaments are great for beginners. When I was just starting out I would come up to the tournament and get the 6 out from some players that's a lot of weight if you ask me. So I practiced on my favorite table #16 for about an hour before my good friend Billy Mac came to join me. We have an inside joke where we play for the championship lol. He reminds me of and older gentleman that befriended me back when I first started playing pool. I called him Squid but his real name was Bob or Robert Cole. Sometimes we would play for 7 hours straight at the first pool hall I ever laid a foot in CUE D's. We would take road trips to California in one night. To this day he is one of my best friends and is someone who genuinely cares about where I'm going with my career. He always calls me and asks my if I'm a world champion yet. He can see my devotion to the game and I think that he understands how much I want to be the best. I really attached myself to Billy Mac because he posses some of Squid's personality trates and some of his own that are just as good. He is one of the few people I can practice with at Kolby's. I convinced him to play in the tournament because he never does all he wants to do is watch that darn ball game lol.
I lost my first match to Bobby Emmons who used to be a good friend of mine but we just grew apart after the last year. He dashed threw me 5-0 i kept running to the five ball and missing it. Every game i did the same thing. I won my next 3 loser side matches then lost to some guy I had never seen before and he had what I call the I'M BETTER THEN ALL OF YOU attitude lol. I really love to beat those kinda people. You just wanna say Who's good now ? lol.
I walked out of Kolby's aggravated but I played very well if do say so myself. All of my practicing is really paying off. I think ill be more then ready for the qualifier in Tucson,AZ next month. I have a winning feeling about the whole idea!

In The Beginning

Welcome everyone this is my blog where you will find out what i am up to from day to day. First off i would like to thank my great friends at ONTHERAILTV.com for helping me out on this long journey to the pool hall wall of fame. Thanks Lenny and Steve!

On July 17Th I got on a plane to Philly, PA for a tournament out in New Jersey. For some reason before I take these trips I always like to fantasize about how I will do in the tournament. I always picture myself winning and how the feeling would feel to accomplish my goals. I arrive in PA at 2:30 pm and I get picked up by my good friend Matt Krah. We made a pit stop a local pool hall in PA called Drexeline Billiards. From the outside of the building it looked like an underground pool hall lol. When we walked in there were quite a few players in the room. We got a table and played a few racks , but for some reason I just wasn't feeling the whole playing pool after a 5 hour flight thing. I took a break and watched Matt play. Now Matts a great player don't get me wrong when I say what I'm about to say but whenever he plays I always try to figure out his stroke. Its a short stroke or something it cracks me up. Don't get me wrong he plays jam up , but every time he shoots you think hes gonna miss. He plays a couple racks with one of his good friends Josh then we take off to the Asian Buffet. After we ate I was so tired so we headed to his house so that I could get some sleep for the big day tomorrow!
I woke up at 6:00am and started getting ready for the tournament. I'm a girl it takes me a while to get ready OK! We had to leave by 8:00am to get to New Jersey by 10:00am so that I can practice because I find myself playing horrible in the morning. The drive threw Delaware was so beautiful. Big green trees everywhere! I kept thinking I was in Atlanta, GA both the states have so much in common even the smell. My favorite part of the drive was the huge bridge we drove over ( HOW COOL) ! The one reason I would never live in this state is that there are toll booths EVERYWHERE OMG they must make $1,000,000 a day with those things.
When we finally got to the tournament that was held at Prime Time Billiards, I stood around with my friend Matt for a couple of minutes. I like to eye ball all of the players and get a feel for the place. Luckily for me everyone was so nice. I jumped on a table and started practicing, and just like everyone else probably does I try to practice perfectly so everyone knows where I stand as far as my pool game go's. I just try to show myself that I deserve to be here just as much as anyone else does. At 11:30 am they had a players meeting and they did the draw. I got a BYE the first round which to us pool players is a blessing to the next round. I sat around for an hour anticipating my match. I'm pretty much cool and calm until i here my match called, then the adrenaline starts to run. I draw a very pretty young lady named Rio. Let me now share a secret with the world ( i underestimate every woman I play). Now back to my match. She won the first game , then I went on to win the next three. Then I let her catch up to me and get to four before me. I then snapped back into it and won two games, then she won two game which put her on the hill. With some careful thinking and clever strategies i won the next game which made it HILL HILL! This is when you start to question yourself and the stress kicks in. There is something about HILL HILL game that make you think so hard about every move you make on the table. I break the balls and start off the game. I miss a ball and she takes over the table she runs 3 balls and missed the 5ball with the 5,7,9 left on the table. I pocketed the 5ball in corner pocket with a lot of draw and the cue ball stops perfect for the 7ball. Now the 7ball was a very simple shot , just a hair of top left and I'm good to go. So because this is a HILL HILL game this shot just became the hardest most sot out shot in the world. In my mind the little mind devils are asking me questions like 'What if you miss this?' 'How embarrassing would that be?' So I look at the shot one more time and go for it. I hit it perfect with perfect shape on my game winning 9ball. YEA GO ME!
I won my next match 7 - 5 which was another one of those stressful matches. After winning that match I take a gander at the board only to notice that i had to play one of the best players in my book, Karen Core. We shook hands and lagged. I lose the lag and the first game. The woman only missed two balls the entire set and beat me 7-2. I feel that I played rather well against her. I took advantage of my two chances. So I had to come back Sunday to start on my loser side match.
SUNDAY MORNING - I'm ready and pumped when I get to the pool hall. It turned out that I had to play one of my good friends Iris Ranola. I really love her game very well kept and strong she seems to never be out of line. I win the lag and the first game, but shes close behind me winning the second game. Then Iris took a lead and only let me have a couple more chances to put away the 9ball. She beats me 7-3 and walks away victorious. In the tournament I ended up with 9Th place which as far as I'm concerned, was pretty good for the amount of fantastic players that attended the tournament.
We took a drive down to Atlantic City were I witnessed my first Blaze tour at a place in Atlantic City , NJ call Atlantic City Billiards. I cheered my friend Matt on as I sat and played the touch screen. I love the photo hunt game. After the Blaze tournament I started my long awaited journey home. After I lose in a tournament it seems like the only place in world that I want to be is at home here in Phoenix, AZ with my cat Meowy Crackers Erdahl , my dog Cheese, and my best friend Laron.
In the past two weeks I have played some of the best women from Allison Fisher to Karen Corr. It has given me so much drive to improve and sharpen up my game. I hope next time ill come back and give everyone a run for their money. I just have to remember that anything is possible if I want it bad enough. IF YOU WANT WHAT YOU NEVER HAD THEN YOU HAVE TO DO WHAT YOU'VE NEVER DONE!