Yesterday, a buddy of mine calls up and asks that I come sub on his pool team. After making 100% sure that I had the all clear (a certain someone wasn’t gonna be there) I decided I’d go out and shoot, when suddenly I’m stopped dead in my tracks. I couldn’t find the keys to my motorcycle.

See, as those of you that read regularly know, I don’t believe in “God” … I’m an atheist. I do, however, believe that there is a fabric to life and most things that happen are somehow interconnected. Go read some Orson Scott Card if you want a more detailed understanding of what I mean.

So, anyway — I searched for hours. Looked in the freezer, under the bed, hell — I even opened the tray of my DVD player to see if maybe the keys were there. No luck.

This morning, I get up, head out to the one place I knew they had to be and there they are. Mind you, I’ve looked in this exact location 3 times with no luck.

Deep down inside I had a bad feeling about going out last night — so either my subconscious mind or the fabric of the universe decided that I should stay in. Now I’m left with this odd tinge of curiosity… What did I avoid last night?

A few months ago, I walked into a bar to meet up with “Capital C” and watch her team play their first APA match. They were short a player and, out of the blue, her team captain asked if I knew how to shoot… Next thing I knew, I was playing the first tournament league game of my life, and winning it to boot.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think that a few months later I’d be skipping the playoffs and moving directly to the citywide APA tournament with a good chance at making it to the APA Nationals in Las Vegas.

What a whirlwind couple of months. I’d always enjoyed shooting pool, but I’ve never taken much time to get into the game at a competitive level. I was a slightly-above-average bar room player. It’s really difficult to grasp that I’m on a team of 5 active players that managed to work together and take the #1 spot.