Spouses & Siblings

Nate Johnson, you'll appreciate this story...

Last night Steven, Jackson, and I went to Strikz to meet up with our friend, Cale, for some bowling. In the first frame, Steven had hit 1 pin, and Cale and I both had hit 7. It went downhill from there. Steven and I used to go bowling in Yokosuka and he would beat me probably 65-75 percent of the time (and he'll tell you that he "let" me win to make me feel better... it's a dirty lie). But we both averaged 80-100 points per game, so it was never a whooping for either one of us. Which is good, because we are both competitive. I mean, I'm competitive, but Steven is COMPETITIVE. Whoa. So last night, when I was already beating him one frame in, it was a problem, so the blame started coming. First, it was the ball. Our balls must have been "better" in some form, so he started using our balls. Then, I got the first stike of the night, which really ticked them both off. Cale came back with a few strikes of his own. Unfortunately (for all involved), Steven did not. Next, it was the lane! This lane was no good because it "hated" Steven for some reason I'm not entirely clear on... Then it was ALL the lanes in that particular bowling alley. NEXT time we should go bowling at Main Event or Plano Super Bowl because this bowling alley was no good. First game ended with Cale at 91, I bowled 77, and Steven... well... lost. I won't embarrass him with his score.

The next game started and Steven and Cale went to get a beer (when Steven & I go out, only one of us drinks so the other can drive, and if Jackson's with us it's usually not me drinking). When they came back, Steven was up first, aaaaaand he guttered. Apparently he was getting sick of the blame game, so he started in on the "if I don't try, I can't fail" tactic. First, he decided to bowl with his left hand. Of course, Cale acted surprised that Steven hadn't been bowling left-handed all along. Since bowling left-handed hurt & didn't improve his game any, Steven declared very loudly that he gave up and started lobbing the ball down the lane without any concern for where it would land. Guess what, it usually landed in the gutter. Next, he decided to see if his "bad luck" (because it COULDN'T be his lack of bowling skills) would wear off on our balls and started hurling them down the lane as well. Cale broke 100 during this game, I bowled an 86, and Steven bowled an 18. Little 5 year old Dominic in the lane next to us had an 18 in the fourth frame!

Which brings me to the title of this post. Spouses & siblings know better than anyone how to push buttons. And I'm a button-pusher. The whole night I was razzing Steven every chance I had. I really think that it mostly bothered him that he was losing to ME. Cale isn't one to spare feelings either, so he was in on Steven as well. At one point Jackson started to wimper and Cale quickly asked him "What's wrong Jackson, are you sad that your Dad can't bowl?" Luckily for me, Steven isn't one of those pouty competitive types, he just makes a joke of it, so we ended up having a great time.

Speaking of "pushing buttons..." his first game score was 54.