I videoed a match of myself against myself in a race to 3 playing banks.

It seems like I just got done saying that I can't write about my practice sessions at stupid Jack's. But it was almost a month ago, so maybe you people forgot.

One of the guys I play is, by the standards of that place, pretty fucking good. I think he's the second best player in there. He probably thinks that I'm the second best player in there. He's wrong if he thinks that, but he's entitled to his opinion, and it's pretty close anyway.

We usually play one-pocket, breaker gives up 11-7. Most of the time, like maybe 80% of the time, that means that the non-breaker wins. It's a tough spot against an almost equal opponent.

I truly believe that, over that last several months, I have a slight winning percentage. Like maybe 55-45. Not much, but enough to be proud of against a good opponent.

Tonight, in one of the games, I managed to make a ball on the break, and then run 10 more balls to win the game. That's the best I've ever done off the break in competition, and that's the reason I'm bothering to write this entry.

So there.

It might be time to redo my expectations for this tournament.

Oh well.

I have a tournament today. Or tomorrow. Whatever.

I'm breaking one of my unwritten rules. I'm going into this tournament with expectations.

I'm expecting to win the thing.

This probably means that I'll end up going two and out, but it's kinda fun to expect to win.

This is from a little over a year ago, but it's still extremely accurate. I've, once again, decided to shoot with my ugly Predator, at least until after the DCC.

One thing that I don't think I mentioned in the video is that all that crap about effortless and such was about banks. For regular shots, I don't think there's much of a differences between my cues.

So I've got this problem with this damn journal. I've had this problem for years. And years, even.

I go to this stupid bar slash pool hall and I play against pretty much the same three or four people every time. Every day of the week this happens. Sometimes I do pretty well. Usually, I do pretty well. Sometimes you might even say that I murder my opponents.

But, because I only ever play against three or four people, and it's always the fucking same three or four people, I can't write about it.

People would figure out who I played and who I beat and, who am I to be writing about crap like that? About these people who are friends of mine?

It's nobody's business, and that's my problem with this damn journal.

Just messing around, trying to break and run a game of one-pocket.

I don't do resolutions. I used to, but I gave up on them years ago.

I just wanted to say that I hope the guy I played tonight didn't have a resolution to not get murdered at one-pocket in 2014, because if he did, then that resolution was out the window before 24 hours had passed.

It's been less than three weeks since I got my Schon H4 back. It seems longer than that.

Initially, I was extremely happy with the cue. In fact, I shot well and didn't lose a game (one-pocket, 9-ball, 8-ball, or banks) out of the first thirty or so games I played with it. I still haven't lost too many, but a problem remains.

It's hard to describe. The cue makes me work too hard. It's not very relaxing. My Predator sneaky is relaxing. The balls just go in, and the cue ball just goes where I want. I don't have to try as hard.

The Predator, despite having the same Kamui medium tip as the Schon, has a softer hit. I'm thinking that maybe that's what I need. So today I'm going to take the Schon in and get an Ultraskin soft put on it. I think I'm also going to try to get another 1/2 ounce of weight on the cue.

Maybe this will all help. If it doesn't, then I guess I'll have to go back to using the Predator as my regular cue. That would piss me off, because it's my least favorite cue.

One of the methods I sometimes use to force proper mental focus.