These past several days I’ve gotten off my lazy ass and worked at practicing my dart game.  The picture above represents the highly coveted and rarely thrown 6 bulls (aka “three in the red”, “triple double”, and “lucky bastard”) which I accomplished yesterday.  Of course, I threw it in practice which is pretty much meaningless.  But Jee Yeun was excited enough about it to snap a photo, so there it is.

I can definitively report that the old saw “practice makes perfect” is pretty much pure bullshit.  However, I’ve seen some evidence that practice does in fact help you improve.  I’ve found that my inconsistency is somewhat less consistent, which is to say that I totally suck less often than usual lately.  Obviously, I’m pretty darn happy about that.  I’m still throwing bricks (three darts, no hits) more than I’d like, but the triples seem to be coming more than they used to, and as any darter will tell you, a few triples can mask some otherwise terrible throws.

So, Wednesday night was the finale of the Puddlin’ Duck league here in Columbia and we played it out as ten man (well, nine men, one woman) singles event.   I had the good fortune to prevail in spite of myself and that victory gave me enough points to be crowned league champion (although there is technically no crown awarded).  I unseated my nemesis James Mabie, but to be fair he wasn’t there to defend his ranking these past few weeks.

Feeling inspired and full of confidence (not to mention bored with sitting around the house) we made the drive out to lovely Aiken, SC to partake in the blind draw tournament at the VFW post.   I’ve been meaning to get out there and give it a try for several months, but one thing leading to another and all (a nice way of avoiding the word “lazy” don’t you think?) I hadn’t had the opportunity.  I’m so damn spoiled by public transportation in Seoul that I just can’t seem to wrap my mind around the idea of driving over an hour to get to a darts match.   But the reality is that Columbia is pretty much a darts wasteland, so it’s drive or lay on my amazingly comfortable couch perusing the thousands of programs available through the miracle of Netflix and satellite TV.

There’s lots to like about the VFW venue.  10 boards, cheap beer, very friendly people, indoor smoking, some excellent players, and almost everyone seemed to be having a good time.  I’m always somewhat uncomfortable my first time in a new dart bar.  I don’t know anyone, no one knows me, and I feel pressured (totally self-imposed) to throw well so I don’t come off as a total dweeb.  Consequently, I usually come off as a total dweeb.  I remember my first night at the Puddlin’ Duck hearing Jee Yeun telling people “really, he’s usually a lot better than this!”.  Sweet girl, always has my back.

But last night, folks were coming up and introducing themselves and telling me how glad they were that I’d made the trip out.  Just good old fashioned Southern Hospitality.  I also had the good fortune to draw a solid partner and we seemed to find away to pick each other up when the need arose (which means, when I had a bad throw, he didn’t and vice-versa).  We fought our way through the winners bracket, had some real battles against players we probably wouldn’t normally beat but did, and came away with first place money.  When I hit the double 9 out for the win in the finals, I couldn’t help but dance a little jig.  Gangnam-style, of course.

As you can see my partner David was ecstatic about our victory.

It was after one in the morning when we got out of there.  My Garmin took me through 20 miles of dark narrow highways before finally leading me back to the Interstate.  Between Aiken and Columbia, I passed one car with a what I assume was a drunk driver (he was driving in the left lane under the speed limit with his bright lights on) and was passed by one.  Ah, the open highway!  Oh yeah, my odometer hit 55555 during the drive home.  That passes for excitement on the road at 2 a.m., at least for me.

And so ends my tale of dart prowess, long drives, and a pretty damn fine Friday night.