2012 was a busy year for me. I was in an airplane 47 out of 52 weeks. Most weeks I would fly home on Fridays and spend 2 nights in my bed. Then on Sundays, I'd fly back to work where I lived for 5 nights in a hotel. There were several weeks where I didn't go home at all because I would fly to a tournament, spend 2 nights in another hotel, and then fly back to work for 5 more nights.in a hotel. I was out-of-town so much that sometimes my bed and pillow at home felt strange.
I often stayed at the same hotel for many weeks in a row. Some weeks I'd be put on the same floor as the previous week. Some weeks I'd even be put in the same room. Other weeks I'd be on the same floor but in a different room. Then some weeks I'd be on a different floor, but the room layout was identical to the previous week's room on a different floor. There were times that I'd wake up in the middle of the night and I'd have to think for a moment.which side of the bed leads me to the bathroom? If I guessed wrong, I'd stumble into furniture or the wall.
Many of my days at work were long and stressful. Many days seemed like there were not enough hours in the day. Then there were days where it felt like my hair was on fire..all day. Most of the time, it was dark when I left for work and it was dark when I returned from work. Many times I'd come back to the hotel and goto the wrong floor. Oops! I was on that floor last week. Or sometimes I'd have the right floor, but I'd goto the wrong room.why is my room key not working?
One time, I returned to the hotel after a very long day. I slid my room key in the slot. Click..red light. I tried it several more times with the same result. I've had room keys do this to me before. I went down to the front desk, told them my key didn't work and what room I was in, and they gave me new keys. I'd been living there for the past 2 months and they knew me very well. With new keys I return to the room and I go in. Time to relax. I throw my bag on the bed that is so familiar to me because I'd slept in it so many times. I take off my coat. I open the closet and reach in for a hanger. Immediately, an eerie feeling comes over me and a cold chill runs down my spine. I slowly turn around and look around the room. It looks familiar to me. But in my mind, I could hear that creepy music from the Twilight Zone. I turn back around and look in the closet. Whose clothes are these and where is my stuff? WTH is going on here? Then..OMG! GET OUT OF HERE NOW!!! I look back on that moment and laugh (nervous laugh). Good thing nobody was there when I entered. Note to self.ALWAYS lock your door when you are in your hotel room. You never know who could be walking in.
I'm working in a town with zero darts. No leagues, no players, and no pubs with dart boards.or so I thought. I was here for several months before I accidentally found a place with a board. I was looking on Yelp for local places to eat and I saw a picture that somebody took of a dartboard. I discovered which pub it was and I immediately went there to check it out. Low and behold, I found a real dartboard in town. Since then, I've become a regular there several nights a week. Their food is quite good and I always have the board to myself for practice. I've never run into other dart players there but I occasionally have curious people watch me and ask me questions. Are those really your darts? What games do you play? Can you hit a bullseye? Do you want to play a game? Can I use your darts?
Work is my priority and it enables me to afford the things that I enjoy. I like my work very much. But my work and travel schedule in 2012 had a direct impact on my performances. I did not play close to my standard from the previous year of 2011. I did achieve one of my 2012 goals, which was to compete in THE WORLD soft tip events and qualifying for their final championship at the end of the year. But I played poorly at the world finals and it was extremely frustrating. I have no excuses, but I know why I played so badly and I've already started to make some changes.
I renewed my contract with Monster Barrels Design. Monster is a fine company and one the biggest dart barrel companies in Japan. I owe it to Monster and myself, to be the best that I can be. Although I continue to travel for work each week, I've committed to practicing more and playing more tournaments in 2013. Also, several of you have asked me to write more in this blog. I will definitely do that too in 2013.
Lately, I've been working on a small tweak in my stroke and release which is yielding more consistency, accuracy, and heavy scoring. I've done things before which have yielded positive results, but this time, it feels very different. Quite frankly, this new technique has me very excited and it is almost scary how well it is working. Will I be able to repeat this technique during a match and achieve the same results? Might this be the thing that I've been searching so long for? Is this the moment where I take my game to the next level? I can't say for certain, but my gut tells me that this might be it. But there is one thing that I am certain about, my confidence is sky high right now and I remember the last time I had this unique feeling, I was right. Time will tell.