Target ball

Okay,  I've been a few times now, and can officially say that lawn bowls are awesome.

It has this weird quality of being vaguely meditative while active and social at the same time.

I've also being playing petanque at home (right hand against left hand) and finding that thoroughly enjoyable as well.  The whole target ball thing is really floating my boat at present.

It's quite, quite different from fencing - and I suspect it will have a longer "shelf-life" as well.  While I'm enjoying fencing, I can't see myself lasting for more than a few years.

Actually, I've been having a bit of trouble with enjoying the fencing lately.  I haven't been for a few weeks due to sickness and other sundry excuses, but the past few months haven't been as much fun as they used to be.

It has taken me a while to figure out why, but I think it's because I'm crappier at it than I'd like to be, and I feel like my general crappiness is letting down my coaches.  I have a number of flaws that are getting in the way of overall improvement.  I'm improving slowly in some areas, but I'm not obviously improving at all in others.  It's starting to feel like the lack of improvement is all anyone can see (including myself).

I feel like I need to give myself permission to be crap at this in order to enjoy it again.  It's like I'm not playing any more, I'm just failing.  No one can enjoy that.

So, maybe it's no wonder that lawn bowls is looking more and more attractive to me.  Sure, it's not as physically demanding as fencing, and it doesn't encourage me to build my athletic base like fencing does, but at the moment it feels more relaxed and comfortable.