Last night, I went bowling once again. I'm not a terribly good bowler, but some of my friends go every week, and it's fun to go with them. One of the things I love about going bowling is that, though the game itself doesn't change, the whole experience is new and different each time. Give this a read and you'll see what I mean.

Believe it or not, the plumber guys I mentioned before were back last night, and they were in similar form. But the real new and interesting part of the experience was not any expert bowlers (there was league bowling, so there were plenty of them) or any awkward bowling styles. It was a homeless guy. When I arrived, I noticed a guy who appeared disheveled and ragged. He was missing quite a few teeth, and though he wasn't bowling, he was smoking and drinking. I figured he was homeless, because later in the evening he fell asleep at the bar/table at which he was sitting.

Sadly, I think the guy had other problems as well. He seemed nice enough, save for being intoxicated and exuding a smell of dirt. I found myself oddly fascinated with his behavior, though. He just sat in his chair, occasionally watching the bowlers or the people coming and going from the bowling alley. He didn't really seem to be paying a whole lot of attention to any of this though.

No, what this guy paid most attention to was the woman on his right, and the guy in the lane directly in front of him. He kept chatting and whispering sweet nothings in her ear, and cheering on his buddy who was bowling. Only no words ever came from this guy's mouth, no woman was sitting next to him, and there was no guy bowling. He was having an entire evening of fun and socializing, all by himself. He actually had imaginary friends, and it was amazing how he looked at them and actually seemed to be carrying on such conversation.

I figured, at first, that he might be doing this to attract attention to himself. You know, perhaps it was a ploy to evoke pity from others. It certainly got my attention, so he succeeded admirably with that part. What was interesting was that he carried this on even when people apparently weren't looking. He socialized for the quite a while, until eventually he fell asleep where he sat.

In any event, I have no idea if he was just pulling everyone's leg. Maybe this guy was just incredibly good at fooling people, and very dedicated to the art of doing so. I don't know, and it doesn't matter. I was nonetheless utterly fascinated, and had to share the story.

So that leaves me with a question for you: what is the weirdest thing that you have ever seen, or have had happen to you, when you went out bowling? I'm betting I hear some pretty interesting stories.