A Love Denied (Why is the world so hungry for money?) ¤Frankenstein¤

I have loved to play billiards for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, one of my uncles had a pool table and he kept it in my granny's garage. I would pester dad to go there often so that I could shoot. I did so for hours and hours and I became quite good at it. I even taught myself some trick shots. You never know when one might come in handy. For example, let's say that you're playing someone in a game of eight-ball and you only have one ball left on the table. It's sitting right in front of a pocket but one of their balls is right in front of it. Don't think that you don't have a shot because you do. I found that by pointing the cue almost straight up and clipping the cue ball sharply on the very side, it's possible to make it jump right over your opponent's ball and sink yours into the pocket without scratching.

I loved that table but he finally ended up selling it for some reason. He never used it and I guessed he just wanted the money. I was lost after that. I had nowhere to shoot because I didn't know anyone else with a table. I wasn't old enough to get into the downtown pool hall and I wouldn't have wanted to, anyway. In the late seventies, video games became popular and game rooms opened up all over town. I frequented a couple of them but I seldom played pool. There was much demand for the tables and it was just too noisy.

In the mid-eighties, I moved into a very nice apartment complex which was quite expensive. There were all of the amenities which one would expect at that price. There were tennis and basketball courts, a swimming pool, a laundry room and best of all...a pool table in the clubhouse. I worked a lot of long days at my store at that time but I spent many hours shooting pool there. I never minded doing so by myself because it just helped me to keep getting better and better. That made the actual games that I did occasionally get to play more interesting and I was a more worthy opponent for anyone. Dad liked to come over and shoot a few games sometimes and it was always a lot of fun.

I was lucky enough to accidentally run across an online billiard game about a year or so ago and it was enjoyable to me but it just wasn't the same. It was all I had, though, so I was happy to have it. Somehow, it got deleted and now, I can't find it again. I'll keep trying, though.

A couple of months ago, I found an online game called Couronne and it's a lot like pool. Instead of balls, you have disks and instead of six pockets, there are only four. Other than that, it's practically the same game. They took it off of the site for a few weeks with a promise that it would be back new and improved. I waited patiently and, when it was finally back, I couldn't wait to check it out. Imagine my disappointment when I learned that they now want to charge for it. I've played the demo version which has a short time limit and it's exactly as it was before they took it off with the promise of something better. The only difference is that now they call it Couronne 'Deluxe' and they want to charge a fee for me to play it as much as I want to. It isn't better for anyone except for the owners of the site. I understand that people need to make a living but why is it that so many seem to be so obsessed with the almighty dollar. I could give you many, many examples of this but I won't do it here and now.

You see, I've never lived at any place where I had the room for a pool table of my own. They're quite expensive, too. My dream is to, one day, have one and, if I have a refrigerator stocked with beer and a bathroom there in that den, I doubt that anyone will ever see me again unless they're a close friend and they want to come over to talk or shoot a few games. I'll be able to do that as soon as I can come up with the cash. See? It all boils down to money. The difference between me and many, though, is that I'm not willing to do whatever it takes to get it. I'm not out to rob anyone like so many are on these sites and in real life, as well. Hey, maybe one day... A guy can always dream.

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