It may be Mardi Gras.

It may be Fat Tuesday.

It may be Shrove Tuesday.

It may be Paczki Day. (or is it?)

For me it's the first night of a 5-week "Spring Fling" in-house Curling Tournament at the North Shore Country Club.

If you read this entry about my last time out on a sheet you never would have believed that I was doing this.

Dreams die. Some die harder.

Well, this is no longer a dream of mine. If I can't deliver a stone in the conventional manner and have to use "The Stick", I will never be in the Olympics. With that in mind, now it's more of a curiosity. Now, I'm seeing if this sport can last with me and not a flash-in-the-pan thing... though I've always been interested in the sport.

Everyone has been divided into 6 teams (A through F), so we were on 3 of the 4 sheets. It turns out the the guy that "introduced me" to the stick at the open house is the Vice Skip on my team. And my cousin - who got me into this to begin with - was on the other team we played. The game will be up to 8 Ends (instead of 10 Ends).

OK, one lesson learned: When you're a second, you have to sweep up to 6 of your 8 stones (because the other 2 you're delivering). That's a lot of sweeping. SUCKS. MUCH more physical than I had thought.

On the plus side, I had purchased some grippers to go over my shoes for traction. Never slipped once - worked like a charm. The Stick? Well, i need some work. My issues: Speed, arm position, aiming, and releasing, in that order I think.

The game takes about 2 and a half hours, the other team concedes in the 8th and we win 9-4.

OK, this is something that I need to do for the 5 weeks and see how this progresses.