I'm learning to bowl. I'd bowled growing up, but I lived in New England, and up there we have something called candlepin bowling, in which you palm a small ball and roll it at ten very skinny, straight pins. So this whole Fred Flintstone method that the whole rest of the world uses, with the large ball with the finger holes in it, is foreign territory for me. Not so for these New Jerseyan amateur pros, who gamely gave us their advice for how not to strike out with your date. (Geddit?)
Is it okay to skip an event my significant other wants me to go to if I have bowling league that night?
It depends on the importance of the event. A funeral for an immediate family member, you go. A funeral for her friend's third cousin, you bowl.
And if the cat dies, just leave those crazy shoes in the closet 'cause you ain't going nowhere. More here.