Caroline Pao

OMG… a bunch of us went to have crawfish and it was the most amazing thing I had in a very long time. The flavor and seasoning was AWESOMMEEE!!! Plus there were no plates and utensils… HANDS ONLY!!! Even more AWESOMMMEEE!!! We had such a great time that our food even tasted better… You can see how much fun we had through my pics… with Jay “Buddha” Chiu, Linda “PoolMonkey” Cheung, Justin “Squish theTAR Guy” Collette, Robert “Billiard Life Guy” Salazar, Gil “Castillo Leather Guy” Castillo, Andy “I got a tripod in my trunk Guy” Chen and Justin “Pigpen” Acker. Oh are we going to pay tomorrow!!!

Boy has it been a busy month. I went to the WPBA U.S. Open in Oklahoma City… which I didn’t perform very well… I have been going through some mental issues. Not sure why I don’t feel as confident when I compete. I may not get to practice as much but I still feel as though I should be playing better than I do at tourneys. I am grateful that I had a chance to talk with Jennifer Barretta because I was so disappointed with my performance. I could not get out with ball in hand with 3 balls on the table. It was just too frustrating. Why does that happen? I have been searching for the answer by reading books and picking the brains of champions. But have yet to find the answer! If you have the solution, please please please let me know what it is!!! I do not think I have ever been that depressed. Even Xiao Ting and Supadra was scared to talk to me because I was so quiet and unhappy. I hope to find the light one day!!!

Despite my disappointment, I had a fun doing the “Ask the Pro” and a brief interview for ESPN. It is always fun to do TV stuff!!! I also had a great time spending time with my girls (Gayoung, Xiao Ting, Myhanh, Supadra and Jennifer Barretta) not to mention our super fun crazy night at the Karaoke club…. I can’t believe that Joanne Ashton, Jennifer Barretta and I actually sang a song… Since I get embarrassed really easily I never do stuff like that but what the hell… you only live once… special thanks to the Malibu Sea Breeze… it was actually fun!

After flying back to NYC, I had a couple of days to prep for the Dragon Promotion’s Mezz Classics sponsored by Mezz USA (Mika and I) along with Mezz Japan which took place in Orlando, Florida. I was definitely looking forward to this trip since it’s going to be my mini-vacation plus I get to spend a few days with my good friend, Jeannie Seaver. I haven’t seen her in ages. It was a reunion for us… we talked about everything. The best part was we went fishing!! Loved it. First, fishing under a highway bridge… caught a few little ones and a gazillion cat fish that we threw back… the second time, deep sea fishing… AWESOME. I caught 2 red snapper (5 and 10 lbs) and 2 sea bass. I also had to throw back several other fishies because they were too small to keep.

The Mezz Classics turned out pretty nice. Too bad the amateur events did not fill up. Overall, I thought that the players and spectators had a good time. Thanks to Dragon Promotions and hotticket.com for their live streaming many others that were not there were able to see some great matches. I had a blast commentating Mika’s and Shane’s semi-final match… eventhough I thought I wasn’t very good…

I left for NYC right after the event and started prepping for the 2009 APA Team Nationals at the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas. This is the last big tradeshow for Billiard Life and Mezz USA for the year! It will be nice to not think about another tradeshow until next year. But for now, I have a long week of 12 hour working days ahead of me! It’s all good. It’s always nice to see familiar faces, meet new people.. at the same time maybe sell everything out! Life… isn’t it great!!!???!!!??!!