Meet Matthew Cooke, a Stranger reader who has vowed to do everything The Stranger suggests for the entire month of February. Look for his reports daily on Slog and Line Out. —Eds.

For my very last Stranger task, I was finally asked to go somewhere that wasn’t in Capitol Hill, Downtown, or the University District. I was excited to venture further afield, but there was a problem: They wanted me to go on a Sunday morning.

My Sunday mornings are... how shall I put it? Sacrosanct. The list of acceptable activities is short, and generally involve the couch, the paper, and the TV (a tasty, bacon-y breakfast is also acceptable), especially when I’ve been out late on Saturday watching filthy skin flicks. Furthermore, curling holds no interest for me, though I am vaguely aware of its sudden, Olympics-driven popularity.

An ironic aspect of this Stranger gig is that it made me feel more aware and “plugged in” to the city, yet I was so busy doing the next task I completely missed little things like, oh, the Olympics. I managed to watch maybe a total of four hours’ worth, and have felt totally out of the cultural loop. Every so often, I would overhear baffling references… The Canadian women’s hockey team likes cigars? Bode Miller isn’t a jackass? Johnny Weir is gay? (OK, I knew the answer to that one.) This was all very odd, as I am generally a sports fan and would ordinarily be all over this shit.

Anyway, the curling thing. I had managed to secure soft commitments from a couple friends, and with the promise of drink and food, I was ready to amend my usual Sunday morning routine. Besides, I’m not going to get all the way to the last February task just to blow it off and ruin my perfect (or at least nearly perfect) record. But then the Olympics intervened again in the form of the US-Canada hockey match. My friends bailed on me to attend various hockey-viewing parties, and thus I found myself alone, riding out this last, niggling mile of my February marathon.

So how was it? I can tell you this: It looked cool. I got there too late to actually get on the court (people were already lined up outside the door at 9am), and was feeling too anti-social to play with strangers anyway. When I walked in though, I immediately felt the vibe, like an unpretentious bowling alley. I was perfectly happy to watch, set up as I was with a window seat and a tasty Bloody Mary. I only saw one person fall on his ass, which was disappointing. But he fell hard and it looked painful, so I was satisfied.

Still, I was tired, lonely and a bit cranky. I wish I could say my last Stranger task was majorly kick-ass, but maybe a crappy finale is now a “Yesterday” tradition (if Kyle’s experience at The Tooth Fairy is any indication). Not that this was crappy, per se. Though I was lonesome, I still enjoyed myself. But if you go (there’s another open house happening on March 27th), take friends.

I’ll have one more post tomorrow, during which I’ll pass out awards for best and worst suggestion, and possibly a couple other lists you might find entertaining (best and worst Slog comment?). Be well.