Rating Balance/Bowling
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I only care about ratings because I care about winning. If your rating stinks then so does your playing ability. It's like looking in the mirror and not liking what you see. There's not much you can do about it at that exact moment.
But in bowling, you can sandbag for almost an entire semester of compulsory intramural bowling, only to crush everyone in the end of semester tournament with your monstrous handicap. I don't think that would work in chess. Nor does footwear seem to matter as much.
Ok
I think vivi132 was hibernating for a really long time and just now finally woke up. 
(The OP has apparently not even been logged onto this site for over three years.)
I hear many people complain about ratings. I also bowl and I have noticed that bowling averages and chess ratings have some situations that are the same. If you start how high in bowling and stay there your bowling average will reflect a high average. Same in chess. If you start low in bowling and stay there your average will reflect a low average. Same in chess. If you move around in your scoring with bowling from high to low. Your bowling average will reflect your current trend. Same in chess. What am I saying? Don't worry about your "Chess Rating", it is going to reflect your playing ability. It self corrects as you play. Just enjoy the game and "don't worry" about the rating. I hope this helps those who are overly concerned about their rating.