The Arcade

82. Though we do so rarely now, we used to go to the local arcade lots of times. We had quite a few memories there. Our favorite game would be the table hockey and we were quite good at it. It was always a blast competing with you head on. In fact, we were always toe to toe with one another. You'd win some, you'd lose some. The loser would sulk a little, but the loss would be taken in good stride in the end. Sometimes other people would watch us having fun. We'd play it till our arms hurt. Another game that you liked was that punching machine. It was basically a show of brute strength, but oh how boyfriends always favored it to show off to their cheering girlfriends. And I was one of those girlfriends. You'd wear the glove and punch the cloth-covered target with a loud boom, and the machine would calculate the strength and score of it. When you'd beat the record, I would simply gush and cheer and always remark how strong your arm strength was. Once or twice we rode the bumper cars and relished crashing into one another. Once or twice we sang in one of their karaoke rooms. One time, your family came along and we discovered your mother's hidden talent at winning stuffed toys from that metal claw game. How many toys had she won exactly? Six? Seven? Quite admirable. And of course, we'd play other games as well, like coin games, shooting games and even racing games. You'd avoid the dance revolution machine like the plague because stepping on arrows like an idiot wasn't your thing. I once even sprained my wrist while exerting too much effort in a basketball shooting game. In spite of that I really had a good time and our ticket collection grew and grew. In fact, we have yet to claim our prizes from those many tickets; which are currently residing in a large cardboard bag inside my cabinet. I don't really mind though since what matters most are the memories we've shared from those special laughter-filled moments.