RNDM THOT PTRNS

I have found the most obnoxious place in the city of Tulsa. It's name, Incredible Pizza.

Candy's Mom is in town because so is her sister-in-law and her nephews. They all wanted to go somewhere for the kids to play, and I agreed to meet them there. I was hoping and praying they would go to this other arcade in the area, but they opted for Incredible Pizza.

This place is touted as a Christian family establishment, but let me break it down for you. The food makes Cici's Pizza look like Wolfgang Puck. The music is all christian pop...well, let's just say that even Creed is a little too hardcore for these guys. Not that I could hear the music, what with the screaming kids and loud games. And, I never heard "Excuse me" once as people were walking through the joint.

All in all, if ever you wanted to write a modern version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, this is the setting you should shoot for.

Whatever happened to the arcades of my youth? A big room with simple games that had a simple premise: put in ONE quarter and play. Games with one joystick and 1-4 buttons on them, where you could play single handed if you had to, because the games didn't have built-in cup holders for your big gulp. When you were out of money, you left, not get cash out of one of fifteen atms next to the change machines. Now, every game is begging for your attention with loud music and more lights on them than the mothership in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and require the manual dexterity of a fighter pilot to just get the game started.

I don't know, maybe this is a sign that I'm getting too old to play games. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna play some Gamecube before I have to pick Candy up from work. Yes, I note the irony of that statement.

Here's a pic Candy took of me on our second or third date, at the state fair's petting zoo.