Blog

This weekend began like most any other weekend. Kristen, her brother, a friend of ours and I spend a little while trying to figure out what we were going to do Friday night. After going out to get something to eat we drove to Eaton Ohio to Taffy’s, a coffee bar on the main drag. They have a nice atmosphere and, according to Kristen they have some great drinks too. We were there to see Eric Loy play guitar. He’s a friend of mine and I maintain his website for him. I don’t get to see him as often as I’d like, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to check him out again. After a few hours, we left.
Saturday was a day to behold. We spend most of the day driving around and trying to figure out what we were going to do. Finally, after several trips back and forth between the west and east sides of town we ended up at "The Skate", a skating ring that’s been attended by the local junior high riff-raff since I was a little kid. Kristen had been talking about wanting to go skating for some time, so we went ahead and took the plunge. After sitting in the parking lot for several minutes watching the mass of excited kids waiting for the 7:30 door-opening we got out and went in.
It was like stepping into a time machine when we walked into the front door. Nothing had changed. The same 80’s games were there, the building was even painted the same color it was when I had gone there as a kid. It was great. Jamie and I weren’t really interested in skating, so while Kristen and Tara got their skates and avoided the skating ring itself Jamie and I set out on a mission. The playground was the skating ring’s selectio of games. The prize, tickets that we could trade for useless junk.
We’ve all experienced it. We spend $10 in quarters as a kid trying to win 500 tickets so we can "buy" the light-up yoyo from behind the glass counter. Well, Jamie and I were determined to claim our just rewards that night and take our revenge on the flashing, dinging machines that yielded the tickets. No retreat, no surrender.
All said and done Jamie and I ended up with 353 tickets collectively. Not too bad. We were able to get 1 set of fuzzy dice, 4 pairs of goofy teeth, 1 set of bubba teeth, 2 chinese finger traps and 4 plastic mardy gras coins. We were pleased with our purchases to say the least. The key keeper behind the counter was an older woman, and she couldn’t resist saying something about how he and I were reliving our childhood. She was right, and it was great.