Honestly, I've never been a big fan of arcades. I love videogames, but I really just didn't understand why people would pay to play a game that they already own at home. Especially on a controller that 50 other sweaty hands had already touched.
Sak happened to be big on the DDR/Beatmania scene when I met him. (True story - since he is so light, he had to wear ankle weights in order to get the sensors to register his quick feet!) He was really good, and even belonged to the Bemani club at school.
I don't really have any other way to say this - but I totally whipped it right out of him. I'm a little ashamed, but his music game skill has really diminished as a result. But, spending time with me was more important than "wasting money" at an arcade, right? Right?
Anyway, Japan taught me a little more about arcade culture, and I didn't mind spending time there at all. But I still put my foot down on American arcades. Unless you have wicked-awesome games and stuff for the non-shoot-em-up crowd, I'm not interested.
Thus, I give you the standard fare in a Japanese arcade:
Games you can't just play at home:
This game operated a giant train model! Somehow I only took a picture of Sak and not the train though.
Sword in the stone arcade.
The whole idea of battling sharks and giraffes entertains me.
Pogo sticks!
Similar to the popular festival game, you had to try and catch goldfish with a paper scooper!
I'm not sure about this one, but it involved shave ice and bikini girls.
Crane games (UFO catchers) with super crazy (and edible!) prizes:
Koala cookies.
Gigantoid wafer cookies.
One Piece was very, very popular there.
Mario Kart.
Pudding snacks. I totally wanted to try some.
Fancy cookies.
Yeeeep. Slim Jims.
Also a standard is the Purikura (sticker making machines that make you "prettier" by enlarging your eyes and photoshopping your uneven facial tones):
We went into a lot of arcades, and I begged and pleaded with Sak to win me stuff from the UFO catchers every-single-time. Though after watching some lady spend about 5,000 yen (~50 dollars) to win a bath mat shaped like a cat, Sak said no way. Later I watched the following video from here on "how to do it properly" and became convinced that I could handle it.
Yeah, no. After wasting 500 yen on six attempts at a plush guinea pig, I gave up. Oh, the end of my UFO catcher dreams! Sak said that we can put a UFO catcher machine on our "someday we will have" wish list, behind the laser cutter and 3D printer. Then I will practice and become a professional!
Anyway, I conclude that Japanese arcades are very cool, and while we are still very-very-very far behind, we are getting a little better. Maybe someday I'll think American arcades are cool too.
Are there cool arcades in America? Am I just jaded by having seen one-too-many pizza-parlour type arrangements?
(A little teaser on an upcoming 'Bee series. Which I decided wasn't horribly wedding related so all-cool to post here.)
Alright, I have a not-so-secret-secret. I haven't changed much in the last decade or so.
See what I mean?
Maybe I was a little less jaded-by-the-world, a little more emotionally distraught (hormones!), and a lot more egotistical (valedictorian is a title much too easy to get in high school, especially since college is waiting on the other side to slap you right upside your puffed-up head). But essentially, I'm the same type of person I was back then.
In fact, the Penga in high school looked a little like this:
Band nerd
Flute, right in the middle!
Physics Club nerd
Advanced Placement Club nerd
Swim team sprinter, where I got some big muscly arms that later turned into fat. *sigh*
And my favorite high-school claim-to-fame: founding member of the Otaku Club.
Oh yes, we were mature.
We had quite the times in that club.
I attended my first convention in my sophomore year, Ani-Magic in Lancaster. Fanime would follow a few months later. My first cosplays included Trowa from Gundam Wing,
Quistis from Final Fantasy VIII,
and Ukyo from Ranma 1/2.
I was still my same doodley self, having drawn the member T-shirts for our club. I remember how exciting it was to get them professionally printed.
I still have the sketch and shirt too!
High school was also when I first learned the art of super-imposed, Photoshopped pictures.
(I still hadn't heard of jpeg artifacts, though.) Oh Vic Chou! I love you.
And my sister was just a wee little thing back then.
We rollin' in the dough!
I used to practice my flute for her when she was a baby. In my obscene, Episode I-decked room.
Is that JAR JAR?! *Hides in shame*
I was (and still am) really, really obsessed with Star Wars though.
Watched Episode I a whopping 11 times. Overnight line and all.
Now since Sak was still an unknown in Japan/Hawaii during this time period, I went through a few non-Saks along the way. My first boyfriend was the most popular boy in the band, and I went into shock that the cute trumpet player picked me, the nerdy flute, as a girlfriend. Such a shock, actually, that I never really talked or hung out with him. I was too afraid of messing up. Our conversation consisted of letters and online chatting, and eventually he dumped me, because who wants to date a pansy virtual chicken?
My second boyfriend, the smartest guy in my physics class, and a year my senior - was a bit more normal, relationship wise. It was then I realized I could only safely relate with other nerds. Like many a high school relationship, he dumped me before I left for college, making a clean break for the both of us. He went off to the Philippines to become a minister. And of course, I went to college free of attachment and found Sak! So although I was raging mad at the time, the ending was definitely good for both of us.
One last high school memory I'll never forget though - my little cousin once predicted who all his older female cousins would marry. His prediction for me? A nerdy, otaku boy with glasses and blue hair.
Well, I say 3 out of 4 isn't bad at all.
Are you the exact same person you were in high school? Did your friends or family (or yourself!) predict who you would marry one day?
