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Out of the blue I've developed an abundant love and appreciation for pinball.
Walking the waterfront a few months back, it finally dawned on me after who knows how many times that the large yellow cheese wedge on the side of one of the buildings, was in fact...
...Pacman
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leading the way to the local arcade
Arcades beings such a rare thing these days compelled me inside
...and suddenly I've walked back in the 90s
S T R E E T
F I G H T E R
I I
...on the end corner of the first of two rows of a half a dozen machines
M O R T A L
K O M B A T
right besides it's rival SFII
first time walking in and a guy is playing MKII and my immediate inclination is to
HERE COMES A NEW
C H A L L E N G E R!
(Yes, I know, it's from Street Fighter not Mortal Kombat)
...and I do issue forth my challenege, but unfortunately he has to catch a bus
I WILL...probably get my ass whupped, another time
After he leaves, I really take it all in.
Kids screaming, speeding by
the smell of the ice cream shop the next storefront down
!!!
s
H
A
E
Y
...the elated
and the deflated
N
O
O
O
O
O O
O
S
!!
!
!
if ever there were a shrine to that mischevious
l
i
t
t l
e m p
i
in us all, the arcade would be it's holies of holies
BUT
you see the
R
R E A L
A
R E A L C
E I
A G
L A
M
IS
the
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...these wonderful machines might as well just have a sign front and center reading:
"The doctor
IS
In"
Not unlike Lucy, 50 cents a play gets you a bite-sized session of immense theraputic import.
Your therapist?
A METALLIC BALL
that you must focus on, with its slight changes in direction and wildly varigated speeds
and
keep it in play with two small, opposing inclined planes, a delicate juggling act to keep the ball from the
A
b
y
s
s
But herein lies its wonderous prescription:
All your worries
all the day's burdens
your sense of
ennui
or
lingering anxieties
F A D E
to the
b a
c
k
g r o u n d
The ball IS your therapist
telling you to
~ F O C U S ~
The ball IS your Zen teacher telling you all we have is the present moment
~~~ So, be here now ~~~
and strangely
it does come:
Peace
at
50 cents
a play
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