Taming the Fairies

Last weekend we had Sara's oldest friend over. She has a pair of very cute kids who were in serious need of entertainment. This was our ticket into the fabled Fairy Land, just down the street from us. You see, you can't get into Fairy Land without a kid (pedophiles need not apply).

Inside, it promised a land of wonder with storybooks sprinkled throughout that could be accessed with little keys purchased at the entrance. The first sign of what we would experience was illustrated in the warning at the ticket booth that about half of the storybooks weren't working. Oh well, all good fun.

The park itself is a total throwback. Very '70s with its bright houses made for kids to explore and slides for a bit of excitement. There were a couple of rides, most of which the jaded youth of today might find a little tame. Overall, though it was pretty amazing to see. I wonder how long a place like this will be able to stay open.

Magic Fingers

My cousin had an amazing old-skool organ in his basement. He got it free at a yard sale in Pueblo--one of the great things about living in a small town is that you are more likely to get in on a lucky find. I could only imagine what this could have fetched in SF on kitsch value alone. I mean, look at the font for the name. C'mon!

I only had time to mess with it for a few minutes, but I can only imagine that the full sound effect had a lot of magic.

Pac Man Fevah

So when I make it out to LA I like to hang out with my friend Derwood. A couple of weeks ago I was there and because we enjoy reliving the faint memory of our youth at Miss T's Barcade in Korea Town.

I must admit, though I spent many a quarter trying to get good at video games, I was really too much of a spaz to get really good. Still I enjoy a good game of Asteroids. Darren is seen above kicking A at Galaga. (Play an online sim here. I dare you not to get choked up.)

But the game that got us going that night was the Twilight Zone pinball machine. There was something wrong with it, so there were two balls out at once (sounds dirty, but just annoying), which added to the challenge. Not to mention that we never really could figure out different parts of the game that would have gotten us mucho points. Ah well, all in good fun.

The one sad thing is now that Barcade is legit, there's no more hard liquor. Just beer and wine. You can't beat a little '80s flashback, though.