2 posts tagged “childhood”

My high school Science Olympiad team (oh yes, I went to nerd school) ran into some weather trouble flying to the nationals in Michigan. We circled in the air until we had to go to Nebraska and refuel, and ended up stuck in Minneapolis for the night. The airline (Northwest) didn't give us any kind of hotel or food vouchers, just a pile of blankets. We all spent the night sleeping on the floor of the observation lounge, which was fine until some sketchy lumberjack-type guy came in and joined us in the middle of the night.

I remember illegally buying my first (and I think also last) lottery ticket from a machine in the airport. My friends and I thought it would be funny to buy the weather-themed ones. Nobody was surprised when we all lost.

My best friend and I used to spend hours playing Area 51. There was a Putt-Putt near our school that had specials where you could get a bucket of tokens for $5, and even when we were a good ten years older than anyone else there, it was so much fun. We keep meaning to go back, but neither of us ever spends much time in Albuquerque. Which is really a good thing, but I do miss the days when we'd grab giant drinks from Sonic, shoot up some aliens, and plan our escape from the middle of nowhere.

She came to L.A. earlier this year and we went on the new Buzz Lightyear ride at Disneyland, which is like being inside a video game. You still shoot aliens, but the cartoon aesthetic is so much more fun. If I could play it for hours, I definitely would.