We went to "Skate World West" last night for a surprise birthday party.  Man, what a trip down memory lane...  Back in the day, 4th grade to be exact, my friends and I would hit Skate City (as it was known back than) on Friday nights.  It was the happening place.  It was so much fun to see that place as an adult and how the kids that still go there are the same as we were back then (except they all have cell phones for some friggen reason!). 

There was a group of girls clustered around one of their own that was having obvious boy troubles.  And there of course were the boys who were competing for attention from the girls...  They had the fast songs that they played, which thankfully (maybe?) have been updated from "Walk of Life" - I wish they would have played that song! 

They had a "Snowball" skate time, which I particularly got a kick out of.  The kids would divide by gender and they would start with just a few kids skating in the middle.  When the refs? blew the whistle, the couples would divide and pick another person of the opposite gender to skate.  And of course the number of people would "Snowball".  That was the theory of course.  However, at that age, boys are interested in girls and vice versa.  But they all possess this innate fear of each other. 

Jeremy & I took the initiative by skating at the beginning and when the whistle blew, we tried to find other people to bring out and skate.  That is where it gets funny.  All these little kids that seem like they are just hoping for someone, anyone, to choose them to come out and skate...as soon as they see a 29 and 30 year old person skating ready to choose them, their hand goes from outstretched and welcoming to withdrawn tightly behind their little bodies. 

Of course it is more acceptable for me to wrestle a 10 year old boy out to skate with me than it is for Jeremy to wrestle a 10 year old girl out.  He just ended up skating around by himself.  And there is always one little boy who repeatedly volunteers to skate with the "older" woman. 

I swear that the woman that works at the snack counter is the same woman that was there 20 years ago.  And I think some of the refs? are the same as well.  And they are still super strict.  Bastards.  "Keep moving!  No you can't have cake unless you pay $4 a head!  You can't squat and skate at the same time!  No crack the whip!"  You would think we were trying to destroy the world.

Our friends had a boy whose goal was to skate 1,000 laps by the end of the night.  I don't know if he succeeded or not.

Aaaah....  Good times...good times...