Reason 212

Good old fashioned fun. I appreciate the simple things in life and am entertained fairly easily. Basking in the sun while savoring a new book, wandering down to the craft emporium to check out jewelry made by a favorite local artist, people watching in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle - these are all low-key, cheap activities I have enjoyed since my vacation started just a week ago. The shenanigans I partook of yesterday, though, take the summer break cake. A few miles from my humble abode is a mecca for stressed out parents and bored kiddies called the Family Fun Center. For about the price of an eight o'clock movie, I hucked wooden spheres up a Skee-Ball ramp, worked up a sweat (and my competitive spirit) at the air hockey tables, and giggled gleefullly as I zipped around the Go-Kart track, a welcome summer breeze ruffling my hair. As if all that wasn't enough to make me pee my pants with happiness, I also played eighteen holes of mini-golf with my dear friend Tamara. I guess it makes sense that I am so enamored with putt putt since it was originally created for women as an alternative to regular golf which was deemed too violent for the gentler sex. Tamara did beat me by a measly four strokes, but I cracked many a ribald joke about my blue ball and snapped some stellar pictures of me straddling various course obstacles, so losing wasn't as devastating as usual. The only thing that could have made our outing even more fantastic is your company, Jason. I know you would have dominated at the electronic basketball game, but I think I'd stand a fighting chance when it comes to goofy golf, seeing as I am shorter than you, have smaller hands that are perfect for gripping the teeny putter, and am willing to play dirty. There are still enough points on my game card for the two of us to go head to head on the artic-themed course, so just say the word and I will meet you at the Fun Center. I'll even soften the blow of losing by using some of my game tickets to buy you a plastic paratrooper or sticky hand. In my book, that's an offer that's impossible to refuse (clearly, my book is lacking in content).