Searching for my Happily Ever After.

Yesterday was great.

I was picked up by Steve around 6.30ish and then went to fetch Amy, Alice and Steve's friend Simon so we could all go bowling in Southampton.

The bowling alley held some nice memories. Back in the early 90s (I love saying things like that, it makes me feel growned up!) it used to have this fantastic Crystal Maze adventure game thing in one end of it. You'd go in as a team of about four and then commence a timed journey of epic proportions around the flimsy labyrinth. Team-mates could expect to face such fiendish challenges such as sticking one's hand into a dark crevice to press a button, or to fill a missing word in a sentence. There was this one challenge I remember which involved playing a strategy-type game on one of the many little computer consoles scattered around the place. Also there was this little tunnel with UV painted spiders and snakes on the walls and fake cobwebs and everything. Ah it was the most fantastic piece of the 80s you could ever hope for, and to my young eyes the most exciting, technologically advanced adventure I could get at 8 years old. The crystal dome itself was brilliant as well. Instead of the token-grabbing game of the TV show (I think it was tokens anyway, I haven't watched it in years), you had to press lights which were all over the plastic dome. When one lit up green, you had to hit it before it switched off again, but if you hit it when it was red, you'd lose points. I did so love that game.
But now it seems to have been replaced by a large food court, arcade and the laser quest game (let it be said that this existed back in the Crystal Dome hey-day as well, but they seem to have moved it), which is a terrible, terrible shame.

Another great memory that this bowling alley holds for me is that it was one of the places Steve and I went to on our first date. This day, just after the night me met (properly), we first went to the restaurant he works at, Bamboos, which is a lovely Oriental (I say Oriental because it serves a variety of cultures' foods) restaurant opposite Debenham's (I recommend it!). We shared sushi and ate stir-fry and rice and yummy stuff and talked about all manner of geekery. Afterwards we went to the cinema to watch.. Monster House if I recall correctly, and then went on to the bowling alley. Steve beat me, but barely. Thn we sat drinking coke and chatting. It was so nice.

So yes, yesterday at The Bowling Alley. Simon beat all of us utterly and victoriously. I did awfully, with my second game ending up with three double gutters, although my first game I came second, I think... I blame the Jack and coke I had. Amy and I got our chip man from the food hall to bring us some curly fries which we proceeded to fight over, and Alice embarrassed herself minorly y blurting something out. It was so fun. Afterwards Steve and Simon played air hockey while Amy and I danced our hearts out on Dancing Stage Euromix, doing the 5, 6, 7, 8 dance and other various cheesy songs (Cotton Eye Joe!) oh and I died on an insanely hard one which Amy insisted on doing on Expert.. gack!

Today I felt ill, AGAIN, and did absolutely nothing, aside from making Ben and I some Snowballs, the ultimate in Winter drinks, and then accidentally breaking the glass all over my hand. Ow.