monkeycrap's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- scenes from youth: part I I remember when the first 'street fighter' game appeared on the big screen arcade machine. It was a real big hit, with loads of people queueing up at the machine just to get a try at the machine. There was this one machine at the NUS club, where I used to have swimming lessons as a kid. It cost 20 cents per game. I was pretty fascinated, like the other kids, but I didn't like the idea of standing around the machine with other people discussing about who the best fighter was, whether ryu's fireball was better than ken's, or whether zangief's dropkick can neutralise blanka's electric attack. So i sat away from the crowd, glancing at the machine every 5 minutes, waiting for the opportunity to pit my skills against the computer. I waited...and waited. And then it came. The vacant seat. I rushed to it, inserted my coin and started playing for not more than 5 minutes. And this idiot, fat freak of a boy(not that i was any skinnier at that time), older than me, had to insert his coin in and press start. I nearly died when I saw 'here comes a new challenger' flashed on the screen. I don't know, maybe other kids would have thought it fun that they could fight a fellow human being, or that they would shrug it off as, yeah, it's the rule of the arcade world, people have the right to challenge you to a fight, people want to play the game too. But i didn't think that way. To me, this bloody stranger whom i don't know, whom i'm not supposed to talk to, just invaded my private space, destroyed my enjoyment and had no qualms about doing so. I waited for my opportunity and he took it away, just like that. I could've taken another 20 cent and tried to wrestle my seat back, but i didn't. As much as i wanted to play, I just gave it up without a second fight. Perhaps it was because i knew i'd get trashed again. But i don't think so. I think it's because i didn't want to have anything to do with this evil, evil stranger and hoped that I would never encounter that entity again. The next day(which was a weekday), my dad was on leave. I asked him to bring me back to the club, but not before getting him to assure me that it won't be crowded on a weekday. CROWDED. I hate that word. So imagine my exhilaration when I saw no one, ABSOLUTELY NO ONE at the games area. I played $10 worth of street fighter games, sometimes winning, sometimes losing, but most importantly, i was NOT INTERRUPTED BY THEM EVIL HUMANS! I had the time of my life. Just me and dad at the machine. Absolutely satisfying. Upon reflection, the guy did no wrong, he wanted to play too, all's fair. Of course now things've changed, less hostile feelings in me erupt upon meeting other people, and i'm pretty fine if people wanna interrupt my game in the arcade(although it's not the norm now). But the impression that i have about strangers in common, in that they are either irritating or out to invade your personal space(and I do need quite a lot of it), still stays, and rings true to this very day. Of course friendships, soulmates, etc all start out from strangers, but i feel that's different, in that the circumstance will play a large part in developing a relationship from stranger-ship. But that's a whole different thing and I do not wish to digress. Anyway i'm off now. Cya peeps. 6:15 p.m. - 2004-11-03 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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