Doing the dishes, visiting and playing pinball

     Who remembers video games from the 1970s and 80s like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Pong, Mattel Auto Race, The Oregon Trail, Space Invaders and more?
     I do!
     As popular as the video games were back in the day, my favorite was playing pinball machines.
     I wasn’t that good at it, I just enjoyed spending my quarters and playing the latest pinball machine.
    Some of the top pinball machines of the day were “Wizard,” “Evel Knievel,” “Harlem Globetrotters On Tour,” “Hokus Pokus,” “Bow and Arrow,” “Kiss,” “Star Wars,” “The Addams Family,” “Fun House,” “Travel Time,” “Crazy Race,” “Capt. Fantastic,” “Old Chicago,” “Eight Ball,” “Fish Tales,” and “Flip Flop,” a four-player flipper pinball game.
   These are just a few of hundreds of pinball machines. I would love to have a pinball machine. Maybe something fishing or bowling. 
   I used to enjoy traveling to Dallas from Tulsa and while there would visit Dave and Buster’s Arcade and Sports Bar. I could spend hours playing pinball machines and arcade games there.
    Catty-cornered from my boyhood home was Cue City, a pool hall and arcade. I spent many days at Cue City trying to be cool. I even had my own cue stick. Like pinball, I did all right, but never really mastered the game. I was much better at bowling.
    As we all know, video arcades are somewhat a thing of the past. Like newspapers, they are around, but not like in the heyday.
   One of our favorites stops when at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri is Dogpatch Arcade on the Bagnell Dam Strip. They have what seems like 100 Skee-Ball machines along with video and pinball machines. I can play Skee-Ball for hours.
    Today, everything is on our cell phones.
    I enjoy playing Solitaire and just recently added a new video game to my phone, “June’s Journey,” a hidden objects game. I am able to earn points by finding hidden objects and have already masted a half dozen levels.
     It’s mostly an unproductive waste of time, but it sure is fun!
    According to one article I read, it said there are nearly two million apps on the iPhone. Another one said there are 4.567 million apps and games in the Apple App Store. I’m sure it is an always evolving business of keeping people busy.
      No wonder folks these days are distracted and buried in their cell phones. 
     I would like to have a cell phone that cooks supper and does the dishes. All I have to do is drag the cell phone over the plate or piece of silverware and it cleans it like new. Now that is an app I could get into. Debbie wouldn’t have to encourage me to do the dishes.
     Wouldn’t it be great if our cell phones could cook supper? How about a sirloin and baked potato from the cell phone café?
    In my opinion, one of the best things we can do for ourselves is leave the cell phone on the kitchen counter or the bedroom dresser and take time to relearn the art of conversation. Visiting is good for the soul.
     I enjoy spending time talking to Debbie and figuring out life together. It’s fun!
    We need to have more gatherings with friends and neighbors where everyone sits on the porch on a nice day, drinking an ice cold glass of ice tea while catching up on old times and talking about the good old days.
​     Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.