Smoke on the water, fire in the skies

You know, it's probably the most cliched phrase used to guilt you into feeling fake sympathy or depression. But you know the one that your mother tells you when you're younger (or you hear it on TV)?

You don't realize how much you miss something until it's gone.
Well, I'm not trying to squash my feelings out for this because I don't have anything to write about, but I think that overused cliche accurately depicts the feelings I had as I just watch a bowling alley not far from my home burst into flames.

I had known that place since before I was born. My parents had been in a league there for 20+ years. When they went bowling on Sunday nights, they would always bring us (aka my older sister and I) along because there wasn't any harm--why pay for a sitter when all you have to do is shove a whole bunch of quarters into our hands and scoot us off towards the game room?

It was like that a lot until we got older, and school nights interfered--not to mention, as you get older, you don't exactly want to come out and scream "I'm here with my folks!" But I've visited it since my youngin' days...I went there with my friends a couple times (it's a regular hot spot in this small town), countless birthday parties, and actually went there for gym class a couple times this year. I've pretty much always known that place. It was reliable. You could always go and see all the competitive and silly seniors bowling during the day, but at night, the younger crowd came in. On Sundays it was always people in the league--who I still know to this day. We even know the owners--their kids go to my school and participate in the rec league baseball team around here. I have a couple classes with the one son--and he's known as the best bowler from his age group, or something like that. What I couldn't believe is that even though this kid's parents' business was being demolished, he still played in the baseball game he had that afternoon. But then again, what would he have done at the scene? Get toasted? Yeah, I don't think that's beneficial to his budding bowling/baseball career, that's all I'm saying.

I'll be honest though. I've never been a real fan of the sport. I kinda suck at bowling, unless those bumper things are up. My dad on the other hand though--he's pretty good. I've always been impressed when I watch him, he's got this cool confidence like he knows what he's doing. You can attribute that to the 20-something years he's been doing it, I guess.

Yeah, I'm a little sad. I mean, it was an essential part of my growing up, in many ways. Without it, I would have become one of those stuck-with-the-sitter-kids. That block of time when my mom and dad went to bowling gave us breaks from eachother--when we started not going. But when we were little, it was a thrill. The game room, with all its lights and colors, all the different colors of the balls and the loud sound when someone got a strike--yeah, I'm gonna miss it.

The building itself is a total loss. Reports say (it's all over the local news) that the grease from the lanes and balls just kept fueling the fire, until it was a rolling inferno of debris and flames. And no, I'm not just exaggerating. I saw the video. I saw the smoke from outside my bedroom window. The fire started before noon, and I found out about it at one when my mother turned on channel 9 and the scrolling marquee at the bottom of the screen was going bizerk with info. They couldn't even really fight the fire, because it was just a huge grease fire, and putting water on a grease fire is the worst thing you can possibly do. So they had to let it burn to the ground.

It's a bit disheartening, seeing it go down like that. I especially feel for the family that's owned it for so long--it MUST be 10x worse for them. Hopefully they had the entire place insured, ya know?

*Sigh* Okay, time to change the subject.

Today after I came home from my ½ day of school (NO SCHOOL UNTIL TUESDAY!!), guess what movie came on Encore? Oh come on, how can you NOT know?

Just kidding. It was the classic "Dirty Dancing."

Yeah, I know. Patrick Swayze is freakin' hot, you don't have to tell me twice. And if you don't know the quote--"Nobody puts Baby in a corner"--then you HAVE to have been living under a rock, or dead.
Then, the song--yeah, it's Stuck In My Head as well. Man, you all know about that movie, no need for me to say anything except--Classic!

After the movie, I went to softball practice and had many a lovely conversations with the current girlfriend of an asshole who tried to get with me when yadda yadda blah blah blah...
I wish she would understand that I REALLY do not care what her boyfriend likes and dislikes. At one point it was important. Now it's not. It's COMPLETELY unnecessary.

Then I went to YAG. Nothing particularly enLightening today, just getting ready for model.

Ugh, this commercial keeps bothering me. You've seen it--the one with the Dodge Avengers and the 'Smoke on the Water' and gear shifting and BLAH BLAH BLAH! Ugh, I can't stand it. I heard the actual song LONG before I saw the commercial, and it's almost as if they're trying to make it look like the song is all badass and shit. Yeah, it's a good song. Classic, aka my favorite word. But the actual song is not one of my favorites. So it's an annoying commercial. Especially since now everyone's like "Aww yeah, didja hear that Dodge commercial with the gear shift song?" Some kid actually asked me that today, and although I may have jumped on the defensive, I asked if he even knew the title of the song--NO! Artist--no answer. ALBUM?--nope. Smoke on the Water, Deep Purple, Machine Head. There ya go, you weirdos who have never even heard of VINYL! Classics, you idiots!

It's a strange coincidence--there's a major fire close to my house, and the song 'Smoke on the Water' is brought up today in conversation. Weird, huh?

Fire photos thanks to ABC27.com, Album cover, Google.