I wanted to wait for the rain to slow down before I left for the Deptford Mall, but the light showers that began last night continued unabated. I just called Uber anyway. Fortunately, considering it was past 12:30 at that point, they only took 6 minutes to arrive. In fact, the rain was already disappearing when the driver pulled up in front of the outside entrance to Round 1 Arcade 20 minutes later.
Round 1 was fairly busy when I came up the escalators to the main room. Several families and groups of teens were likely looking for something to do on a day with nasty weather during a vacation week. Thankfully, almost everything but half of the Lane Master bowling game was working this time. I spent a pleasant hour running from skee ball to Bust a Move to Centipede to ring toss to extra-large Pac Man. Got Princess Peach on Mario Kart and came in first. Didn't have nearly that much luck with Hot Wheels, where I had a hard time seeing the screen due to glare and ended up in third. Hit 750 tickets on the carnival wheel...which may be why I had over 5,030 points when I finished! I got two Beanie Babies, Buff the Husky and Austin the Owl, a "beer pretzel" chip clip/bottle opener, and two Cow Tales cream-filled caramel sticks.
Headed to the food court next for a quick lunch. I love the Greek booth there! I had a lamb Gyro with hot out of the oil fries and a Coke Zero. Oh yum. It was messy, but so good, and seasoned just right. I ate and sat near the escalators, watching people coming and going to JC Penney.
Spent the next two hours walking around the main mall. I poked around Box Lunch, JC Penney, FYE, and Boscov's, but I didn't see anything I really needed. I'm not in desperate need of clothes right now. I was happy to see what I suspect was a pop-up Toys R Us, even if I only bought a vintage Strawberry Shortcake calendar. I missed Geoffrey and the wonderful chaos of those stores.
By the time I made my way across the street, the clouds were rapidly vanishing and the sun was emerging...but brrr! It remained gale-force windy, and that wind was cold! It didn't help that it was past quarter of 4, and rush hour. I hurried across the street the moment the light turned red.
Sometime between last June and now, a small Aldi's and a slightly larger Tractor Supply Company had replaced the abandoned Bed, Bath, and Beyond store. (The Christmas Tree Shoppes and Face Value stores remain empty at this writing.) I'd never been inside an Aldi's before. They usually end up on major highways I can't ride my bike to. Since I had a little extra time, I thought I'd check it out. It was...basically a cheaper Trader Joe's with no bakery and a limited selection of national brands. I stuck to their brands. Grabbed blueberry granola and decided to try their probiotic soda. I haven't had a probiotic soda with a good Dr. Pepper-esque flavor yet, and Olipop is the only one with an apple flavor, so I grabbed their Dr. Popz and Spiced Apple Cider.
(I haven't tried the Cider yet, but the Dr. Popz...wasn't very good. It did not taste like Dr. Pepper, more like "generic cola." The probiotic sodas tend to do better with fruit flavors. Hopefully, the apple cider is better.)
Spent the next two hours at Barnes and Noble. They were almost as busy as Round 1, but I did really well there. Picked up the soundtracks to the live-action Disney Snow White and Little Mermaid on vinyl, the latter for 40 percent off. Also grabbed two hardback books, one of which I'd been waiting for:
A Curse of Shadow and Ice by Catharina Maura (I'm a sucker for Beauty and the Beast-type stories.)
The Cyprian by Mercedes Lackey (The next Elemental Masters fairy tale, this one based on The Wild Swans. I've been waiting for this to come out. It wasn't supposed to be out until tomorrow. No wonder I only saw the one copy.)
Spent the next half-hour in the Starbucks area, sipping a Gingerbread Chai Latte (not bad, more sweet than spicy), writing some notes, and waiting for Jessa to arrive. In fact, I saw The Cyprian right before she walked in the door. I picked that up, and we headed back out in the wind.
Jessa and and I ended up at the Deptford Red Lobster across from the Barnes and Noble. We're so glad the two Red Lobsters in our area haven't closed! I've missed their cheddar biscuits. We had iced tea and the Monday special, shrimp scampi and lobster tail. She had mashed potatoes. I had braised Brussels sprouts. Oh yum! It was so good, nice and buttery. Our meals were so filling, we declined dessert this time. (Not to mention, I still have a ton of goodies at home.)
Finished the night online, watching game shows played around New Year's. New Year's goes way back on game shows. What's My Line celebrated its first New Year in 1950 by bringing in Guy Lombardo as a Mystery Guest. He and his orchestra were probably the ones who were the most associated with the holiday until Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year's Eve began in 1972.
By the late 1970's, quiet panel guessing games had given way to noisy New Year's stunt parties. New Year's Eve on the 1979 version of Beat the Clock has Ellen Travolta and Louis Nye competing with Jack Carter and soap star Eileen Barnett to see who could fill champagne and have them overflow into glasses. One of the few episodes of the 1979 Alex Trebek High Rollers that's still around is their New Year's Eve show. A twinkly-eyed old lady seems to be happy to be there and rolling for huge prize packages, even when she loses.
The party was even wilder on a 1977 episode of The Price Is Right. For one thing, all but one contestant won their Pricing Games. For another, this is the infamous show where Janice ran the car in the first "floors in the house" Showcase into the set (off-camera, sadly). The second had a safer "ways to celebrate New Year's at home" theme.
New Year's Eve Whammies abounded on Press Your Luck in 1984. Peter Tomarken and Rod Roddy dressed for the occasion in tuxes, while the Whammies rode popping champagne bottles. The champ got hit with three Whammies, but still managed to pick up a car and retire as one of their biggest winners.
Dick Clark passed the time on New Year's 1990 before his Rockin' New Year's Eve with the more cerebral The Challengers. Basically, this was an imitation Jeopardy, with people answering questions on a video wall and wagering on the Final Challenge. No fancy decorations here, but they did ask a few questions about the holiday.
Celebrate the New Year with these rockin' game show get-togethers!
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