We like to play mini golf. They have 3 courses at Frankie’s. We played course #3. We were told that’s the second hardest course. I’m amazed…I can’t believe I hit 3 holes-in-one in the 18 holes!  Most were back shots. Ok, I’m bragging. Wish I could’ve caught it on film. Eric didn’t score any holes in one…thought I’d point that out since I was playing my husband. It makes for good fun. I wasn’t a good sport about it either but he knew I was kidding in a competitive sorta way . And he’s usually better at skilled games than me so I had to equal things up a bit. Last time he beat me at mini golf over one shot. I never forgot that.

Anyway, inside in the arcade, we usually stick to the same games we know. He likes to shoot hoops. I like to play Ms. Pacman, compete in video car racing games, and play skee ball. Ocassionally I’ll play a pinball machine. But they usually just frustrate me ‘cause the ball usually just goes down the middle and I can’t do anything about that.

One of the best arcades I’ve been to as a kid is up in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. That’s where I really got to play a lot of skee ball. But even their arcade isn’t as cool as this one was.

At Frankie’s they’ve got food there too. We had dinner beforehand but I did have Dippin’ Dots ice cream there. You know the frozen ice cream pellets. It’s very refreshing. I still think it’s a neat idea. Eric had a slushie. He said he hadn’t had one of those in over 10 years. Oh and we both got such a sugar rush. Then we both started to crash around 9 pm. We’re old compared to most others at the park. Mostly tweens, couples and twenty somethings. We didn’t see a lot of super young kids and their parents at night.

They also have a small bowling alley game for kids, laser tag and a couple rides like bumper cars and a few indoors.

They also have a batting cage that I saw. Eric kept trying to distract me during golf telling me about the batting cage. And I told him I’d tell him if I wanted to hit some baseballs when we were done playing golf.  We never did, though.

And on their menu of fun stuff, they also have bumper boats. I didn’t see it but we were there at night so maybe I missed seeing it.

But roller hockey unlike ice hockey is more relaxed. The rules aren’t nearly as strict. And roller hockey is not nearly as intimidating as there’s some padding on the floor compared to hard ice. It’s amazing to see how agile the kids are making their hockey stops on their inline skates. I remember when they had back stops on rollerblades but they were only really helpful on a flat surface. If you were going downhill, well…you were pretty much S.O.L. Trust me, one time I was rollerblading with Eric and his wheels fell off…

Oops…that was my fault. I accidentally (yes…it was an accident) didn’t tighten his new wheels enough. So when they fell off I figured I’d go rescue him. Well…as it turned out I was the one who needed rescuing. I couldn’t see him from where I was at the time I was coming to his aid, but I could hear him. When I got to the parking lot he was at, I realized that it had a pretty big downhill incline. But it was too late by then as I was coming down it at full speed. Eric saw me and my big saucer eyes. I figured I’d hit a tree and some twigs at the bottom of the parking lot. It wouldn’t be pretty! But before I got down there, he reached out his long arm and I grabbed his hand. My body apparently wanted to keep going at full speed so I fell flat on the ground. I don’t remember falling but when I looked up I realized I had all my body parts and teeth still intact. I then started laughing so hard. I survived that day with just a couple of tar scruff marks on my hand and front of my white tank shirt. This happened nearly a decade ago but I remember it almost like it was yesterday.  Makes for a funny story too.

The Dream Sports Center is cool ‘cause they have some outdoor tables so you can eat lunch outside when it’s nice.

Dreams Sports Center

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"He's Just Not That Into You" Author at Raleigh's Comedy Club

This past weekend, there was a special show at Goodnights Comedy Club. Have you been to Raleigh’s hit comedy club? It’s a really fun time, and you’re served popcorn and drinks during the show.  You can also have dinner in their upstairs restaurant before the show. And of course, they have some really great celebrity comedians perform. We’ve seen three comedians there. Bob “I’m a people person – bay-bee” Zany was the funniest…well, that was before the performance we went to yesterday with hilarious Greg Behrendt…

Does his name sound familiar? I had to double check but yes, I spelled his last name right. If you say his name to a man, he’s like “WHO?” If you say his name to a woman, she immediately recognizes, it’s the “he’s just not that into you” dude that was on Oprah for his brilliant New York Times best seller book. Here’s a photo of Greg and me if you need a photo reference. He’s winking at my husband taking the photo because he was one of the 9 brave men (dragged by a woman) in the audience. And no, don’t confuse Greg for Ty Pennington from ABC’s ‘Extreme Home Makeover’. Same spikey hair though.

Greg has written another book on breakups, had his own TV show for awhile and did a cameo on the ‘He’s Just Not that into You’ movie out in theaters now. The movie did $27.5 million on opening weekend. But whose keeping track? …Anyway, Greg is also a comedian. He’s on his live comedy circuit… and in case you didn’t know, whether you live in Raleigh or not, Raleigh just ain’t that small time! It’s on the map for celebs to come to town. This one celeb happens to be a real down -to-earth guy.

Greg is the type of guy that any guy can relate to, and any girl can get good dating advice from. But Ladies who are wired into his best seller book, know that it’s not usually the dating advice they want to hear ‘cause it ends with those last famous 6 words…’he’s just not that into you.’ Harsh, but too often the truth. So instead of wasting 6 months outta the 3 they were dating, he makes it very simple for women by giving his common sensical and rather simple answer…that’s just so typical of a guy. His advice usually leaves women with a deafening silence because they think their situation is always way different and much more complicated than the short and sweet, neatly packaged advice he has for them. And the girls feel the need in their explanation to follow each statement with “But, but, but… “. With Greg, there is no “but”.

I mean some of the excuses if we listen to ourselves or our girl friends talk, are so bogus… like “he lost my number” or he’s just been through a major breakup and needs some space, or he’s the busiest guy in the world…all bad excuses. And all the while, women’s intuition know that men will hunt them down if they wanted to. Highlight the “wanted to” part. It’s the few strong girls that think ‘It’s their loss. See ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya!’

You women, have you ever dated a man who claimed to be soooo busy and then disappeared one day from your life? Oh yeah, meanwhile he still has time to update his Facebook profile and write on another friend’s wall…but not yours. Well…Greg ends the unsolved mystery man and saves women months of agonizing over play-by-play of the relationship, and what could’ve gone wrong. And his blunt responses usually boils down to his all too famous tagline, “he’s just not that into you”, in one form or another.

Question: does an ending relationship with no formal end have a happy ending?.. 99.9% of the time not. It just ends and the reason is often hidden deep in the answer we know but don’t want to hear. But…it’s less hurtful to concoct all kinds of fictitious stories in our heads unless and until we hear the absolute truth from the man that broke our heart (btw, which doesn’t happen)… or else from the next best source…another guy.

Trust me I know from being a woman who was once was in the dating scene…our shopping and chatty species is just wired to look for closure when a relationship doesn’t turn out into a fairytale ending or just an ending we understand. Closure…what is that? The truth of why things didn’t work out would shatter some women, but the lies and the “but” stories we play in our heads keep going on until we wake up one day long after the unofficial end with a new found purpose, or in a new relationship.

Women get it when Greg tell them because it’s coming from another one of them …another guy. And he’s become America’s guy to ask these questions to. Although he’ll tell you, most the answers are in his book. You don’t even have to read between the lines. It’s just so cut and dry simple…which is baffling to women. We’re stumped that a man makes his world uncomplicated (notice I didn’t say men are uncomplicated).

So in all fairness (because men get dumped too)… I’m waiting for the day when a woman steps out with a potent relationship mind eraser “pill” for dumped men…because men don’t read relationship books. Sorry… beyond my scope here…not in my bag of tricks. I’m far removed from the dating scene…but I could mention it to a few of my single girl friends.

Meeting Greg Behrendt at Goodnights

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Raleighwood movie tickets are a bargain for only $4.50. That’s less then a matinee movie ticket and about half of a regular ticket. And what’s cool is that the movies are ones that are still showing in the regular theaters or have just recently left. See what was playing this weekend:

You’ll see at the top “Confessions of a Shopaholic”. I just saw that one and wrote about it a few weeks ago.

Well anyway we saw ‘Yes Man’…which is hilarious! Well what do you expect with Jim Carrey as the main star!? It was Jim Carrey in a similar ‘Liar, Liar’ role except for he had to say ‘yes’ to everything. The writers didn’t go too overboard and I thought it was funny throughout. I liked the Ducati scene where he discovers the bike has a lot of torque.

On the drive home, my husband came to the conclusion that he needed to say ‘yes’ more. Hmmm…I can dig that. And the day after the movie, my husband was saying ‘yes’ a lot. I tested him a few times…

In fact I wanted to go to see women-advice-on-men author and comedien Greg Behrendt’s performance at Goodnight’s that same night, and he actually said ‘yes’. We’re usually not that spontaneous. So, the ‘Yes Man’ movie had a good effect…hmmm, I’m liking this! Test #2: can I paint the bathroom another color? Yes. Can we redo the kitchen? Yes. Can I put window treatments up in your office? No answer. Alright, so it doesn’t happen all at once! But if you really want something or to persuade your significant other to do something, take him or her first to this movie. It’ll soften him up.

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