riyuji | » 003; I'm a sucker for happy endings

...It's amazing how this one image of an empty room can bring tears to my eyes. Has it really been a good two years since I've last stepped into this place? It's just supposed to be a LAN shop, right? Some place to cool down from the long tiring class hours, somewhere to hang out with friends and maybe play a game or two, an establishment that didn't discriminate between regulars and new comers alike. That's exactly what Hobbymania was. It was all that and so much more.

Hobbymania, or Hobby as me and my friends called it, was literally a hole in the wall that was recommended to me one time over carpool. I had gone to check it out and after my first visit, I fell in love with the place. It was small, narrow and not exactly the most inviting place when the competitors in the area could offer so much more. But I didn't give a damn about that. The environment was inviting despite the loud shouts from various Call of Duty games, or the shrieks of players having a round of Left for Dead, or maybe even the squeals of joy coming from those who played UNO at the board game tables. Soon enough, I had dragged the rest of the gang to tag along. Jeriel, Jeremy, Sean, Alvin, Gean and myself, back then when we were all still complete.

We all varied with our games, sometimes choosing to go with a round of Team Fortress 2 or a campaign on Left 4 Dead 2. Hell, we even spend a good chunk of our time testing out one of the four shelves of boardgames the place had to offer. It wasn't long until we became regulars, even earning a title of sorts for our little gang. Betrayal Bunch or something like that, on the count of our constant games of Betrayal at House on Haunted Hill. We'd all grab lunch close by, bring it up to Hobby and play for hours.

The owners even knew each one of us by name, and we theirs. We had all befriended them and even asked for stupid favors. I had even brought popcorn this one time and popped it in the store's microwave. Everyone complained to me but it was well worth it.

But now Hobbymania is no more. And it's not just the store with its computers, board games, or regulars. Jeriel hasn't made contact with us in almost two years now, Alvin transfered out to another school, as did Gean. Sean had migrated to the states and although we still chat, it's not the same as seeing him three to four times in a week. Jeremy's still around but I can't help but miss everyone too. And the shop as well. Gone, gone, gone.

It was a good escape. It was all in good fun.

And god dammit, I miss those fun times and all the memories that came with it.

I even miss that stupid Nosferatu poster they had hung up in the toilet. It may have been creepy as hell but it always, always got a laugh out of me.