My Moment of Glory

Everyone has had their moments of glory. Whether it be asking their crush to Homecoming, winning a competition, or acing their final. We've all had this moment where we feel on top of the world.

I had this moment a while ago.

During this past summer, I visited my brother in California. We went to LA, explored Universal Studios, ate delicious food, etc. It was a great trip and I had an amazing time.

In our last night in LA, we wanted to have some fun. After finishing our dinner, we explored the beautiful mall that the restaurant was located in. Now when I say beautiful, I mean beautiful. Most of the mall was outdoors, so you could see the night sky and experience the nice California weather. There were huge plots of turf (fake grass) with sofas, swings, and trees. It was a perfect combination of nature and architecture. However, I digress.

While exploring the mall, we found a huge arcade called Dave and Busters. This place was the only arcade that I had ever been in, so it was quite a new experience.

We bought two cards which were loaded with 100 points each. These points were used as currency to play the games.

We played a lot of different games. We played Pac-Man, a dance machine, and multiple shooting games. Obviously, I beat my brother every time, and whenever we were on the same team, he'd always drag me down.

While wandering through the maze of machine games, we eventually stumbled upon a basketball game. It was like the classic basketball arcade game, where you would try to make as many shots as possible within a limited amount of time. The difference, however, was that the hoop on this machine was regulation height, providing an added challenge. The distance of the shot was around the 3-point line for high schoolers. Being basketball fans, my brother and I spent the rest of the time (and 75% of our points) on this game.

Based on my observations, the game worked like this:

• Each time you play the game, you get one minute to score as many baskets as you can
• The first five baskets are worth two points each. The next ten baskets are worth three points each. Afterwards, each basket is worth four points.

My brother and I would alternate playing. We had a competition to see who could score the most. Unfortunately, I did not start off well. You know, after two whole days of traveling and eating an excessive amount of food, I wasn't immediately ready to shoot a basketball. As a result, my brother won the first few rounds and proceed to call my skills "sh*t."

Now obviously, I can't let my brother get away with that. So I had to do it to him. Around seven or eight rounds in, I began to pop off. Every single shot I took went in (I probably missed like one but that doesn't matter. I still popped off). Each ball flew off my fingers with such grace, speed, and accuracy, that even Stephen Curry would've gotten a bit jealous. When the buzzer sounded and my turn ended, I glanced at the score board. It flashed: "NEW HIGH SCORE" with a solid 48 underneath.

I was in disbelief; I had just gotten a high score on an arcade game. This arcade wasn't just some random place located in the middle of nowhere. It was a busy and popular arcade in LA. Now that is something special. I turned to my brother and said "There's more where that came from," but honestly, there wasn't. I tried to replicate my high score to no avail. I'd always get a score in the high 20s or low 30s.

Whenever people *cough* colleges *cough* ask for my biggest accomplishments, I am very tempted to include this moment on the list. 

That was a truly glorious evening.