Earlier tonight, I had to attend a birthday party for a five-year-old on the woman's side of the family.  Usually, I'd come up with some form of faux flu to get out of going to such a thing, but tonight was special: His birthday party was being held at Chuck E. Cheese's.

This Chuck E. Cheese's has stood tall in my city for over a decade, but I'd never gone into it until tonight.  Actually, I don't think I've ever been to Chuck E. Cheese's before tonight.  The closest I came was this place called "Razzmatazz" over in Jersey, which had the same kind of audio-animatronic stageshow, but with a far larger arcade and an all-around surreal floorplan.  (Picture a well-lit Lazer Tag arena filled with pizza and video games — that was Razzmatazz.)  So, while I wasn't unwise to the ways of such places, I admit to being pretty excited to see Chuck in action for the very first time.  Despite this probably being one of the smaller establishments in the chain, the rat did not disappoint.