Have you ever sang this?

Do you know this song “A smile” when you were younger?

A smile

“A smile is such a funny thing, it wrinkles up your face.
And when it’s gone you’ll never find, its secret hiding place.
But far more wonderful it is, to see what a smile can do.
You smile at one, he smiles at you, and so one smile makes two..”

Catch a toy, catch a smile

At the arcade stores lining the old streets in Dan Shui, we decided to try our luck playing the UFO-catcher game machines*..

Grabbing a bunch of TWD10 coins in my palm, our gang of 4 entered a quiet arcade joint eagerly, smiling broadly on approaching the lady stall operator. Guess what – we got nothing we expected or imagined. The lady did not smiled and rather, glared at us in cold silence! Gulp! :-(

Momentarily stumped, I pondered

Maybe the UFO catcher stall operators have to show aloofness, as a way of dealing with rowdy youngsters who patronize their stalls? Perhaps a cold detached demeanor will dissuade any fun-maker from pushing their luck in their gaming. Well, have we not heard of patrons who tried rocking the UFO-catcher machines to up their chances?

Anyhow, I regained composure. ;-) Slotted in a TWD10 coin into a machine for a futile catch, before heading out the empty store for some other arcade joints more deserving our patronage..

Catch no smile?!

Subsequently we patronized a total of about 9 UFO catcher arcade joints in the streets and night markets of Taipei. From Dan Shui, Kee Lung, to Xi Men Ding, only 2 of about 16 stall operators were any friendly at all..

Pardon me, let us get back to the issue of smiling..

Let me also re-write this “A smile” song..

The next time you offered a smile at a UFO-catcher arcade and got back cold looks in return, remember – this song is dedicated to you. Smile on, friend! :-D

A Smile by TA of TaipeiDreams.com

A smile is such a funny thing, it wrinkles up their faces.
(They growled when you smiled.)

And when it’s gone they’ll never find, its secret hiding place!
(Now you are flabbergasted and frowning..)

But far more terrible it is, to see what a smile can do.
You smile at one, he don’t smile at you, and so you look like a fool!!
(The result! Yikes!)

* P.S. I have never played this UFO-catcher machine before. How did we score? What are the toys we caught? I’ll link more UFO-catcher stories here. Stay tuned!

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