Round Robin
I've tried to start this entry a couple of times already, but I always got sidetracked and never finished. Each time I only got as far as the title: Round Robin. I originally picked it because it was my first entry since returning from my trip to Pennsylvania, then Upstate New York, and back home.

But now that it's the night before school starts, the title takes on a whole new meaning. Every year, school starts in September. Holidays pop up every now and then, but usually Monday through Friday, 6:00 am through 3:00 pm, and after, is entirely devoted to school. Even Saturdays and Sundays and holidays can be occupied by schoolwork. Rarely is there ever time to do anything else. Every year, this goes on for nine months. Every year, we all complain about having to to do. And yet, every year, we do it. We finish it. And summer comes. Summer—the time when we all plan to do the things we had no time for during the schoolyear. Usually, though, those things never get done. Three months go by, and then school starts again.

For 13 years of our life, it's a never-ending, and vicious, cycle. Hopefully, all of this work will be worth it. But right now, it really is just a waste of time. Most of it has nothing to do with any of our interests. Do we really need to know about the people of Rome that have been dead for over 2,500 years? And Shakespeare? Does it really matter that people in the 1600s go through many of the same things we go through now? The answer: not really. Unless you get some obscure job, none of this information will ever be relevant. Even the teachers know it. They're all about concepts. Except, they could easily teach concepts with subject matter that we are interested in and can relate to. Or maybe they can't. Many teachers are unfamiliar with the current technology, or simply have interests that differ from ours (though they don't seem to realize that). Those that are familiar with the current technology and our interests can't take advantage of that, as they're restricted by the curriculum. Life is full of circles. Round Robin.

But wait! That was just a rant to start of the article. I'm really only half-way through. And I promise to lose the "High School Graduation" mood for the rest. Let's move on.

The bike ride last Tuesday was a blast (for lack of a better term)! Even though I almost died on the way back to City Hall and got sunburn on my arms and hands until they were raw, I still had a great time (probably more than I had on my vacation). The one thing I regret about the day that was entirely my fault was the fact that I didn't put sunscreen on before I left the house. As a result, my arms and hands got burnt. It was worse for my hands, though, because they were never burnt before. They're still discolored a week later. The majority of my burns were first degree ("normal" sunburn—the kind that's red and feels hot), but I did get a miniscule amount of second degree burns (the kind that's worst than first degree, because it blisters the skin) thanks to the sun reflecting off of one of the metal buttons on my watch. I didn't discover that until after we got back from vacation.

There are two other things that I regret. One is the fact that I had to rush home so that I could take a shower before we left for Pennsylvania. That wasn't really my fault. At least I was able to do more than I had originally planned after the ride, seeing as how I was to have left in the middle. My completing the entire 27 miles is a big feat because of that reason, among others. The other thing I regret, which really wasn't my fault at all, was the fact that there were only two water stops. Or, more specifically, there wasn't a water stop between Knights of Columbus in the West End on the way out to Point Lookout and Casey's house on the way back from Point Lookout. That's probably at least 15 miles between. Had I had water in between, I probably wouldn't have almost-died on the way back to City Hall. (Granted, I probably should have had ice cream when everyone else did, but that's a different story.)

By the time we got to the second water stop at Casey's house, I had gone from being way in the front to being the last person in the procession. And it didn't get any better on the way to City Hall. By that time, I was aching so much that I could barely stand, and I couldn't even drink one bottle of water while we were at the stop. (At the first water stop, I had drunk two bottles compared to most other people's one.) After we got back to City Hall at the end of the ride, many of us hung around for a little while and a few people (read: girls) went in the fountain to cool off.

It took me a little longer than normal to get home from City Hall, thanks to my aches and pains, but after a shower, I felt a lot better. (Not to mention that I took some pills and a nap in the car on the way to Pennsylvania.) By the time we got to where we were going, the only pain I had was from my sunburn.

Which leads me to my trip (don't you worry, there's plenty more to this article!). Our first stop was Pennsylvania. We didn't do a whole lot on the first day (Tuesday), because it was around 7:00 pm by the time we got there. On the next day, though, we took a motorboat out on the man-made Lake Wallunpaupack (I think that's how you spell it...). We also rented a tube, so we all (minus my dad) got a chance to ride behind the boat in a big rubber tube, with water rushing past, and all of us pretty much coming really close to falling out. The next day we headed out to Scranton, whose only tourist claim to fame is a Houdini museum. There was a live magic show, of which I became a part. It was pretty much involuntary, as the magician (world famous[?] Dorothy Dietrich) was looking exactly for me to come up. (Their website, http://www.houdini.org/, isn't that great, by the way.) It wasn't a whole lot of fun, that show, because I knew how most of the tricks were done from my past magic experience. (If you're curious about that, you can ask me about it via IM, or in person.) And so that was pretty much our vacation to Pennsylvania.

The day after (I think it was Friday, but I'm not positive), we headed to Lake George, NY. For Friday evening and Saturday, we went into town and did some stuff that you always do when you go to Lake George. Haunted houses and ice cream and games and stuff. There was a highlight moment at the arcade when this kid was playing Dance Dance Revolution. He was really good, and after we stopped to watch, so did another family (or at least, a group of people). Then this girl walked up, and started doing the same moves as the kid playing the game. It was fun to watch, as they were usually very synchronized. They apparently knew each other (possibly brother and sister), as she asked him where someone was, or something to that effect. There was one other event, but seeing as how I'm all ranted out, let's just say that you don't close an ice cream store in a tourist town at 9:30 pm on the Friday of Labor Day weekend.

Originally, we were supposed to go home on Monday, but by Sunday we had run out of cash, and there really wasn't anything left to do in Lake George that we hadn't already done, either during this trip or in previous visits. So, on Sunday morning, we checked out by 11:00 am, ate the breakfast buffet at Howard Johnson's (our ritual for leaving Lake George), and then played 3 games of bowling before hitting the road.

Well, I think I've finally said all that I've got to say, so apologies for the long entry. Oh wait, late-breaking news: the CMSform^E conference may get a changed or extended schedule, due to holidays coming up. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go watch the Jay Leno and Conan O'Brien that I've been deprived of for the past three weeks, either due to the Olympics or going to sleep too early (or the fact that Conan likes to take 3-day weekends). Please note that over the course of writing this entry, I watched Jeopardy!, Last Comic Standing, and Scrubs, and took a shower, so the neither time below is really relevant.

Time Now: 11:33 PM
Posted by Gordon P. Hemsley @ 9/07/2004 06:36:00 PM