I have seen old movies, and know that overseas travel used to be a special, once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Those days are long gone. This is not news, I know, but lately I am struck by how far we have fallen.
The following is a list of things that I personally experienced on my last trip:
1. A woman putting a suitcase inside of an empty suitcase. Honestly, if you are going to buy that much stuff, just ship it home.
2. Several people losing hundreds of dollars in cologne because they didn't have them in plastic bags. Dear God, the terrorists have officially won. There is a whole Saturday Night Live sketch based on defining liquids and gels. Seriously, you didn't know?
3. Two acquaintances who randomly ran into each other, and it turns out they are on the same flight. So, the one in line lets the other cut in with her. I told them that if they wanted to be together in line, it was only respectful to everyone else that they both go to the end of the line. They stayed apart in the line, then fussed to the customer service agent, and the one further back was allowed to cut.
4. A newlywed couple flying to their honeymoon - in their pajamas. These were not Juicy sweats, they were straight up p.j.s. Fraying t-shirts, schlumpy sweatpants, and sneakers. I am surprised they didn't wear slippers.
It's a jungle out their, travelers. Brace yourselves.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Friday, July 27, 2007
The County Fair
Last weekend, Michael took me to the Rockbridge County Fair. It reminded me a lot of the Rosholt Fair that I used to go to every year in Wisconsin growing up.
My whole family would work together as part of the Village Church, along with many friends, to man the cheese curd booth, where we served deep fried cheese curds from 11 AM through 1 AM. For four solid days, I survived on curds, hamburgers, and all the fountain soda I could drink. I remember what a treat it was to drink a carton of milk after a couple of days! My hair would smell like fryer grease for several days, and my curd cravings would be satiated for twelve entire months.
There were no cheese curds in Virginia, but we still had a great time. I went on a new ride that was a real gut buster. It was a large pendulum - like the pirate ship rides - except that the carriage also turned in circles as it swung higher and higher from side to side. I have not felt that queasy from a ride in years...they are really upping the ante on these portable carnival rides!
Then, we spent 20 minutes watching a carney take a group of teenagers for $180. It was the smoothest, best played con I have probably ever seen in person.
The game was deceptively simple. Use 5 small discs to completely cover a larger circle. Of course, the dimensions were very precise - you had to drop each disc exactly. And the barker did it over and over to show just how easy it was! The prizes were amazing - an Xbox 360 + $100 was one of them. And plays were a steep $10 a pop. But the carney kept telling the guy that if he would double up, he would get the prize plus all the cash he had put in...There was much hemming and hawing, and peer pressure, and talk of how much he had already "invested" in the game, and it would be a shame to have it go to waste.
It was just incredible. The barker ended up giving the girlfriend a huge, nasty, sheriff-garb Spongebob Squarepants worth about $10 - maybe. He gave it to her out of pity, and I thought it added insult to injury. But she was too dense to realize it. It was truly fascinating!
Oh, and finally, the tractor-pushes-the-quarters game was definitely a money maker. They gave you 5 quarters for a dollar! I asked the guy if I could just cash in $5 and walk away, and he said "well, I try to keep an eye out for that kind of thing"...um, how much money are you making off this game that you can just give it away for free?!
Maybe I am in the wrong business. I want to be a carney.
My whole family would work together as part of the Village Church, along with many friends, to man the cheese curd booth, where we served deep fried cheese curds from 11 AM through 1 AM. For four solid days, I survived on curds, hamburgers, and all the fountain soda I could drink. I remember what a treat it was to drink a carton of milk after a couple of days! My hair would smell like fryer grease for several days, and my curd cravings would be satiated for twelve entire months.
There were no cheese curds in Virginia, but we still had a great time. I went on a new ride that was a real gut buster. It was a large pendulum - like the pirate ship rides - except that the carriage also turned in circles as it swung higher and higher from side to side. I have not felt that queasy from a ride in years...they are really upping the ante on these portable carnival rides!
Then, we spent 20 minutes watching a carney take a group of teenagers for $180. It was the smoothest, best played con I have probably ever seen in person.
The game was deceptively simple. Use 5 small discs to completely cover a larger circle. Of course, the dimensions were very precise - you had to drop each disc exactly. And the barker did it over and over to show just how easy it was! The prizes were amazing - an Xbox 360 + $100 was one of them. And plays were a steep $10 a pop. But the carney kept telling the guy that if he would double up, he would get the prize plus all the cash he had put in...There was much hemming and hawing, and peer pressure, and talk of how much he had already "invested" in the game, and it would be a shame to have it go to waste.
It was just incredible. The barker ended up giving the girlfriend a huge, nasty, sheriff-garb Spongebob Squarepants worth about $10 - maybe. He gave it to her out of pity, and I thought it added insult to injury. But she was too dense to realize it. It was truly fascinating!
Oh, and finally, the tractor-pushes-the-quarters game was definitely a money maker. They gave you 5 quarters for a dollar! I asked the guy if I could just cash in $5 and walk away, and he said "well, I try to keep an eye out for that kind of thing"...um, how much money are you making off this game that you can just give it away for free?!
Maybe I am in the wrong business. I want to be a carney.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
I Will Definitely Graduate
Well, the final grades of my final semester are in, and I have definitely passed all of my classes.
Yay!
I will be a Master. Not a Master of the Universe, but a Master of Arts. At least I won't have to battle Skeletor.
Somehow, I just don't think I will have the same sunny feelings for George Mason that I did for UWSP. While I wasn't happy to start off at Point, the old lady grew on me, and allowed me to do a lot of things that I would not have done if I were at a bigger school.
But, Mason was more...compulsory. There was less of a sense of community, I think because everyone already had a life before they enrolled in the program. In the classroom, it was great to have people coming in with all these different perspectives. But it did make it hard to build a community.
By the power of Greyskull, I think I am waxing poetic about something that just ended last week.
Yay!
I will be a Master. Not a Master of the Universe, but a Master of Arts. At least I won't have to battle Skeletor.
Somehow, I just don't think I will have the same sunny feelings for George Mason that I did for UWSP. While I wasn't happy to start off at Point, the old lady grew on me, and allowed me to do a lot of things that I would not have done if I were at a bigger school.
But, Mason was more...compulsory. There was less of a sense of community, I think because everyone already had a life before they enrolled in the program. In the classroom, it was great to have people coming in with all these different perspectives. But it did make it hard to build a community.
By the power of Greyskull, I think I am waxing poetic about something that just ended last week.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Senioritis
I did not think that my last semester of graduate school would be such a drag.
It's not that the classes are bad - in fact, they are quite interesting.
It's not that the work load is crushing - it is nothing out of the ordinary.
It could only be senioritis.
In high school and college, I thought that senioritis was collective in nature...everyone around you is antsy, anxious, and feels like they can goof off, so it becomes infectious. But now I am not surrounded by people who are finishing school with me. Most of my friends are not in school at all! And, I am working during the day anyway. So, clearly, I am manifesting this sudden frustration with school all on my own.
Now, I think that it has more to do with excitement about starting the next big thing in your life. Emotionally, I have been waiting for school to be finished so I could begin to think about other projects. Michael and I have been talking about all of the things we would do when we both finished school for more than four years. So, there has been a lot of anticipation building for my graduation for a long time. I have been waiting for it to come, and now, it is finally really approaching. I just want the day to arrive.
I am reminded of waiting for Christmas when I was a child. The days used to crawl so slowly because I was excited to get to the end and get the rewards! But, now Christmas comes so quickly I barely have time to get my head around the holidays before they are all over. So, maybe this is like the adult version of Christmas...
Also, I have changed a lot in the past three years since I started this degree program. My interests have broadened, and refocused, several times. I have more desire to build stronger communities on a small scale, instead of influencing world events on a large scale. So, while finishing this coursework is important, I think that some of the answers that I was looking for in the program are less interesting to me now.
So, I have grown and changed, and am ready for all of the things that are coming in the next few months and years. Finishing school is, at this point, something to check off my to-do list.
It's not that the classes are bad - in fact, they are quite interesting.
It's not that the work load is crushing - it is nothing out of the ordinary.
It could only be senioritis.
In high school and college, I thought that senioritis was collective in nature...everyone around you is antsy, anxious, and feels like they can goof off, so it becomes infectious. But now I am not surrounded by people who are finishing school with me. Most of my friends are not in school at all! And, I am working during the day anyway. So, clearly, I am manifesting this sudden frustration with school all on my own.
Now, I think that it has more to do with excitement about starting the next big thing in your life. Emotionally, I have been waiting for school to be finished so I could begin to think about other projects. Michael and I have been talking about all of the things we would do when we both finished school for more than four years. So, there has been a lot of anticipation building for my graduation for a long time. I have been waiting for it to come, and now, it is finally really approaching. I just want the day to arrive.
I am reminded of waiting for Christmas when I was a child. The days used to crawl so slowly because I was excited to get to the end and get the rewards! But, now Christmas comes so quickly I barely have time to get my head around the holidays before they are all over. So, maybe this is like the adult version of Christmas...
Also, I have changed a lot in the past three years since I started this degree program. My interests have broadened, and refocused, several times. I have more desire to build stronger communities on a small scale, instead of influencing world events on a large scale. So, while finishing this coursework is important, I think that some of the answers that I was looking for in the program are less interesting to me now.
So, I have grown and changed, and am ready for all of the things that are coming in the next few months and years. Finishing school is, at this point, something to check off my to-do list.
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