Friday, January 02, 2004
You can't go home again...
Or so the old saying goes, but this past weekend, I decided that I would flaunt cliche and tradition and take a quick trip back to my hometown in northwest Connecticut. This after a very boring pair of days with nothing to do but watch Monty Python DVDs and share pizza with the only other non-Christian friend who had not fled the city of Philadelphia for the holidays.
Realizing that these people may have had the right idea, I decided to head north in what was immediately dubbed "a cunning plan" by all involved (namely me and my sister). My parents would have no idea I would be arriving, just in time for the last night of Channukah. So at 9:30 in the morning on Friday, I was off to the train station. I picked up some quick holiday gifts and then crammed myself into a very crowded train to Hartford. In retrospect, it would have been smarter to travel sometime other than the day after Christmas. Several hours and a quick taxi ride later, I showed up at home...a few hours earlier than even my sister expected!
Honestly my folks took it about as I expected. My dad practically dropped his soldering iron when I waltzed down into his basement workshop...he was thrilled to see me. So thrilled in fact that we went out for a father-son trip to the middle of nowhere to get a flu vaccine! Yes, it was all good fun, but the real surprise came when I came home and startled my mother. She was literally speechless for a good 10 minutes. We went to dinner at an Italian restaurant and she regained her composure long enough to explain in no uncertain terms that I should never ever ever do that sort of thing again. (Oy the guilt...) She seemed much happier by the following evening when she had the whole family sitting around the dinner table for a home cooked meal.
It was good to see family and friends, even if it was only for a few days. Got a chance to play some frisbee, which was nice despite the complete degradation of my skills. We also had a shortlived experiment with wireless networking, which although ultimately a failure was still worthwhile. Oh...and we watched a hilarious short film entitled "The Gamers," which is a must watch for anyone who has ever played Dungeons and Dragons or hung out with people who have. ("Am I still passed out at the bar?")
Then it was back here in time for New Years. A depressingly quiet evening for me, spent watching some of my ill-gotten holiday gains. (Ah, Doctor Jones, yet again we see that there is nothing you can find that I can not take away...Of course the Hovitos could have warned you, if only you spoke Hovito!) Yesterday to commemorate the New Year, I finally found a place to throw my boomerangs, and was pleased to learn I haven't lost my skills. Caught about a dozen throws. One of my resolutions is going to be trying to make time for that sort of thing.
And today it's been relatively productive...wrote up a bunch of lesson plans, worksheets, tests...I'm going to be ready for these next few weeks.
That's right...only 3 weeks! Then I get all new ones.
Nervous? A little.
But still, we soldier on.
Oh, for those who are interested, results from the movie quote contest will be up by the end of the week, along with the answers! If you think you know, drop an e-mail by clicking on the link to the right that says "e-mail the author."
That's why I have it after all.
Or so the old saying goes, but this past weekend, I decided that I would flaunt cliche and tradition and take a quick trip back to my hometown in northwest Connecticut. This after a very boring pair of days with nothing to do but watch Monty Python DVDs and share pizza with the only other non-Christian friend who had not fled the city of Philadelphia for the holidays.
Realizing that these people may have had the right idea, I decided to head north in what was immediately dubbed "a cunning plan" by all involved (namely me and my sister). My parents would have no idea I would be arriving, just in time for the last night of Channukah. So at 9:30 in the morning on Friday, I was off to the train station. I picked up some quick holiday gifts and then crammed myself into a very crowded train to Hartford. In retrospect, it would have been smarter to travel sometime other than the day after Christmas. Several hours and a quick taxi ride later, I showed up at home...a few hours earlier than even my sister expected!
Honestly my folks took it about as I expected. My dad practically dropped his soldering iron when I waltzed down into his basement workshop...he was thrilled to see me. So thrilled in fact that we went out for a father-son trip to the middle of nowhere to get a flu vaccine! Yes, it was all good fun, but the real surprise came when I came home and startled my mother. She was literally speechless for a good 10 minutes. We went to dinner at an Italian restaurant and she regained her composure long enough to explain in no uncertain terms that I should never ever ever do that sort of thing again. (Oy the guilt...) She seemed much happier by the following evening when she had the whole family sitting around the dinner table for a home cooked meal.
It was good to see family and friends, even if it was only for a few days. Got a chance to play some frisbee, which was nice despite the complete degradation of my skills. We also had a shortlived experiment with wireless networking, which although ultimately a failure was still worthwhile. Oh...and we watched a hilarious short film entitled "The Gamers," which is a must watch for anyone who has ever played Dungeons and Dragons or hung out with people who have. ("Am I still passed out at the bar?")
Then it was back here in time for New Years. A depressingly quiet evening for me, spent watching some of my ill-gotten holiday gains. (Ah, Doctor Jones, yet again we see that there is nothing you can find that I can not take away...Of course the Hovitos could have warned you, if only you spoke Hovito!) Yesterday to commemorate the New Year, I finally found a place to throw my boomerangs, and was pleased to learn I haven't lost my skills. Caught about a dozen throws. One of my resolutions is going to be trying to make time for that sort of thing.
And today it's been relatively productive...wrote up a bunch of lesson plans, worksheets, tests...I'm going to be ready for these next few weeks.
That's right...only 3 weeks! Then I get all new ones.
Nervous? A little.
But still, we soldier on.
Oh, for those who are interested, results from the movie quote contest will be up by the end of the week, along with the answers! If you think you know, drop an e-mail by clicking on the link to the right that says "e-mail the author."
That's why I have it after all.
