The World of Stuff .com

The last days of summer

Today is the last day of summer vacation. It seems like it’s been so long. The family vacation, which was at the beginning of summer, seems like it was ages ago, but as I recall dozens of memories of checking up on my various groups of friends before school starting and letting my dog outside after getting home, those things seem like they could have been last week. I guess school is my place. But how have I made use of these last few days of freedom, you ask? I shall tell.

The night before last, I went ice skating with my sister and some friends and some friends’ friends. I thought it was an unlikely way to bring summer vacation to an end; after all, the last time we went, it was Christmastime. But when there’s an ice skating rink nearby, I guess any day can be an ice skating day.

The biggest hassle when it comes to ice skating is finding the right size skates. It’s not like anybody has their own (except all of the good skaters who whiz past you backwards on the ice), so you have to go to the counter and ask for whatever size you need. I remember from last time that my skates were too tight, and I had blisters and other types of sores for weeks. Remembering that, I asked for a larger size, which was way too big. The next size smaller was a little big but much more comfortable, so I went with that.

It wasn’t long before I was going around the ice at a reasonable pace. Okay, it was. I still don’t know how to stop, you see. No matter how much Kevin tried to show me, the best I could manage was a sudden 180º and a frantic wobble of the legs. Luckily, I resorted to using my own tried-and-true technique that I like to call “running into the nearest wall.” No skill required!

Of course, safety was also a concern. After all, I didn’t want to come into school on Monday with a broken arm or anything, so I had to take precautions. I managed to reduce my risk of injury 50% by staying off the ice half the time. Besides that, my feet quickly started to hurt, probably because I was trying to balance my entire weight on two metal blades. I didn’t want so much as a blister, so I would just sit in the penalty box and various other places with access to the ice. It happened that whenever I sat down, everybody else joined me, even if they seemed to be more confident skaters.

I didn’t know some of the people who were there as they were friends of friends. There was this one girl who seemed nice… a little too nice. Her name was Ashley, as I was told when I was introduced to her but later forgot and had to ask someone else. Whenever I was sitting alone resting my feet, she would pass by and smile. We made some nice conversation. She asked how fast I could go, and I showed her that I couldn’t go very fast. Then I asked her the same question, and she zoomed ahead of me. That was when the conversation ended.

When the ice was getting rough and the place was going to close, we decided to hit an Arby’s for some food. I wasn’t very hungry, but when you’re one of nine teenagers on a Friday night, at least one is going to be hungry. When we got to the restaurant, which wasn’t very far away, we saw to our dismay that the dining room was closed. The drive-thru, however, was open, so we walked through there. (Kevin had done it with my sister and me before, so I knew it was possible.) I think we did look pretty ridiculous, though, especially to the people in cars who were waiting behind us.

After that disappointment, some people decided to leave the group and head home. The rest went to Wendy’s to get… more food. When we were there, I saw TJ from school (not that TJ) just standing around. I talked to him for a moment before my entourage pulled me back to them. You couldn’t go inside there either; only the drive-thru was open. “Eat great, even late” my foot. We drove-thru this second time, though. I didn’t get any food there either.

Then another person left, so it was just me, Kevin, my sister, and Ashley. We had a little more time to kill, so my sister and I went with Kevin, and Ashley took her own car. As we were sitting in the two cars deciding where to go, I was sitting in the passenger side of Kevin’s car, with Ashley’s car next to me. I heard a kissing-type noise from her direction, and when I looked, she was rolling up the window, laughing, and looking at me. I’m not even sure what happened or why, but all I could do was smile back.

We ended up going to some stretch of beach behind a condo. Even though it was kind of late, there was just enough light to see, thanks to the glow the city, the lighthouse, and the nearly full moon. We sat on some chairs by the crashing waves; I sat and talked with Ashley, and Kevin with my sister. It was very nice to get to know someone I had just met. (I don’t meet people all the time, you know.) And when it was time to go, I asked her for her MySpace URL. Could this be the 2006 equivalent of asking for one’s phone number? Maybe not. Could something come of this? Maybe she was just being her normal, friendly self, and I’m overreacting. We’ll see.

Yesterday I joined my sister’s friend (and I guess my friend too) in celebrating her 18th birthday. Nathalie will be 18 tomorrow, actually, but we went out for lunch at Olive Garden yesterday to celebrate. Then we went to the mall, then dropped Lisa off at work, and then wondered what to do next. It was extremely hot and I was getting weary of being out, so I suggested that we go home for a swim. That really hit the spot. Then we had dinner and nearly finished a game of Monopoly. It was an eventful afternoon and night.

Today we’ll probably hang out with Kevin some more. Anything to keep my mind of the school year. Actually, it helps if I think it’s going to be fun. Crazy as it sounds, I can almost do it. I do know one thing: senior year is going to be a heck of a year.

The World Wide Web turns 15 years old this month. The Beeb gives us a timeline (Flash) of major events in its history.

The Time Fountain uses a strobe light to make droplets of water appear to be float in midair and even defy gravity. Of course, it’s all an optical illusion, but wouldn’t you like one of those in your home?

Three years ago: “After all, we have in our ranks some of the greatest people of all time, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Mark Twain, Julius Caesar, Alan Thicke…”