Aug. 18, 2003
Don’t spend your summers the way I spent most of mine.
The highlight of many of my summers was miniature golfing. I’m no daredevil, but just once in my life I’d like to spend a summer on the road, or bungee jumping, or skydiving, or anything for that matter.
Then again, I was pretty wild in my mini-golfing days. I once mini-golfed in a thunderstorm, with lightning and everything. We called it extreme miniature golfing.
But if the thought of putting yourself in harm’s way scares you, there are things more your speed. Theme parks are great ways to experience the same life-threatening activities under the careful watch of 16-year-old Billy, the veteran ride operator.
As cool as extreme miniature golfing can be, I did do other things in the summer. In high school, I convinced my parents that it would be a great idea to take summer classes at Columbia University. They saw it as a great learning opportunity where I could earn some credits.
I saw it was my chance to live in the city, for a month, with hordes of people my age. There was the strange old guy who looked like he was doing karate outside our dormitories every morning. We called him Tai Chi man. I also learned that if I really wanted to, I could probably walk up to a pigeon and pick it up. Those brazen rats-with-wings have no fear of people down in the city.
It’s a great way to get out on your own and get a taste of life away from the parents. Granted my first home-away-from-home experience at Columbia was a little odd — I found all of the previous tenant’s dirty magazines and clothing still in the room when I moved in — but it was great to be living it up in the big city. All I had to do was put up with three hours of classes a day, and phone calls at 3 a.m. from the Romanian mother of Mario, abandoner of dirty magazines. I gathered Mario never told his mom that he left.
Oh the memories. Summer is an opportunity to get out there and do something. The X-box can wait until you’re buried in 22 inches of snow in the winter. Even then I’d say go out and roll your little brother down a snow bank or something.
While you’re out enjoying the rest of the summer I’ll be sitting here figuring out ways I can live out my dream of doing extreme sports. I’m thinking about tying a bungee cord to my office chair and hopping off for some cheap thrills.
I hope too many people don’t stare.
Ahmad is a staff writer for the Press & Sun-Bulletin.
© 2003 Press & Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton, N.Y.