In what has been the weirdest fluke of a summer, a prodigious chunk of my friend group went on glorious transatlantic adventures, while my epic travel intentions (weekend trips! Train rides to random destinations! Overseas workshops!) dwindled to one underwhelming afternoon drive across city borders. A minority of you may be nodding your heads in agreement.
However, the destination is not so pathetic: Gainesville for Summer B. And if I had to learn the meaning of Sheryl Crow’s immortal words: “It’s not having what you want/It’s wanting what you’ve got,” then so help me, may it be in Gainesville.
Whether you are flirting with an existential crisis or having the best summer of your life, someday we will all have our anticlimactic summer of “mastering the staycation.” And sometimes you may even have to do this, dare I say it, by yourself.
The first step is simple. Pause your reading and turn on the song “Salsa Tequila.” It will make this article and everything you do today at least 1000 times better.
Muy bueno.
The next step is, and this is the part where I materialize on your Netflix screen, go out and do something, even if you’re by yourself! (All bets are off at night. When the sun goes down, Netflix will rise!) There are the obvious opportunities: the restaurants, the parties and the concerts with new and old friends.
But….
For the movie theatre’s sake, will you break down and buy a movie ticket? Yes, tickets obviously aren’t the 10-cent-all-day-fun-pass they were in the 1930s, and yes, we possess certain “resources” to get any movie for free. But, cue the ASPCA music, some movie theatres are nearly empty and they need your help! Although movie theatres are kind of like grimy cousins, is it so deadly to pay for a theatre atmosphere and TREAT YO’SELF every once in a while? To smuggle candy in and watch a movie without Chinese subtitles on a gigantic screen, and not So-and-so’s tiny laptop screen? To be immersed in surround-sound and not have to say “What?!” every 30 seconds because So-and-so’s laptop volume is intended for dogs’ ears? Even to sit in an actual semi-reclining plush chair and not on tile? You can choose to look at it as an act of charity; you are a patron of the arts and your purchase is a donation to the theatre.
Gainesville bookstores really need some love too; they are like the lonely grandmas of this world and we are the visiting grandchildren that are the highlight of their weeks. Our generation ultimately gets to determine the fate of these places. Just imagine a mob of hermit kids in the not-too-distant future, staring into space, watching their movies and reading their e-books on their Google Glasses in a world of no cinemas, bookshelves or spoken language. You can prevent this for just five cents per day. (Or by incorporating these places into your cures for boredom rotation.)
Via: panoramio.com
For me, this summer has been the perfect time to cook new stuff. Guys, this is practically a sequel of “Julie & Julia.” This is like Julie, Julia, Tara & the Occasional Random Guests. (A sequel that should never happen, yet it is.) If I could pose a weekly challenge, this week would be to go to the grocery store and get something you wouldn’t normally buy. My recommendations: Brie cheese (paired with jam — you can thank me later), couscous, loose tea, guacamole, kiwi, asparagus, fancy bread, meat that is not frozen — the list is getting less exotic, but you get the idea. Could you imagine asking your friend, “Would you like your Brie melted, or not?”
If you reject cooking like Sheryl Crow rejects staying stationary, a more general challenge for this week is to ask yourself the hard questions and find your summer project. Sheryl Crow would want that, she’s all about having fun.
Featured photo courtesy of: b1027.com
