The Surprising Doldrums of Vacation

I don't want to say that vacation is getting boring, but at the very least it is getting repetitive. I have next to nothing to do, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but it sure means my schedule is very open. And with my brothers and high school friends trapped in Shalhevet until Pesach break begins for them on Friday, I am finding ways to amuse myself until then.

Today, for example, I accompanied my father to his office in downtown Los Angeles, and took the place of his secretary who was out sick. I was going to write some scholarship essays, but since the computer did not have Microsoft Word, and nor was I able to write emails for some odd reason, my endeavors there were fruitless. I spent the rest of the afternoon watching the Dodgers' Opening Day 11-10 loss to Atlanta, filling in sudoku puzzles, and running two errands.

Both of my errands took me to 550 Hill Street, just down the block from my father's office. These two short trips would not be noteworthy if not for the elevators. The elevators, you say? Yes, the elevators. Instead of a standard "up" or "down" button, you summon an elevator by entering the number of the desired floor into a keypad, with digits 0-9. Then, after processing your requested floor, the elevator computer will direct you to one of six elevators (A-F) that will be traveling to that floor soonest. After the novelty of the technology wore off in about 0.8 seconds, I considered the practicality of the so-called upgrade: instead of buttons inside the elevator, they are outside. And that matters... why?

I returned home after work and was delighted to found out that my mother had purchased The Settlers of Catan, which I can now play with my family. I also found out that the game is a lot harder to teach than I remembered, especially as I had learned to play with three other experienced players. My twenty minute attempt to explain the game was met with boredom, exhaustion, and much silliness, which I will leniently attribute to the lateness of the hour.

I can't say that UCLA fared much better in its game, displaying boredom, exhaustion, and offensive futility in its title game loss to Florida. UCLA was outplayed on both offense and defense, to the dismay of my father, a UCLA alum (or alumnus? I can never remember which is male and which is female). Better luck to the Bruins next year. I will probably root for them in 2007, as NYU does not have a Division I NCAA basketball team. I also don't know the school's mascot, or if it even has one, so I'll just say "Go Bruins!" next time March Madness rolls around.