9/10-9/16: Summer Show and Tell

Remember the back to school "What I did this summer" essay? Don't you wish all of life's assignments were so easy? Here's your chance: tell us your most memorable activity/event/trip from the summer of '96. No grades, but a Tripod T-shirt (brand new design!) and gold star goes out to the one we like best.

Here's what Tripod members had to say:

DEGE: What I did this summer? Good Question! Well, I did a few things. I created a home page that I can be proud of. Made some friends and lost some in the process. I ventured out into two unknown territories for the first time. The first being in reality and the other being the internet! Spent a whole day with a great friend. If I was not doing that I was found down at the fire station in town training and/ or responding to emergencies. That is what I did this summer!!

swampgirl: Tumultuous. I don't know how else to describe it. In late June, my boyfriend told me that he'd been told by our mutual supervisor that I was to be "downsized". The next day, my supervisor told me my position would be eliminated as of July 1. I'd been there for over 5 years, and was one of the most senior members of the staff. Something was wrong with this picture. I went directly to HR and was told that my department had violated every policy possible in telling me I was let go. Ever since then, my department has been pushing to lay me off. The whole summer has been spent soul-searching, job-searching, crying, ranting, growing, maturing. This has been the toughest time of my life, but I fought it out. As of yesterday, HR has rendered its decision: my department cannot lay me off. It's a mixed victory. Do I really want to be here anymore, anyway? Is this really what I want to do with my time, my life? That's the most important lesson learned this summer, certainly the first summer of the rest of my life.

JennieK: I tried to get onto a postgraduate MSc course, but it turned out to be full, so I'll have to wait till next year. I moved house, and now have a much cooler, bigger flat with a living room, and I'm busy litigating against my old landlord for taking rent for an untenable property. I began decorating the new place. I met a guy seven years younger than me whom I've known online for a year and a half...we've exchanged rings and plan to move in together next year, when he's finished his highers. It was a good summer all round. Much better than last year... I'm still looking for jobs, mostly freelance work, and hope to get a play running in the next few months. What about everyone else?

Misfit1: I went and got married in Arizona (Bullhead City). It was a 100 degrees that day (yeah, but it was a dry heat.) If you go to my homepage you can see a picture of myself and my new bride the day before the "wedding." It cost us $160.00....cash. Now...(seems I am digging my self a deep hole this summer)...she is pregnant with our first.

hcm: What I did this summer? That's easy: I stopped flying halfway across the country to see my sweetie. I moved him in with me in San Francisco. Oh, yeah. I also was the co-pilot of a week-long road trip through the south.

JediScott: I opened a home-based mail order comic and science fiction comapny that sells comics, magazines, novels, toys, apparel, and much more. I created, wrote, and manage my own web page on the internet: http://home.earthlink.net/~starwarcltr/ This is all done in my spare time as I am a full-time pharmacist by trade. I started the business as an extention of my hobby: Star Wars Collectibles. The name of my business is Galaxy's Edge Cards and Collectibles. I have also spent time working around the yard and as much time as possible with my children who both started school this year. We visited Sesame Place and the Philadephia Zoo.

IvyleJolie: I started out the summer settling into a new apartment - assured by my husband that we would be there for a while (it was our third move in 6 months). I tried to start a 2-day-a-week summer school for my 2 neices and 5 nephews, and that went well until they all got the chicken pox. It didn't worry me because I'd had them as a youngster, but my husband sweated it out. hehehe So I turned my attention to game mastering, starting out a really cool Marvel Universe game. Then about 6 weeks ago my husband said, "Guess what? We're moving!" So I spent two weeks alone, packing for the biggest move yet, while he was already ahead of me in the big city at his new job. Now I'm in a big city and know about 5 people - so I'm concentrating my energies on the internet where I feel right at home no matter where I am irl.

kameleon: This past summer was a learnnig experience for me. From my American studies course, I learned that I can start 5-paged papers the night before they're due and still get A's on them. And from my chemistry course, I learned that no matter how uncomfortable they try to make the seats, I'm still able to sleep in lecture with no problem. While I wasn't in class, I continued to be be educated -- through the chat rooms on the net. I met a lot of interesting people from all over the world who kept me laughing, but the cultural learning experience I had there was enough reason to return. According to my first-hand sources, did you know: The Scottish don't all wear kilts and sing folk songs. New Zealanders aren't all sheep farmers. Fosters isn't really Austrailian for beer. and finally, what I found to be the most interesting discovery... according to one fine Aussie, All Austrailians ride kangaroos to work! (But of course, that's only when they can't find a platypus.)