Missing Childhood
Jaquandor fails to list even three things he misses about his childhood. Although I wasn't 'tagged' to repeat this theme, his notes set me to thinking about just what did I miss about my childhood in Allegany, NY? (Aside to Google: It's St. Bonaventure, not Bobaventure!)

Top of the list may seem quite odd considering the publishing format, but I miss not having the internet and cable TV. That's right, I remember fondly the days when we didn't have the information superhighway and 100 channels at our disposal. This is not to say that I would ever give up my high-speed connection or want to go back to the world of 1982 -- the benefits of the internet are amazing. For instance, I have never ever liked to shop. I went clothes-shopping maybe once a year if I really really needed something. Online shopping is a wonderous gift.

However, cable and the internet can be a time-consuming distraction. A black hole of wasted energy that sucks inspiration and entices slacking. To be honest, I miss having less instant entertainment at the ready. Which bring me to the second thing I miss, compliments of Allegany Central School (which no longer exists, natch), is study halls. I used to have at least 2 a day, sometimes four. No distractions, no talking, no video games, just your books and some paper. I hardly ever brought home work from school thanks to these concentrated time-periods, but that's not really why I miss them. I miss them because they were dedicated time, during the day, that I used to write stories and scripts. The majority of my writing growing up was done during these periods. No distractions. Nowadays, when I get home from working, it's tough to set aside time, especially when my mind is tired. Although I have enough flexibility (and power!) to set aside some time at work, this damn internet gets in the way. If someone shoots an email to me, sometimes it requires immediate responses. I'll get distracted by, heavens, work! Distraction-free time during the day is definitely up there.

I'm only going to name one more, and that's my grandfather's house. That was another great place to play. When I visited the house a few years back for my cousin's wedding, the feelings of nostagia were powerful. His place was way up in the woods, and you could literally get lost in the surrounding forest. We used to spend hours playing up there. One one giant tree we had attached a rope that we used to swing out over a hill and plant cushions from couches in the house to soften the 15 foot drop. Good times.