From the title of this entry, you probably think that I'm going to list the joys of visiting Washington Dulles International Airport. You're not entirely wrong. You're also not entirely right.
By the way, did you know that none of the three Washington DC-area airports are in Washington DC? Two (Reagan National and Dulles International) are in Virginia, and Baltimore-Washington International is in Maryland, just south of Baltimore.
If you have been to Washington, DC, then you have surely visited at least some of the Smithsonian museums that ring the National Mall. All are superb, in fine Smithsonian tradition, but two stand out to this DC native: the Natural History Museum and the Air & Space Museum.
But I promised to talk about aviation, right? Right. If you loved the Air & Space Museum (and who doesn't?) then you really must check out the relatively new Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, next to Dulles Airport. The museum's website is here: http://www.nasm.si.edu/museum/udvarhazy/ - and an outstanding website often indicates an outstanding institution and I promise you that this one is beyond outstanding.
The last time I visited my family in Vienna, Virginia, my father, knowing that although I'm a basket case on airplanes, I'm fascinated by the concept of flight (figure that one out), took me to the museum. An aircraft hangar plays home to the museum, which makes for some very interesting lines (and some fascinating photographs), but it also features not only some of the world's earliest fighter-bombers, but also the Enola Gay and the original Spaceship Enterprise! On top of that, there is the obligatory IMAX theatre and also two flight simulators - one for an F-16! How cool is that?
So, the next time you're in the Washington, DC area, get yourself out to this place - this Washingtonienne swears by it.
Online slot machines are always fun to play. Whether you win or lose (as long as you stay within your budget and don’t gamble away the rent money), it is fun to feel the suspense as the slot machine reels spin around and you are waiting to see if they fall the way you want them to.
Online slots have now gotten even better, thanks to a new tournament in which you have a chance to win a lot of money, but you literally cannot lose. The slots tournament is at All Jackpots Casino, first prize is a cool $50,000, and it is absolutely free to participate.
Have fun – and perhaps win money too – at the free online slots tournament!
Ever been in Starbucks during one rush hour? If you have, you know the picture: the line goes out the door and around the corner, and the cashier calls out orders to baristas who frantically run back and forth, trying to fill them.
Americans have discovered designer coffee, albeit years behind the rest of the world. What Americans haven't seemed to discover is the act of sitting in a coffee shop with someone and enjoying coffee and conversation. They come on weekends; venture to your nearest mall on a Saturday afternoon and find a bookstore. Then head for the cafe and you'll see swarms of them. But this is not the phenomenon to which I refer - this is almost an afterthought, abbreviated at the end of the standard weekend mall trip - which comes for lack of anything more creative to do. As an ex-barista, I've seen it many times.
What I'm referring to is the act of meeting a friend (or friends) at any old time at a coffee shop, sitting down, ordering a cup of some form of coffee and then staying there for hours. Entertainment need not be hyperactive; sometimes low-key is the way to go. It seems that most Starbucks branches have many stands selling coffee beans, syrups, coffee makers and other goodies, but very little seating. Starbucks expects their customers to buy their coffee, and leave.
This is unique to the American coffee experience. In Europe and in the Middle East, where the coffee culture took root far before the United States tuned in, coffee shops are about seating and relaxation and leisure. Having grown up in the United States, worked in a Starbucks-affiliated cafe for a year, and moved to Tel Aviv 14 months ago, the difference strikes me as particularly dramatic. I was accustomed to seeing hurried customers coming into my Barnes & Noble cafe (B&N cafes use Starbucks products, although most are not actual Starbucks chains), short on patience, and often horribly rude to me and to my friends.
In Tel Aviv, however, coffee shops are about slowly sipping your drink, sitting and relaxing, chatting with friends or perhaps random people with which you strike up a conversation. Never have I seen hurried and panicking customers, and never have I seen any instance of impoliteness to baristas or cashiers.
I suppose that my point is that the next time you get restless and you have a few hours, call up a friend and find your neighborhood coffee shop (and it doesn't have to be Starbucks - usually the independent stores are far superior), try a drink you've never had before, and enjoy yourself. There's something to be said for what I referred to earlier as "designer coffee" - it allows for much experimentation, mixing different flavors and blends and finding new combinations that you may even be able to try at home.
So give it a shot. I promise.
They say that walking just half an hour a day carries tremendous health rewards. Some experts even urge people to buy a small device called a pedometer that measures the number of steps that one takes in order to consistently challenge oneself to walk more and more. Such results make hiking an even more attractive exercise option, but hiking isn't just exercise, it's fun, too.
While one can go for a good long hike in a city quite easily, it often helps to find a somewhat more out-of-the-way group of trails, if only for the scenery. This helps one to find a place that's quieter, has fresher, clearer air, and often will take the hiker to some beautiful finish - a cliff face or a waterfall, etc. If you live in the States, national parks are fantastic places to find excellent hiking trails.
Having grown up in the Washington, DC area, I strongly recommend Shenandoah National Park. There are hundreds of trails throughout the 105 miles of Skyline Drive (which is worth it in and of itself), but I recommend stopping in Skyland, at the highest point in the park, and trying out Stony Man Mountain, which is a relatively easy trail, first. After about 8/10 of a mile, you will find yourself at the top of a cliff with a large jagged stone face (hence the name of the mountain), thousands of feet above the valley floor below. You'll be able to view not only the Shenandoah Valley,m but also the rest of Skyland itself, as the cliff looks out over it. When you've gotten yourself used to a relatively easy trail, try the Whiteoak Canyon Trail, only a minute or so drive away. A word of caution on this one - it goes all the way down the mountain! If you are into long hikes and camping, go all the way. My family never liked camping, so we always stopped about 2.5 miles in, at the overlook which allows one to view the Whiteoak Canyon waterfall. This one is a little more difficult, as it is significantly longer, but when you get to the waterfall, it will all be worth it - I promise.
And even better - to sequester yourself away, with family or friends, in a quiet place, with nothing but woods and streams and animals around you, to hike a decent distance and end up at something beautiful - there's nothing like it!
Read, read, read - the ultimate exercise in imagination!
When I was a child, my favorite television show was called Reading Rainbow. My librarian mother introduced it to my sister and I, and I still remember that theme song: "I can be anything/I can go anywhere/take a look/it's in a book/A reading rainbow."
This is the magic of reading; a hobby much maligned by the less-intelligent types among us. When I was a very young child, my mother used to read with me all the time. I remember reading Best Friends by Steven Kellogg, in which I could dream about being the magical unicorn GoldenSilverWind, or Where The Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak, in which I could be Max, the child who gets lost in a world of monsters - who turn out to be surprisingly friendly. As I got older, we progressed to books such as the Ramona Quimby series (by Beverly Cleary) and almost anything by Judy Blume.
As a 25-year-old woman, my tastes in books have significantly increased. I enjoy reading memoirs by people from parts of the world that I have never been to - and some to which I have been. I read biographies of public figures from many different countries, I read histories of various periods, and I read books of poetry and fiction. Recently - much behind the times, I know - I read all seven Harry Potter books (by J.K. Rowling) in only a week.
The wonderful thing about reading which I have tried to express here is that it takes the reader out of his or her own world (even when the book in question is non-fiction) and into the world of someone else. It takes the reader away from his or her life and problems and into those of someone else. It expands the imagination, no illicit substances required. The joy of Harry Potter, for example, is that I can live in a completely different world while reading - and in this world, I have a wand and I can do magic. I have an Invisibility Cloak and I can hide myself from anyone that I don't want to see me. I have a cauldron and spellbooks and friends and I live in a castle while studying magic. And even better than that, I can be courageous enough to tackle dark forces that the real me would be terrified of.
It gives one something to dream about.
Check out my friends' blogs for more great stuff about books:
Finding a community - try independent music.
As you have probably witnessed at some point in life, communities form around hobbies, interests, or passions. From personal experience, I can tell you that one of the most interesting communities to get into (in the United States, anyway) is that of independent music. You don't even have to be a musician to gain entry and acceptance - just being a fan is good enough. And the circuit is small enough that you will get to know many musicians and other fans, gain familiarity with music venues and promoters, and make lots of friends.
The independent music community that I know well is that of folk music - just regular people with voices, instruments, and something to say. Every year, denizens of this subculture gather at a farm in upstate New York for the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival - always the last Thursday through Sunday in July. The festival is something like our world's Mecca, and its website can be found here: http://www.falconridgefolk.com/
I've gotten to know most of my best friends from this world, both musicians and fans. I've become an avid lover of places such as Jammin' Java in Vienna, Virginia, - www.jamminjava.com , the Birchmere in Alexandria, Virginia - www.birchmere.com , World Cafe Live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - www.worldcafelive.com and many more. I've met many artists such as (now broken-up) Da Vinci's Notebook, Paul & Storm - www.paulandstorm.com , Eddie From Ohio - www.efohio.com - and so many more.
The allure of this subculture is that it is something that it takes a little
bit of work to find, as most of these artists do not get mainstream radio play
or massive Hollywood-style promotion. Yet they are in almost all cases far more
intelligent, interesting, friendly, and talented than any of the major "stars."
And an extra bonus? If you live close enough to a major city, you can go to a
concert almost every night! Volunteer to help out at the club, and you get in
free.
Allow others into your imagination - via your camera lens.
Photography is addictive, perhaps because it's so personal, so individual. There's no greater expression of self than to display what one sees through a camera lens. For best results, don't plan too much! Go out with your camera - and it doesn't need to be a professional-quality camera, even a simple digital camera will do - and walk as far as you can stand to, and keep your eyes open. Whenever you see an image that you like, take a picture of it. If you know a little more about how to use your camera, go ahead and play with the white balance, shutter speed, exposure values, and so on. If not, just take what you like. You don't even need a digital camera, though they tend to help, simply because you can instantly see the image that you have captured.
Different photographers have different instincts, and it helps to have found a form of personal niche in which to take your pictures. I have a friend, for example, who specializes almost solely in concert photography. Another friend likes to wander Central Park in New York City and take photos of whatever catches his eye at the moment. The more you love the environment around you, the more that will come out in your photos.
I'll give you a personal story. I happen to live in Israel. I was not born or
raised here, but I made the choice at the age of 24 to live here, and to me,
there is no greater magical place on earth. So I take my camera everywhere I go.
Last fall, I happened to be in Jerusalem on Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish new year)
visiting a friend. He opted to spend the second day of the holiday in a
synagogue, while I preferred to walk. In the midst of this (day-long) hike
around the city, I found the absolute perfect photography spot in a neighborhood
called Yemin Moshe. This neighborhood happens to sit on a hill facing the Old
City walls, and there happens to be one specific spot in which the plants and
trees around its edges form a perfect natural frame around the David Citadel
tower (from one angle) and the neighborhood's windmill (from another). So I came
back from that day with a load of photographs on my camera's memory card, but
those two particular shots I will treasure forever.
Now, what is it that
makes this special? It is the ability to take something that is beautiful in the
eyes of the beholder, catch it on film (or on a memory card, as the case may be)
as such, and then show it off to anyone who will take the time to look. It isn't
showing off one's photography skills; rather, from the point of view of the
photographer, it is simply the ability to visually share his or her vision of
beauty and joy with someone else.
There are a lot of different activities I have tried over the years to enjoy during my leisure time. You see, I am the kind of person who always likes a change and I guess a bit of a challenge, too, so I am often up for new and exciting ideas of what to do for fun. Well, recently a friend introduced me to the whole new and exciting and ever-developing world of online gaming - I was fascinated and excited and almost overwhelmed by the incredible choice of different games to play! But after a while I found my niche and it seemed that blackjack is the most fun game for me to play. I'd never dream of gambling online, but there are lots of places to play where no money is involved. Blackjack gives players a few things at once: there is the challenge, the skill involved and the element of surprise and unpredictability. So if you are looking for something different and you like a challenge and are a bit competitive, try beating the dealer to 21 playing blackjack. Check out all the different blackjack games available - there are all sorts of variations. And there are other casino games like Poker, as well as things like Chess and Backgammon. But next time I'll write more about some other ways to have fun - playing computer games is fun, but it can get addictive - sometimes I'll play for hours and not even realize the time is passing. There are thousands of online games available - it would take a lifetime to go through them all. My friend has a blog about that: http://onlineguy.vox.com/
Get your dog fixes with My Dog and play this cool mobile game to see if a dog is really a pet you want to have.
If you have always wanted a dog, but have been a little bit unsure about
precisely what that would entail, then you might want to play My Dog on your
mobile phone for a bit of preliminary practice. In My Dog you get to take care
of your own (virtual) dog and it really can feel like actually having a dog. You
basically have to do with your dog on My Dog mobile game, what you would do with
a dog in real life. You have to feed him, take him for walks and love him. You
have to play with him, take care of him and make sure he's okay. Basically, in
My Dog you are totally in charge and responsible for this dog. And doing that
means that you have to do everything you can in your power ? and in the power of
this game ? to help him win money for all his needs, both food and toys. Also,
you might want him to be really successful, in which case you'll want him to be
the Best in Show too. There are also ways that your dog in My Dog can get sick,
so make sure you do whatever you can to ensure his health as well. My Dog is
pretty much like what you would have to do if you had a real, live dog. After
playing My Dog I still really wanted a dog. So I have been discussing it with my
boyfriend. He's a little skeptical, but now that I can see he keeps taking my
mobile phone to play My Dog, I'm hoping that's going to change and that soon
enough he'll also be seeing how much fun having a dog can be. In My Dog you can
choose four different ways to play: box object; hand petting; dog walking and
eye watch. Depending on what mood you are in, all are a lot of fun. FYI:
remember that the 4 and 6 of your keypad on the phone control left and right
respectively when selecting your mode and the 5 makes the selection.
By my Friend E.S.
It was actually a colleague at my old job at the hair salon who originally got me in to Boggle. She had invited me to a party of a friend of hers and they had all been playing Boggle and were really good at it. It looked like a lot of fun but I was too embarrassed to try it out in front of a whole bunch of people.
Well, I need not have worried. Boggle on the phone was way better than the game they played at the party with fun features, great animations and cool sounds and graphics. All of those features made the game so much more exciting. There are 5 types of Boggle a player can choose from: the regular game (classic single); arcade; puzzle untimed; time challenge; pass n' play. For me it just depends what I am in the mood for. You also get to view a results screen (which sometimes I think is good, sometimes bad; I don't always like to see how I messed up) and that shows you all the words, including the ones you missed! It can be quite frustrating, but usually it's for the best.
In addition, there are a ton of different boards to choose from so there is always something different to play once you have made the purchase.
Boggle is a pretty easy game to learn how to play but if you are a bit unsure, you can play the demo version for free. They also have (at the place I purchased and downloaded the game) good instructions that are helpful, as well as tips and hints. For newcomers and beginners it is best to begin with a single game on a single letter grid, just to get yourself accustomed to how the game works.
Once you have set up the game, choose the "Play" option which will open up
the Choose Game muenu for you (and that's when you'll see the 5 different
options of the game). The aim of the game is for you to be able to form words
out of any adjacent letters that appear in the 4x4 letter grid. In practical
terms, the way that you do this is by clicking on the letters to form the word
(they can appear next to each other horizontally, vertically, or diagonally).
You are not allowed to skip over letters or use the same letter more than once
in each word and you get points for all (valid) words that you find in the grid
and they must be at least 3 letters each. Any word from 3-4 letters you get 1
point; 5 is 2 points, 6 is 3 points, etc.
