What's up? That's rhetorical. No one is reading this, and I'm just procrastinating on finals. I just finished a batch of example problems. Exciting, I know.
Okay so the question at hand. This seems really clichéd. I mean, it's a valid question, but I was tired of this Robert Frost poem by 4th grade. I mean, Robert Frost is okay (I'm not a big poetry person) but this whole poem is so over-analysed and over-referenced.
The question I have is whether this prompt referring to metaphorical roads or literal ones. I think this poem is interpreted metaphorically pretty often, and thus I feel the overwhelming need to be contrary and answer it literally.
One road I've always wanted to take is I-90. The whole way. All 3100 miles. I-90 stretches from Boston to Seattle, passing through such illustrious places as: Cleveland, Ohio; South Bend, Indiana, Erie, Pennsylvania; and Chicago, Illinois. (Try to figure out which one I'm not being sarcastic about) But I've never travelled west of Chicago (and even within the city, I rarely go out past Pulaski), and I've only been to Boston once, so the furthest I've really been out east on the road is to wherever it splits off to Buffalo. (Unrelated note: I really miss skiing sometimes.) I used to be a big fan of interstate driving (SPEED!) and I always wanted to do the stereotypical road trip. I had the chance to do one last summer, which would've taken me from Columbus to Chicago to Yellowstone to Texas and over to LA (random, I know.) Instead, of course, I did a semi-road trip through Europe, though it wasn't the same, being on a tour bus and all. Something about doing the driving yourself makes it different.
I've also always wanted to see the pretty parts of the west- I've been to Arizona, which is sort of nice, if only because it's a complete change of pace from the upper Midwest, but I went ages ago, and really there's not much to see. But I've never seen the Rockies or even the plains (not that I suspect I'm missing much, based on extrapolating data from Indiana), and I'd love to check out Seattle. Plus, on the other end, I've always felt I should give Boston a try again. I was really bitter when I went there last time, so I formed a negative opinion of it before really giving it a chance.
Furthermore, I feel like the advantage of a roadtrip is you can go see those stupid kitschy things. The world's biggest ball of yarn; world's smallest pig, whatever the hell else they keep in places like Wyoming and southern Minnesota. I would totally hit up some of those stupid things if I had the chance; however, with gas prices and whatnot, it's sort of frivolous to go on a road trip these days. Hell, even when I drive from Cleveland to Columbus, I always see a sign for "Mid-Ohio" (it's near Mansfield if I recall) and seeing as Columbus itself is pretty close to the geographical middle of Ohio, I am constantly plagued by wondering what in the hell that means exactly. Is it a point on a map? Are there things there? What point does it serve? (My mind is a sad place.)
Unfortunately, I also feel like I'm past the optimal road trip age. If I'd done it within the past two or three years maybe, but now everyone I know works (I am not lame enough to go on a road trip alone) and/or is busy in school getting higher degrees, yet no one has money to spend, and we're all beyond the point where our parents will donate funds to silly vacation schemes. It's sort of sad, I feel a little bit like I missed out on an opportunity for an iconic American activity. Then I remind myself that driving for fun is unnecessarily expensive and terrible for the environment and so I don't really worry too much about it.
Right about now I wouldn't mind a change of pace. I'm doing the transition thing with my life again, and a vacation in between wouldn't be so bad. I love the city, but I haven't been anywhere besides Ohio or Chicago for almost a year and a half- granted, that year and a half ago was the Europe trip, but still. I guess I'll just have to hope I get an interview at my non-Chicago schools in order to spice things up. San Francisco? New York City? I could work with those.
Back to studying. No pictures, I have nothing relevant. Here's a music video I can't stop listening to, though: If I keep resetting the playback button, YouTube doesn't know I've listened to this 1000 times, right?
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