THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 1, 1995 TAG: 9509010055
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALICIA LUMA AND JOHN EISCHEID, HIGH SCHOOL CORRESPONDENTS
LENGTH: Long : 134 lines
TIRED OF THE cries of boredom I've heard from teenagers this summer, I decided to write a story about what people do when there's really nothing to do.
There are things to do in the Norfolk-Chesapeake-Virginia Beach-Portsmouth area. If you compare the number of concerts, clubs and cinemas around here to, say, New York, it might not seem that way. But compare it to, say, Franklin, and it's like comparing Cadillacs to Yugos.
Speaking of Franklin, that ``city'' is the focus of this story. I decided that to fully appreciate the area in which I live, I should spend a day and an evening in the mecca of boredom that is Franklin.
I rang a colleague of mine, John Eischeid, a high school correspondent for this newspaper who lives in Franklin. I wanted to chill for a day with a local to see what could happen in a city known mostly for its paper mill.
We kept separate journals of the day in the doldrums and here they are, cracked wide open for your reading pleasure:
June 10, 12:11 p.m. - I'm on my way to Franklin, staring out the car window at endless fields of corn and beans. At the very least, I expected some cows or something. Now that I think about it, how could I slate a day to go hang out with a guy I've met once in a city I've never been in before? I must be, like, terminally dumb.
12:30 p.m.-ish - Waking up to the comforting sound of dogs barking and lawns being mowed has lightened my usual morning mood. Maybe breakfast. Maybe a shower. Maybe I have to met Alicia. Yeah, actually I do. Maybe I should take a shower.
12:47 p.m. - After nearly getting lost, I find myself in the McDonald's parking lot not wanting to face the rednecks therein. I hope John shows up soon. I'm glad that John is my native tour guide today and not any of the people I've seen at the drive-thru.
1:00 p.m. - I'm sitting in McDonald's waiting for my companion for the day. We have planned nothing. I am waiting to do nothing, and when I drop her off tonight, we will have done nothing. I am so excited.
1:05 p.m. - I decide to brave the lot full of big trucks and CB antennas to find John. To my embarrassment, he's been waiting for me for five minutes. He looks a lot different than I remember. I wonder what he's thinking about me. .
1:05 p.m. - A drapery of grays and blacks comes through the door, crowned by a head of red hair that conceals the identity of its owner. She looks a little surprised to see me. She walks up to the register saying she needs a drink, but abandons the idea in light of the employee's misunderstanding of the phrase ``fast food.''
1:06 p.m. - We make our first mini-excursion immediately, that being a tour of the city - mini because it took all of 15 minutes. The most promising thing was this one street that looked a little like downtown Norfolk, but John said it was the only street they have that looks that way.
1:25 p.m. - I don't think I'll ever know exactly what possessed me to give someone a tour of Franklin. I certainly cannot keep anyone from being bored. It would have been more fun to watch Alicia bite her nails. (Attention: That last sentence was for dramatic purposes only. Alicia does not bite her nails and emphatically wants all of you to know that.)
1:27 p.m. We have arrived at John's house, quite a nice house, actually. We park ourselves in his living room, listen to some Four Living Creatures and talk about this blasted article. I find out that John works at a movie theater, so we get the idea to kill time by going to see a movie. Well, we missed it by 14 minutes, so we'll go to the 4:30 show.
3:20 p.m.-ish - Somehow, at this point, we lost two hours. We have no idea what we did for two hours. But we also don't remember being bored so it must have been OK.
3:30 p.m. - We're in Wendy's. My car is in the parking lot so I know we can leave when we want to.
3:30 p.m. - We're in Wendy's. I don't know why we came here. I think I was hungry or something. Anyway, it seems that bright ideas sprout in this marvelous environment. John and I begin to discuss hanging out in Norfolk tonight. Sounds like a plan. But we're not quite ready to give up on Franklin.
3:52 p.m. - I want Alicia, with her mild manners and her politeness, to react to one of my friends who has made a life out of making rude comments, playing guitar and getting stoned. I'm not going to spend time condemning or condoning smoking pot, but when it comes to boredom, it is considered to be a popular remedy, something to do when there is nothing to do. And in small towns, that's often the case.
4:15 p.m. - I want out of that guy's house so bad. Besides his incredible rudeness and lack of entertainment value, the country decor is getting on my nerves. If I hear one more oh-so-sly pot reference, I am going to throw something. So when John decides that we need to leave to make it to the movie, I am more than happy.
4:30 p.m. - We are anxiously anticipating ``The Bridges of Madison County,'' and we have the only two heads in the theater that are not gray. We have successfully, but temporarily, diffused our boredom. As usual, I'm plowing my brain to find some method of entertainment for Alicia and me tonight. I have no clue.
6:50 p.m. - After listening to Francesca whine for two hours, I am ready to go home. OK, I think I know how boring it is in Franklin. The people who complain on my voice mail that there is nothing to do out here have a point.
John and I go back to his house for a minute to switch cars and then we head to Norfolk. The smell of the approaching city (ahem, gas fumes) clears away my fresh-air headache and makes me glad I'm a city girl.
6:50 p.m. - I'm on my way out of town. Sa-weet. We don't know what we're going to do in Norfolk, but it can't be worse than watching Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood committing adultery and old people crying about it.
8 p.m. - When Harbor Park comes into sight I truly want to kiss the sidewalk. Oh, I love Norfolk.
It has been a difficult decision about where to take John first, but since we're hungry, I choose Doumar's, the nifty-'50s style diner in downtown Norfolk. By 9 p.m., we're at West End Cafe having a cup of joe and talking. I didn't give him quite the grand tour of my city because that would take days (hee hee). I wonder what he thinks of Norfolk.
8 p.m. - I've been to Norfolk hundreds of times, but I've never seen the string of coffee houses in Ghent or the curb service at Doumar's. The '50s motif at Doumar's adds a touch of class that is vacant in the the fast-food chains that dominate Franklin.
Alicia pays for my dinner, but only after a virtual cash-throwing contest at our table. After cruising Norfolk, we go to a little coffee house and over a cup of hazelnut and a cup of house blend, talk about this freakin' article.
10:30 p.m. - We somehow end up at my house and sit around for 20 minutes until John has to mosey on back to Franklin. And then I go to bed. Somehow doing nothing can make you way tired.
And so ends our tale of the triumph and tragedy of finding something to do when there is nothing to do. An important realization came to us somewhere between sheer boredom and a really good time. It is this: It's not what you do but who you're with and what you make of the situation you find yourself in that makes fun fun. MEMO: John Eischeid is a 1995 gradate of Franklin High School and Alicia Luma
is a home-schooled student in her junior year and Teenology's regular
entertainment columnist.
ILLUSTRATION: BETH BERGMAN/Staff color photo
by CNB