When I was in high school, occassionally I would skip school. I only did it on or near my birthday for the first couple of years. A couple more days during my junior year and about half a dozen days during my senior year. Usually I'd still take the bus to school, gather a couple of friends, and we'd walk to the nearby California State University, Sacramento (CSUS). CSUS is only a 15 minute walk, down a side street and across railroad tracks. Back then there was no close-campus policy so we could come back in time to take the bus home.

Like any sprawling university, CSUS has a nice student union. This three story structure had a restaurant, meeting rooms, and an arcade on the ground floor. A great deal of time was just spent playing video games with my friends, anything where you could play with two players at the same time. There was a baseball game, vertical scrolling shoot- em ups, Blasteroids, and Gauntlet. The second floor was a big study area with lots of tables and comfortable chairs. The center of the floor is open to the first floor, and a staircase connects the two floors. We'd play chess or role-playing games or other board game like Star Frontiers' Knight Hawks, Car Wars, Star Fleet Battles. Third floor was administrative so we didn't go there except to explore.

At that time, CSUS had a nice 5-story library building -- it's bigger now. We could go there to read periodicals, especially science fiction anthologies like Analog. Each floor had alcoves big enough to hold a few people, with windows overlooking the campus or parking lot. And the alcoves are not near the main stacks so you could some amount of noise. So when we needed more table space we'd commandeer an alcove and set up our board games.

We'd also take the bus and go to one of the few hobby stores in the area, where we could see what the new games were and salivate over them. And maybe even buy one -- or steal one. Didn't go to the mall much, we usually went to Tower Books which had a good comic book section, or we'd go see a movie. It was just a day to *do* stuff, especially for me since I wouldn't get out much otherwise. And I do appreciate that my friends came along since it was usually my idea.

One thing we didn't do any of was go to the mall. It never occured to us, and now I kind of miss not doing it. What we did do once or twice was bus-hopping. Sacramento can get quite hot in the summer and rather cold and wet in the winter. One of the few nice places to go and sit down and talk is a bus. Especially with bus passes, you can just go from bus to bus and travel around the area. See the sights and talk, or roleplay. Get away from the weather and cruise.

Not that I miss those times all that much. I can look back and wonder how I could ever do those things and not be bored. Certainly, cruising around on a bus or going to the arcade is not all that appealing at my age. But I also miss being able to take off from school and do random things with my friends all day. Now I'm tied to my job and the respon- sibilities tied to it. Even if I could get away, there are so many personal projects that are idling and waiting for me to get some time to do them. High school is a great time with few obligations, without life pushing you to do things. And I did enjoy that. Not that I can ever go back there. It's one of those things that you don't appreciate when you're young, since you don't know what the future has in store for you.