The Friday Challenge - 7/02/10

This Week in THE FRIDAY CHALLENGE

---

Bruce Bethke discusses sweltering weather, gardening, what he's been reading, is going to read next, and has no intention of ever reading. Join the discussion...

Henry Vogel delves into the whys and wherefores of fandom, ending with an explanation for why we tend to feel at home here at the Friday Challenge. Join the discussion...

Ultimate Geek Fu takes on Roger Ebert's claim that video games will never be art. The very next day, Ebert retracted his claim. Coincidence? Join the discussion...

Also, Fitz of Distraction explores the difficult relationship between a writer and an editor and why most of us wish we had such problems, Sean and Avery take the win in the 6/18/10 Friday Challenge, "Meet My Strange Family" and the inmates discuss the view from their respective locations in the asylum. All this and more, this week in THE FRIDAY CHALLENGE.


"Folk Tales of the Electronic Frontier"

---

First, let's take a look at the 6/25/10 lesser Friday Challenge, "Folk Tales of the Electronic Frontier," we have the following six entries:

M, "True Story"

Miko, "Car Theft: There's An App For That!"

Waterboy, "Jedi Flashlight"

Letherwing, "My son-in-law checked! This one is TRUE!"

Arvid, "Surfer Saved by Shark, Rides Bite to Shore" (also found at drop.io)

Arvid, "The Missing Man"

If we've missed any entries, or if anyone has snowdogged in an entry after the deadline, please let us know so we can fix this list. As always, even if you haven't posted an entry this week—even if you never enter in any week—you are invited to read, comment on, and vote for your favorites. Don't be shy about leaving feedback on the writer's sites, either. Writers thrive on knowing that somewhere out there, someone is actually reading the words that they have written. The winner will be announced Sunday evening.

"July 4, 2050"

---

And now for the entries in the current greater challenge, "July 4, 2050." We've got three of them. They are:

Triton (first timer!), "July 4, 2050"

Miko, "Beyond Columbia"

The Bandit, "America's Backbone"

If we've missed any entries, or if anyone has snowdogged in an entry after the deadline, please let us know so we can fix this list. As always, even if you haven't posted an entry this week—even if you never enter in any week—you are invited to read, comment on, and vote for your favorites. Don't be shy about leaving feedback on the writer's sites, either. Writers thrive on knowing that somewhere out there, someone is actually reading the words that they have written. The winner will be announced Sunday evening (probably).

And now for our next Friday Challenge:

"Road Trip!"

---

On October 17, 1981, Audrey and I were married. I had recently returned to college and Audrey had a job in the office of my family doctor. They had given her a couple of days off the following week, allowing us to take a short honeymoon. It being the middle of October, we figured there wouldn't be a big press for hotel rooms. In other words, we didn't make reservations at a hotel. Our plan was to head to the relatively nearby mountains of George to the small town of Helen, find a hotel, and enjoy ourselves. For those unfamiliar with Helen, GA, it bills itself as an Alpine village in the U.S. and does well on the tourist business; especially during Octoberfest and leaf season (when the leaves change color in the fall). We remembered Octoberfest and knew it would be over before our wedding. We forgot that all those leaf people who couldn't get rooms during Octoberfest would come later -- like on the two weekends following Octoberfest. One of which was our weekend. To make a long story short, we left the church around 4:00 PM, spent a couple of hours driving to Helen and then spent several more hours driving around Helen and the surrounding area trying to find a hotel room. We couldn't find one. We drove back out to the interstate, intending on staying at a hotel well away from Helen. A guy with a van full of kids walked in the door 10 seconds ahead of me and took the last rooms. Our plans for a brief honeymoon ended with us dragging back to our apartment in Clemson at 11:30 at night and spending our wedding night at home.

The challenge is to tell the story of a road trip. You can tell about the time the children wouldn't stop screaming or your little brother or sister wouldn't stop touching you. You can tell about the time you got drunk at the beginning of the road trip and your compassionate friends decided to protect you from the eventual hangover by keeping you drunk through out the entire trip (this actually happened to the sister of an old girlfriend). You can tell about the time your hyperdrive went out halfway to the Horse Head Nebula and you had to make the rest of the trip using impulse engines. Tell about anything you want, as long as it's about the trip and not what you did at the end of the trip.

As always, we're playing by the loosely enforced and rarely updated Official Rules of THE FRIDAY CHALLENGE, and playing for whatever is behind Door #3. The deadline for this one is midnight Central time, Thursday, July 8.