"Hmmm... yousa point is well seen." Or, hence the meh.

[The "lost" episode from when blogger went down.]

Blogging becomes less debate relevant starting at this time of year. There isn’t a tournament every week, so the gossip is light, and there’s not much to say about the remaining finals (which, I know, allows you to breathe a sigh of relief, because the last thing the VCA wants is another multiple-part rant like the one about TOC). I only track the debate camps from afar, since I don’t participate in any of them. I won’t be personally concerned about much of anything debatish until the Sept-Oct topic is released in mid-August, at which point whatever Sailors are left standing will pop over to the chez for a hour or so of gossip followed by five minutes of topic analysis. Such is the Way of the Sailor.

But the lack of active debate to write about doesn’t deter me all that much. There’s a big world out there. During the summer I do things I don’t do during the winter. I go to the movies, for instance. I roam Manhattan. I plan DiDeAds. I have plenty to keep me busy.

Speaking of the DiDeAd, the next trip is the DisAd 13. O’C keeps finding himself losing his concentration, drifting off into reveries of why he should go to WDW now! This very instant! He misses it and he wants to experience it again.

I maintain that that is wrong thinking, unless you live next door to the joint and have an annual pass. The wise traveler does not go to the same place every year, no matter how much the same place is liked. There are other places out there, and the wise traveler would like them too. I consider this the travel dilemma, the choice between the known and safe and the unknown and risky. I mean, if you’ve been somewhere and loved it and want to go back, you’ll probably love it again and, as a result, safely invest your travel dollars. Going somewhere new risks those travel dollars. But nevertheless it opens the opportunity to find a new place to love. Let’s face it. Unless you start considering travel to Abbottabad or somewhere else with less than state-of-the-art EconoLodges, you’ll probably have a good time. Never been to Paris? London? Barcelona? Santa Fe? Oslo? Well, none of these is exactly a risky bet. Expand the old horizons, I say. Try something new. The old will always be there.

I think this is especially true of WDW. I love Disney and have written about my experience of the parks going back to when Disneyland opened. But I love not going too, because I love thinking about it and keeping up with the fan blogs and podcasts and whatnot, and then planning it when the time comes. As it is, a three-year gap for me is practically moving down to live permanently in Orlando. O’C wants desperately to see the new Star Tours, but it will still be there for the DisAd. Savoring the anticipation can be quite enjoyable. Every time you think about it, it’s great. It’s like knowing the Star Wars prequels were coming before The Phantom Menace actually opened. The Phantom Menace, anticipatory, was ecstasy. The Phantom Menace, reality, was…meh. The anticipatory ecstasy lasted for months. The reality lasted a couple of hours, followed by the enduring meh in its wake. Not that I think Star Tours will be a bust. But it’s so great in the imagination that I’m fine not threatening that imaginary version until I’m ready for the whole WDW experience.

Of course, meanwhile, I’ve got no vacation plans yet, having put aside our European trip to settle the Aged P. Once that settlement is really settled, then we’ll start thinking about it.

And see. I told you I could write about something other than debate.