It has become something of a tradition with my daughter and me to do something out-of-the-ordinary on our annual vacation. We started simply enough, years ago by traveling to Florida to see the Atlanta Braves at Spring Training. One year we got our ears pierced. Another time it was tattoos. Last year we decided to learn to surf. We got ourselves some boards and leashes and even bought a teaching video. Hey, how hard can it be? Damned hard! We paddled out to sit on our boards and await the waves that we would gloriously ride onto the beach. At first it wasn't too bad. Except that only days before I had gotten a buzz haircut and, out there on the high seas, my scalp quickly scorched. Then when we finally tried to ride a few waves, the fun really began. The wax that we had put on the boards to help our feet grip when we stood up, would grip the skin on our bellies and cause nasty friction burns. Sometimes we would ride a little ways, most times we would fall off. Sometimes the board would hit us in the head. Sometimes our heads would hit the sandy bottom. Sometimes we would drink large draughts of seawater. When the jellyfish began to school around us, we figured we'd had enough. I had no trouble sleeping that night but did feel a little worse for the wear the next day.We went back a few more times that summer, never really getting the hang of it. This summer she wants to go hang gliding. Hmmmm. How hard can that be?