Oak Ridge Civic Center

Wednesday, December 9th

There's a park and a Civic Center next to the Oak Ridge library. It's quite pretty and pleasant.

For $3.75 at the Civic Center, I got a hot shower, a swim, and a slice of home.


The Civic Center had a pool, a basketball court, a ping pong table, and pool tables. I wanted to use the pool, but I didn't have swim trunks so I hunted local area stores for modest attire.

The Walmart, K-mart, JC Penny and even the sporting goods store didn't stock any in the off season. I did see some cool graffiti in the parking lot though.

I have an idea

It's all around you, just not always easy to see

Asking an employee at Big Lots elicited a genius suggestion: try Goodwill, he said. I called the store, and sure enough, for $3.00 I could get a pair of swim shorts. Now you know where to get swimwear in winter too!

I took a swim from 7:30 to close at 8:30. I was the only one there and had the whole pool and a personal lifeguard to myself.

It's been three years since I've done laps in a pool. I had to hug the wall after each length (50 m) of the pool to catch my breath, but gradually I extended the distance between rests. I ended my swim with 2 x 200 meter crawls and felt good.

The gym was still open until 10 pm, so after my swim I changed clothes and shot some baskets. I made my goal of sinking ten three-pointers, then I packed it in.

It felt nice to swim and shoot hoops. Reminded me of my time in university, when I'd play on the courts all evening, and afterwards I would go to the Victoria's seafood restaurant in Allston, MA on my way home off-campus.

I would buy a $7 take-out meal that the owner would choose for me, because I'd been there so many times and had tried everything on the menu that I didn't know what to pick. I'd eat the boxed meal while walking home under the streetlamps, and when no one was around I'd sing to the night.