In the past it happened that moose hunting season and school opened in the same week. The School Board didn’t realize that a hunting family kid might want to skip school the first few days and go hunting with Ma and Pa on opening day.

This year, Fish and Game has messed up the plan and made Sept. 1 opening day of moose hunting season. Holy Alces alces! That’s 12 days away, including school days where a young hunter will have to sit at a desk when she or he could be off glassing the Boxcars for big bulls. Not even the most sympathetic parent will write an excuse for being absent a week or more. Child, you’ve got some learning to do. Suck it up.

That’s pretty much the biggest life lesson you’ll learn, future taxpayers of America. Is your English teacher a big meany who made you read “Silas Marner?” Suck it up. Did you get to class late and wind up sitting a whole row away from that cute girl with the pink hair? Suck it up. Did you fail algebra by one quiz and have to repeat it? Suck it up.

Life doesn’t always go our way. If it did, we’d call it heaven and entire religions would lose a cornerstone of their theology. If you think about it, if life did go your way, it might not go the way of someone else. It’s always another tide someplace else, and if your kayak sits pretty in the bay, somewhere else a kayak is stranded high on the beach. Your tide will come.

Moose season will come. School will end. The weekend will come, too, and there will be lots to do, like these Best Bets: 

BEST BIG BUILDING BET: You won’t have to fold your elbows in for this month’s Homer Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center After Hours event. AK Marketplace in the big building on Ocean Drive is the host of the mixer at 5 p.m. today. Meet the people who run the eclectic store, with all kinds of cool art, crafts and collectibles. 

BEST PRETTY DARN FAIR BET: If you run into a little traffic jam in Ninilchik this weekend, no, you’re not flashing back to SalmonFest. That would be the Kenai Peninsula Fair, back again at the fairgrounds. The fair opens Friday and continues Saturday and Sunday. If you’re a graying elder, hey, bonus — Sunday day is Senior Day, with discounts. Get all the details with our story on page 3.

BEST GRANDFATHER KNOWS BET: The Koyukon people call the raven “Old Grandfather,” a nod to the raven’s wisdom. Raven knows that another cool musical festival happens this weekend, Ravenfest, starting at 11 a.m. Friday and Saturday at Raven House Bed & Breakfast near Whiskey Gulch. Head north on the highway and look for the signs. For more information, see page 10.

BEST HE’S A HOOT BET: Pato Banton got his nickname for the sound a Jamaican owl makes. The international reggae superstar plays at 10 p.m. today at The Alibi and then at 8:30 p.m. Friday at RavenFest. See story, page 10.

BEST HUP-HUP BET: If you see some tough people carrying rucks and hiking on the Homer Spit on Saturday morning, give ’em a cheer — or join them yourself. A new veterans group, Alaskan Warrior Class, sponsors Stop 22 on 22 Ruck March, an event to raise awareness of suicide among veterans. The march with 20- to 40-pound packs starts at 0900 Saturday at the Spit Trail parking lot at Kachemak Drive and the Homer Spit Road. Stop 22 on 22 refers to a VA figure that 22 veterans a day take their lives.