Tuesday, August 17, 2010

How I Spent My Summer 'Vacation'

With this being the final week before I return to Delta, I thought it was a good time to take an inventory of the past couple of months. It seems like every summer, I feel like it's a constant struggle to have a summer - you know, those 'lazy dayz' we remember from our youth of hanging out on the beach, long bike rides, falling asleep in the hammock with a good book. It's been a long time since I've felt like I've had a summer like that. All the same, I can look back and take into account a lot of activities that otherwise would not take place during the school year. Enjoyable? Not? I won't say...

What I've read this summer:
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot
Lilies of the Field by William Edmund Barrett
Jaws by Peter Benchley
Precious by Sapphire
Aesop's Fables
the new editions of my film text and my ENG090 texts (most of them, anyway - okay, enough of them for now!)

...and of course, dozens of poems and short stories in lit mags, and five hundred million e-mails.

Still working on:
The Case for God by Karen Armstrong
Native American Myths

Still plan on reading:
Star Island by Carl Hiaasen

Movies I've seen:
Inception
Salt
Fish Tank
Robin Hood
Whatever Works
The Last Station
Crazyheart

Places I went:
Oklahoma
Chicago
Racine, Wisconsin
Traverse City
Traverse City
Traverse City
Lansing
Charlevoix

Days Spent at the Beach:
1 rock hunting in Charlevoix
1 evening swim on the penninsula in TC

House Projects I finished:
Put the side porch screens up.
Painting two rooms and a hallway.
Planted flowers that I then had to water.
Cleaned my room and filed receipts for the past four months.
Cleaned the basement (not that you can tell it now).
Cleaned the garage (ditto).
Cleaned the gutters.
Cleaned the fish tank.
Packed, cleaned house, and helped move the Hills from TC to SC.

Visitors to Bay City:
Dave from Oregon
Dave from Oregon
Lindsay and Ian from Oklahoma
Brian and Ben and dog from Naperville, IL
Terry and Stacy and family with dog (RIP Muddy) from Caledonia, NY
Lisa and Emerson from New Orleans, LA
Dave from Oregon

New Additions to the Family:
Copper