before the end of summer

Thank you, high school freshman English.

As summer draws to a close (looking back at my recent posts, this is a theme), I'm starting to think about what exactly the fall semester is going to bring. First, I'll have the First Year Leader business to deal with. [Note: That previous sentence is an understatement.] On the Monday before class starts, I'm supposed to have lab supervisor training. Class starts on Tuesday, and work starts on Wednesday. My schedule is one of the scariest things I've seen in a long time. (I'll address the other scariest thing I've seen in a long time momentarily.) Three days a week, my work/school day starts at 8:00 am and ends at 3:20 pm, and that includes one one-hour break. One day it starts at 9:30 am and ends at 3:20 pm. Another day starts at 9:30 am and ends at 8:30 pm. I do have a break that day from 12:15-5:30, but it is possibly going to be reduced by a tutoring job. I'm not exactly complaining. Afterall, I am the one who made this schedule, but I'm beginning to feel threatened by this disease that has taken over my mind and convinced me that I need to take on as much responsibility as possible.

The spending of money is getting ready to kick into overdrive. I owe this to two things specifically. One, lovely, lovely textbooks. I had forgotten about them in the midst of the terror that is my second, much larger problem and also the other scariest thing I've seen in a long time: my computer. The "lid" and frame around my screen is a big mangled mess. You know in the robot movies when one of them gets damaged and all the inner-workings that are supposed to be concealed by the protective and relatively attractive outside are exposed and dangling? That is what my computer reminds me of right now. The ol' Compaq is running comparatively well at the moment, but just yesterday it was only cracked. The rate of damage has risen expontentially, and I'm anticipating a fatal malfunction at any time. I have saved pictures and documents to a CD-R, begun the new computer search, and hoped for the best.

With all that stress and destruction having been addressed, I'd like to continue onto the real entry I was planning on composing. However, I feel that particular subject needs its very own entry. And I need to be doing some non-blog related things, so I'll do it later.

Coming soon: A hopefully more creative title for an entry about all the things I have learned during this seemingly insignificant yet profound summer.

back to school nostalgia

I am at home. I've had a good time thus far. Thursday night was Jeri's in Clay, of course. Last night, Mom, Dad, and I hit the town for a little bit. This morning, I saw Sissy and Victoria for a little while, and then today, Mom and I did the Evansville thing. It has been so long since I've done some successful shopping, but today fixed that. I got two more books. *blushy face* I finally got some decorations for my poor, barren walls, but sheesh, that stuff is expensive. I've decided that I'm going to have some of my photographs developed and framed to hang. Maybe that'll be cheaper. Know that my motive for hanging my pictures on the walls has nothing to do with pride in my work; it's the fear of blank white walls and the lack of funds. Anyway, I did get a few decorative items including a clock and the much needed doormat (obviously not a wall-hanging). I also got a cute shirt and a pair of jeans. Oh, I found some good one-subject notebooks at Target for 39 cents a piece, so I stocked up. There is the extent of my school shopping.

I love school shopping even though the traditional sense of it kind of ends when you get to college. You just pick up in a notebook where you left off, and you don't buy new tennis shoes and underwear for the big debut. And I've always loved the first day of school. I know. I'm weird, but I'm used to it. But I do love it. And I got excited when I popped over the hill on Thursday and saw that WebCo had already started back. I wasn't prepared for it. There is such a buzz of excitement that surrounds the first day of school. And it's so weird that even though school is starting earlier and earlier every year, the weather still conforms. It doesn't matter that July hasn't been over three seconds, that first day of school morning has to be foggy. On the way home from Evansville this evening, I saw a cloud of fog hovering over a cornfield. To me, that is nostalgia.

Well, I'm kind of distracted, and I know that anything I say will be worthless.

the real summer

Today marked the end of summer course numero dos. It is hard to believe that I have already finished two courses, a total of ten weeks, and summer is almost over. But it seems like it is just beginning for me. Kind of. There are officially twenty days until school starts. There are two weeks until I will report for duty as First Year Leader. That is if I ever find out if I'm actually going to be one. *sigh* I'm going to be a little frustrated if it turns out I'm not needed. Not because I want so desperately to guide unsuspecting freshmen into the wonderful collegiate world. Pssh. I want my University Bookstore discount. I don't want to find out that I'm not getting 10% off when it is too late to order textbooks from half.com. Maybe I should go ahead and do that anyway. I need to do a little math to see what would be best.

The remainder of my summer is not planned. And I think I like it that way. I'd like to do some more reading, of course. I had more time to leisurely read this five-weeks, but somehow, time slipped right on by me and I haven't read too much. At least I've read more for pleasure than I have in who-knows-how-long. Just not as much as I had hoped. But enough to rekindle my love for books. I had previously riddled my wish-list with DVDs, but I've decided that if I'm going to spend my money, I'd much rather buy books. And for the most part, they are cheaper. That is if you buy used ones, and I am by no means above buying a book with an "English Department, Indian Hills High School" stamp-mark on the top. But what I need is a bookcase. A real one. I do very much so enjoy my "CD tower" from Target. It is a lovely piece of furniture, but my book collection has generously exceeded the shelf's capacity. That is a good feeling.

So what else will I do with these fleeting summer days? Well, I'm going home at some point tomorrow. I'll stop at my sister's and help her with a yard sale, and then I'll be on my way. I plan on staying there several days. (That means John gets to go on a trip. Every time I mention coming home, Mom never fails to remind me that I'm bringing the fish, too. I don't believe I'm going to forget him.) I don't know what I'll do while I'm there. Probably not much. I'm pretty sure my church is having a youth revival of some sort, so I'll more than likely go to that. I keep hearing about the new youth minister and that I would really like him and his wife (or is it fiancee?), but I haven't met them yet. So this looks like an opportunity for that as well. Mom keeps trying to schedule me a dentist appointment for Monday. (Aren't I too old for my mom to be making appointments? If so, I don't really have a problem with it.) But if I do get in, what a delightful addition to my time at home. I should be back here by Monday or Tuesday, if not only because I know that will be enough time there before I claw my eyes out. Upon returning, I guess I need to read Rocket Boys for the FYL gig (because Ken will care), and I know I keeping saying this but I have to revisit my Spanish book. The last thing I'm going to need this semester is starting 201 already behind.

Alright, well, I'm going to enjoy an evening free from the burden of homework, studying, and projects. There is one joy in not having something due the next day. There is another joy in not having a class at all that will require anything of you for an extended period of time.

to bring out the best

"So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."

Romans 12:1-2, The Message

hello, august

I've decided a couple things over the past couple days.

1. I am isolated. I hardly see anyone down here during the summer. I don't mind being by myself, but for such long periods of time in the summer ghost-town of Murray, meaningful human contact is rare. I don't like that so much. Maybe if I had've been able to acquire a job, it wouldn't have been so bad, but it seems my summers are never right no matter how I spend them.
2. I need a vacation. Something different. It's not that I feel like I've worked so much, so I need relaxing getaway. A change of scenery and a change of schedule would be much appreciated.
3. I complain too much. (See bullets 1 and 2.) I really don't have anything to complain about. I've been doing enough this summer to keep me from being bored and not too much to make me feel like I haven't had a summer at all. But I have been going to class for two months and I'm restless.

Wednesday is my last day of class. I'm very excited. It is hard to explain, but it is almost like summer classes put more of a strain on things. Like during the school year, you have a full schedule of classes and other school-related things to attend to, and that is the normal, accepted way of life. But during the summer, it's as if you can have your three-month holiday as long as you show up for class every day. Kind of like getting a full night's sleep but waking up every five minutes. You still get close to eight hours of sleep, but it's constantly being interrupted. I don't know. See bullet 3.