The 92 days of Summer: Day 0

Okay, so that's a bit confusing. Today, Sunday, June 15, is actually Day 1; since I had to attend commencement yesterday, that wasn't part of summer vacation. But I haven't done much of anything yet today, so this post is actually about yesterday. Whatever.

Commencement was pretty good. The speakers were short and generally engaging, the students were in a great and festive mood, the hall wasn't uncomfortable, and everyone had a decent time. Afterwards, a gang of faculty adjourned to the Canyons in Mountlake Terrace (woo-hoo!) where I had a swell time and a really lousy veggie burger. Otis picked me up there and we spent the late afternoon and evening in LFP with Pater.

So, that's it for school! Today the sun shone brightly on the first of 92 consecutive days of summer vacation. As I mentioned earlier that I would, I have spreadsheeted the future, and it is spelled: ERSCBUJWA! That's not one of Zatanna's magic words' it stands for:

Exercise every day.
Run, for aerobics, or
Skip rope (or both, I guess).
Cycle somewhere.
Book, as in read one.
Ukulele, as in practice it.
Juggle (either ball or clubs or both),
Write (something besides a diary-post on the blog), and
Art - as in draw something, dammit!

(I wish I could have gotten all that to spell something clever, but no such luck.)

Beside those daily goals, I have some landmarks: biking 1000 miles again (I feel really good the summers I bike a lot), read 39 books (that's three a week), see 10 movies, and see 10 live performances.

There are also some project-type goals. A partial list:

1. Fix Ruby the Scooter up.
2. Clean out the shed.
3. Clean out my closet.
4. Clean out my file cabinet.
5. Take a bunch of stuff to Value Village (see 2 & 3 above).
6. Do a shredding/bonfire purge (see 3 & 4 above).
7. Audit Otis's books and set up some (say it with me) spreadsheets for her.
8. Contact University of Stirling Centre for Textual Culture about a Ph.D. program.
9. Run a successful GURPS campaign

So, we'll see how this goes. Putting this stuff out publicly makes it feel real, but I am well aware these are merely goals and that it is the journey that matters more than the destination. It is in that spirit that I embark up my first summer vacation in thirteen years. Here's hoping that this morning's weather is a sign that we will have a summer for it this year!