Summertime

As of last week I'm officially done school for another year, so that's pretty exciting. I haven't actually found a summer job yet, so I've got some free time on my hands at least for the next little while.

So far I've been using the time mostly to read and clean. One of my first priorities the day after my last exam was to go to the library (beaten only by sleeping in, and finally seeing The Hunger Games), so I have a good stack of books that I'm working my way through. My ultimate goal is to read books off of my to-read list faster than I can add more to it, but I never seem to be able to maintain that pace long enough to put a significant dent in it.

As for cleaning, I got hit by the spring cleaning bug a few weeks back and was actually antsy to be cleaning things all the way through exams. I'm about 90% finished with my room now, so after I finish up the last few touches tomorrow I can move on to the rest of the house. Freshly cleaned things just make me so happy, having basically my whole room be clean all at the same time is so refreshing and wonderful.

I also went home over the weekend to visit my parents. It was nice to see them, and to get out of the city for a little while. Also my dad showed me how to do my taxes, which is one of those things that I've sort of always had on the list in my head of things that will make me "a real grown up." But it was actually pretty straightforward, and I don't really feel any more grown up than I did before.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to summer. I have a lot of things I want to do this summer, although I always do at the beginning of summer, and I never seem to get them all done. But I want to get back on a regular exercise schedule, experiment with cooking new things, read a lot of books, do some writing, finish knitting a sweater I've been working on for four and a half years, start learning a new language (maybe Spanish?) through LiveMocha, get caught up on learning computer programming through Code Year, and maybe start a small garden in planters on my deck. And, you know, hang out with friends, go to the beach, eat lots of ice cream, and all the other normal summer activities. I don't know whether I'll actually be able to fit all that in, but hopefully I can at least do some of it.