It always takes me a while to come down after a hectic spell. And almost all of March & April has been hectic and is just now starting to settle...so it's taking me a while to come down.
I've been spending more time in my bed. I switched sides and suddenly am able to wake up at a decent hour. Does anyone else find that odd? Yeah. I thought so.
Today was the first official Spring/Summer Storm. "Spring/Summer" because in Michigan, apparently, we don't have real seasons. It was, after all, just earlier this month that we had snow. But today was all about the tornado watches and even a couple of warnings, sheets of rain and darkened skies. It was all sorts of whirly, twirly. Just like my brain.
When the semester nears its end, ushering in a 3 month break from homework, professors and syllabi, I get fidgity. Mental lists run through my head at lightening speed. Things to do, places to go, goals to reach. A few months ago, my brother and I discussed the end of the semester being the point in time when I would fully dedicate myself to my "plan". The plan being seriously considering a career path. Courting newspapers, putting together both a digital and hard copy portfolio, obtaining letters of reccomendation, getting professional advice. There's the move factor - the idea that I might not be able to get my foot fully in any door unless it is elsewhere...but I can't work on that part of the plan yet. I'm not ready. Too much mental baggage there.
In addition, after my grandmother returns from a trip to Israel, there's the start of our oral history/novel research project. It means spending large amounts of times with a tape recorder and plenty of tape. Getting every bit of my grandparents, aunts, uncles and mother's history on tape. Sorting through old family photos and taking notes on dates and places. It's a project I can't put off - so it will just have to fit itself in.
And there's my fun. I need more fun. This past weekend, spending most of it with Rachel and her family, going to Grand Rapids with my friends - it was real fun. The kind of fun I don't have any more. The kind of fun that needs to happen weekly. So there's that...
And there's my me time. Listening to soundtracks like "Garden State" and "Grey's Anatomy" or bands like Teagan & Sara or The Shins while I hit the gym. Getting achey and sweaty and then going home to shower - with enough energy to clean the whole house. There's my reading list...which I just started tonight:
"Radical Evolution" by Joel Garreau
"Freakonomics" by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
"It Ain't All About The Cookin'" by Paula Deen
"Personal History" by Katharine Graham
"The Worst Hard Time" by Timothy Egan
"Overcoming Life's Disappointments" by Harold S. Kushner
"Alice Waters & Chez Panisse" by Thomas McNamee
"How Doctors Think" by Jerome Groopman
And that's just the start of it...
And it's writing season... I have a six stories already on my list for Saugatuck alone...and a set waiting to be dumped on me for the South Haven area and a couple I'd like to pitch to the South Bend area.
Tonight, however, I will partake in a few beers, watch men act like men and most likely scratch themselves and dribble beer onto their dirty shirts...and then go home to study until I fall asleep in bed. Only to wake up and spend the day at my 3rd place - B&N for some more study time.
Like I said. Whirly. Twirly.
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