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Hey wow, summer is definitely over. Notre Dame is in the second week of classes already, it’s already chilly and sweatery in the mornings (seriously, midwest, why do you hate me? It is BARELY September.), and I’m well into full-on procrastination mode. So in the interests of the aforementioned procrastination–which I’m going to go ahead and call “holding myself accountable”–I’m going to go through the goals I oh-so-hopefully set for myself at the beginning of the summer and see what I’ve actually accomplished in that brief and magical period between one long, cold winter and the next.
1) Pass my German class. Yes! Goal 1 achieved! I actually did work pretty hard on this one.
2) Pass my Syriac class. Also achieved, though as there were no actual graded assignments, tests, or exam in this class, I feel slightly less accomplished here.
3) Not starve. I would say I was an over-achiever on this front.
4) Not accrue credit card debt in order not to starve (this will be accomplished by making more money! And spending less on frivolities!) Hm…yeah…pretty much sucked here.
5) Go back through my Hebrew textbook from 11th grade and relearn all the vocabulary, the paradigms, do the exercises, etc. Basically re-learn Hebrew, but for real this time. I made it through the construct chain in lesson 15, and that’s as far as I got. I think what I did was actually very very helpful–after 8 years of this I finally FOR REALS understand what the vowels do when you make a noun definite. I probably shouldn’t be admitting that, because it’s in chapters 1 through 4, but there it is. I’m still hoping to continue the reviewing at some point.
6) Go running with the dog at least 3 times a week. Ahahahaha. Nope.
7) Eat a healthier diet (this is the point at which we enter the Land of Wishful Thinking.) Sure. Beer is healthy, right?
8 ) Hang out with friends a lot while still accomplishing goals 1 through 7. Definitely hung out with friends a lot. Like, a whole lot. See note to number 7.
9) Do some creative writing. A bit…yeah, no, I’m lying. There was no creative writing. I did think/discuss/ponder/outline the project I’m working on with Luke and Mike Johnson, though.
10) Read books that are dense and intellectually fulfilling as well as fluff. Does reading half of War and Peace count? (Why do I find it so hard to get through Russian novels? I LOVE them while I am reading them, and then I put them down and never ever pick them up again. What is wrong with me?)
11) Shop at the farmer’s market more often (i.e. ever). I think 3 times counts as “more often.”
12) Read all the school-related articles and books that I wanted to read but didn’t have time to over the school year. I read one book. It took me all summer.
13) Write my Personal Statement for graduate school applications (okay, I actually DO have to do this one). But sadly, I have not, in fact, done it.
14) Research graduate schools thoroughly, impartially, and not as haphazardly as the last time around.Yeah, no. Still planning on this one, though.
15) Go to bed and wake up earlier. Okay, now I’m just embarrassed.
16) Finish the quilt. Seriously, Past Self. You’re making me look bad.
17) Blog more. ARGH. Past Self, you are never setting any more goals ever. That will teach you.
What else did I do this summer? Well, I brewed beer with Luke, drank waaay more than I probably should have, slacked off a lot, had many many long conversations, got to know the new people in the program, learned how to say “Yesterday I did not study the Syriac language, but instead I studied the German language” in Syriac, learned that German is both easier and harder than I expected, made some extravagant desserts, painted my new house, acquired a ton of new books (my dad is awesome!), read an autobiography of Thomas Merton (way less impressed than I’d hoped to be, actually), learned how to whitewater canoe somewhat, managed to keep the dog from killing herself, passed through the Canadian border by myself for the first time, watched a ton of great television (disproportionately centered around Joss Whedon), won a t-shirt at Trivia Night that says “talk nerdy to me” (shut up, it’s the awesomest thing ever), finally found a whiskey that I like (Laphroiag) and generally rested up. So all in all, not the worst summer ever. Now if you’ll excuse me, I still have two episodes left in season 3 of Buffy, and there’s some beer in the fridge, and some crepes filled with lime curd left over… Oh right. Back to work.
Things I have done so far this spring break:
1) Not run at all or exercised in other ways.
2) Baked and eaten many cookies and bread.
3) Made the most amazing bacon cheeseburgers with Luke. (Homemade rolls! Thick-sliced bacon! Gouda cheese!)
4) Discovered hamentaschen, and eaten many of them.
5) Found out that my cholesterol is a little high (whoops).
6) Read two books (class-related) and several articles!
7) Not read the other 7 on my list. I still have, like, 4 days, right?
8 ) Made 2/3 of a hat for my dad’s birthday…which was the 9th.
9) Ripped it out because it was too small and restarted it.
10) Resolved to go to bed earlier.
11) Gone to bed, in fact, much later.
12) Found out that the dog doesn’t need another surgery! So that’s a good thing.
Well, two steps forward, one step back, I guess.
Also, yesterday I found a very small (size 0-1) double pointed knitting needle in my bag. It was also somewhat shorter than a typical knitting needle. I stared at it for about 15 seconds, trying to reconstruct the circumstances in which I’d acquired this needle and wondering where I had put the rest of the set. Then I realized that it was a toothpick.
And, she returns! After a summer spent without a computer or easy internet access, I am back in the blogging world. The only constant these days is change: I have a new job–if you can count grad school as a job, which I do (even though I am not technically getting paid for it). I have a new apartment–in a new city–near my new school (Notre Dame)–in a new state (Indiana). I have a new-ish car, though that might be old news. Best of all, I have a new puppy. Her name is Clementine, she’s a tan/orange-and-white beagle, and she’s mostly wonderful and occasionally infuriating. Today, for example, she learned how to play fetch all on her own. She also climbed into my lap to snuggle when I sat on the floor. Then she peed on the carpet when I went out of the room to do laundry and bit my chin. Expect much more about her.
So what hasn’t changed? Well, I still procrastinate. I’m still messy. I’m still broke. But I’m still dating Luke!
More later–I’m hoping to become a much more regular poster than when I had a real job. Hooray for the slack life of the grad student! Now I’m off to translate a couple chapters of Esther.
Clementine.
Yes, I know the semicolon is incorrectly used. Sometimes, I feel, a semicolon is just a classy and ambiguous version of an emoticon. Also sometimes I like to pretend that if I know the rules it’s cool when I break them. Makes me feel all dangerous like Virginia Woolf.
Here’s the thing: I have been moping all evening. I’m not going to go into my reasons here–they’re not bad, but the point is, they’re not good enough. I have no excuse for moping. I have a comfortable, one might even say indulgent, lifestyle; I have dear friends and a boyfriend who defies adjectives and an offer from a great grad school. My spiritual life makes me mostly joyful and occasionally uncomfortable; I ran my first 10k last weekend; I am getting my teeth fixed; I am going to be just fine. So stop whining, Mary.
April is Poetry Month. Maybe if I’m feeling especially risk-taking I’ll share some poetry.
