Summer: A (tentative) schedule

Summer is here. School is finally and thankfully over. I got good grades, chopped a few years off my life not sleeping and sweating cliches. It was a rough semester, but a good one. I'm ready for a change.

Elle invited me down to her parents in CT for a long weekend. I was psyched on getting out of the city, being done with the semester, hanging out with Elle and seeing her home town, etc. We left Thursday afternoon from Grand Central. It was my first time their, strangely. It is really quite a beautiful place, though I think the clock should be bigger. I had a strange feeling sitting there watching people walk by, scuttling to and from obligations, that I didn't have the faintest clue what made any of these people feel joy. As a writer, someone interested or obligated to understand others inner-feelings, this is an issue. But sitting there, watching these stiff, cold people file past each other, I felt very alone. This is not the point of the story, though. The last thought is one that requires more than a quick blog post to dive in to.

Elle, her mom, and I got in to CT around 5ish and drove to where she grew up, stopping to meet her dad on the way for a steak dinner at Chute Gate.

Their home is truly beautiful, in the way only authentic New England homes can be. Crisp edges and trims, effortless landscaping, surrounded by lush green grass and foliage.

We were there to hang out with her BFF's Cara and Meg. Meg has been in Australia for a while finishing teaching school and living with her well-traveled BF, Brett, who is a class act. We basically layed low, went to Meg's BBQ at her nascar-watching family's, pillaged Salvation Army and Goodwill, and were treated like royalty by her mom and dad. It was a good weekend.

Elle, her mom, and I got back this morning and went to our respective jobs for the day. I came home and moved Nolan into our apt., and gave him a pretty fantastic haircut. Him and I ate pizza and are about to head over to Reggie's for his going-away-for-the-summer-to-teach-Shakespeare-to-children party.

Thursday, Elle and I head to Nova Scotia to take part in the Nanney-Caldwell wedding. We're staying on the Bay of Fundy for two evenings, then in the LaHave Islands for two, then somewhere else, possibly Lunenberg?, the last night. It is going to be quite a good time, staying in bed and breakfasts and enjoying the company of good friends in a new place. I'm pretty psyched, and couldn't be more excited about it being Elle and I's first real trip together!


Having just finished school, just finished all academic requirements for the next three months, I have set myself a goal to read a shit-ton. Shit-ton.

In the last 5 days I read:
Consider the Lobster
Oblivion, both by David Foster Wallace
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
The Name of The World by Denis Johnson

So, I am planning a 3-month binge, reading with the following books:
in no order:
Infinite Jest (again)
The Corrections
White Noise
Invisible Man (again)
Rabbit, Run
Rabbit, Redux
Rabbit is Rich
Rabbit at Rest
American Pastoral
(maybe) Against the Day
The Girl With Curious Hair

I'll keep you updated.