Well I went on maybe the best, most relaxing holiday to Gran Canaria two weeks ago, where it was sunny and comfortable the whole time, and everything was cheap, and it was a whole lot of smiles and lazing about and then getting up and doing something fun.  When we came back, the two weeks of previous rain had still not let up, and aside from a brief window of what I may call “sun” and you may call “cloud cover” today, it still has not stopped.  It has literally been raining for a month straight.  I can’t even comprehend blue skies anymore.

Promptly upon returning from my trip, I needed to begin studying for the literary theory exam, which I took today and am sure I passed.

So if you have been waiting these past few weeks for something more substantial, I’m afraid that’s about it.

I could possibly imply that there was a dramatic exchange with my parents, having accumulated for months, over their apparent inability to express good will towards me.  Not that they felt ill will towards me, but life went topsy-turvy and suddenly Bizarro Ma & Pa could not muster a single “good luck” from under all that “you’re poor” and “do you seriously not have a job yet” and “what the hell are you doing over there anyway.”  There were some lengthy emails being sent, some sobby phone calls being made, and some big fat sorries on both sides, but that too is now resolved (at least until they realize again that I still don’t have a job).

Summer is usually marked by school letting out, or the café job, or moving back home, or, you know, HEAT, but none of that is here.  I feel I could easily just drift through the next few months the way I passed through the last few–waiting for the next day, eating horrible food, lazing about while I type type type, planning my day around huge events like shaving my legs–but I’ve become pretty frigging amazing at making my summers times of progress, times when I get little things done that add up and up.  So even though I already have one? two? lists already going that I don’t plan on analyzing until the start of next year, I’m going to add another, more immediate one to the fray.

• Enjoy reading again. Because I kind of hate it right now.  BC makes me read about five books per week, which keeps me in the habit, whereas Trinity practically discourages reading as something those UCD kids would do.  I was all excited to go to the bookstore before holidays, and then I got there and went, “…I don’t want ANYTHING.”  I ended up getting this cat book, which I could have read in about 4th grade.  I’m attempting to get through John Grisham, but I find him too boring a writer.  I don’t want anything too heavy, I’d like to have some laughs and some excitement.  Quite honestly, I wish I’d brought Harry Potter here, but I didn’t so I’ll just have to make due with reading some other stuff.  Stuff like,
  * The Complete Novels, Flann O’Brien
  * The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri
  * The Lost World, Michael Chrichton
  * Any other suggestions?
• Make significant headway on my thesis. This will require reading Flann O’Brien first.
• Walk for an extended period of time everyday. I walk so much more than I used to because that’s how you get around in Dublin, but now that class is over and most days I have no reason to leave my flat, I just don’t.  The weather doesn’t help, but I need to get out more, and as cranky as I get when I hear the suggestion, I know it.
• Make as many weekend getaways as possible. They are my favorite parts of the week, just the two of us, and I want to see at least one more country before leaving.
• Organize my computer. Files, folders, favorites, passwords, pictures, buddy list.  Defrag, declutter.  Also, if I can manage it, take off the back and clean out all the dust and dog hair so that my fan stops trying to fly us to space.
• Write something new. The old story just isn’t going to make it, I think.  I want to write something, maybe something short, that I can be proud of, which moves me and others.
• Go for a swim with some frequency. Aqua jogging is good for my knees.  And I think I still get to use the Trinity pool over summer.
• Do stomach crunches before bed. Seriously, I don’t care how many skinny comments I get, ya’ll do not know the sort of gut I’m sporting these days.  I eat frozen pizza with alarming regularity.
• Learn to cook more meals. My man likes a woman in the kitchen.  Unless it’s his kitchen because I’m probably going to break or burn something.  Any good meal-for-two ideas?

Maybe that’s all I need for right now.  Maybe I’ll update it again at some point.  After all, the only thing that’s really on my immediate to-do list is

• NAP.