Years: One down, three more to go

Wow. My freshman year is over. I’m a sophomore now. How on earth did that happen?

I don’t believe I have any poignant observations to make about this year’s passing that didn’t come spilling out in my last entry. Suffice it to say, it came and went more quickly than I would have thought possible—and my surroundings have changed so dramatically from two weeks ago that I’m having a hard time calling up the details of my life for the last nine months. It was a relief to see a couple of girls from my class at a small social gathering last week; their presence reassured me that this whole thing hasn’t been a bizarrely-detailed dream.

As I observed at the end of last school year, summer always sneaks up on me and then rushes by before I’ve had a chance to properly enjoy it. But at least, as I head into this summer, I already feel like it is practically over; this either means that I’m finally becoming more realistic, or that summers are getting even shorter. I guess we’ll see. ;)

Part of my increasingly fatal practicality is the realization that summer ‘to-do’ lists rarely get ‘to-done’. But because I would hate to let that long-time optimist living inside of me die for good (that was sarcasm), I’m going to make one anyway. Here, to keep me accountable (and to give you an idea of what I’m up to if I’m not posting here) are some of my goals for the summer:

  • Once again, I need to make some money. Quite a bit of money, actually; I want to cover as much of next year’s rent as I can before the school year starts. My primary source of income will still be my anonymous retail location, but I have several photography jobs lined up as well.
  • As a corollary to that, I would like to develop my photography business further. I have already taken steps towards this—especially to improve my post-processing capabilities. More on this later. (Maybe.)
  • We all know what very important book is coming out on July 21st, right? RIGHT? My goal is to read all six Harry Potter books in a row before the seventh and final book is released.
  • As loathe as I am to contemplate schoolwork at the moment, I suppose I ought to practice my Greek a little bit—I’d hate to lose my whole first year over the summer.
  • I want—no, I am going to build a bookcase. After expressing my desire to buy an unfinished bookcase and paint it up for my room at Gutenberg next year, Dad suggested that I just build one. That sounded pretty exciting, so with my Dad’s help, I’m going to do just that this summer. I’ll keep you posted on its progress.
  • If you ask me, Lylium.org could use a little freshening up. It’s been almost a year since I unveiled the current design, and although I love it, feel that a nip here and a tuck there could help me set the site’s design perfectly in alignment with its evolving purpose and style. Wish me luck on that.
  • Oh, and… I should probably finish moving into my Parents’ house before it’s time to move out again. (My mom just almost had a heart attack when she read that—my boxes of crap are currently lining all of our tiny houses’ hallways—just kidding, Mom! I’ll be done in a few days! :D )

So. There are some of my possibly-underwhelming-but-quite-a-relief-from-the-school-year plans for the summer. What about you? Are you doing anything exciting this summer? Let’s hear about it. :)

133 Comments so far

  1. joel wrote:

    hey erin julian,

    i got my o.w.l. report card and i recieved mostly a’s with a few o’s; i did not do particularily well in potions however, nor in transfig…oh…actually, i have got my report card, and read about 2000 pages of harry potter in the last week. luckily i now have a month break–otherwise i don’t think i could handle a seventh book.

    california is hot. i get to go see hamlet preformed this week. and i miss school already, even though i’m thoroughly glad to be done.

    have a summer!

  2. Erin Julian wrote:

    Hey Joel H,

    Sounds like you’ve overdosed on H.P. a bit there. I think it’s good you have a month-long break too. :D It’s also good you’ll have a nice long break between the seventh book and school starting; otherwise you might be confused by the fact that Gutenberg’s president is actually the same person as Hogwarts’ headmaster. ;-)

    I concur entirely with your sentiments towards school. I will be glad to start again in the fall, but right now it is quite a relief to not have any tests hanging over my head. (I do miss everyone, though. I kind of feel like a large part of my life has gone missing or changed since school ended.)

    Good to hear from you; have fun doing what you’re doing. :)

  3. teal wrote:

    sigh
    way to go Erin!
    I’m sooooo proud of you! you’re a sophomore now. whee!!!
    =)!!

  4. Philip wrote:

    i like how the first line of the last paragraph lays-out.

  5. Erin Julian wrote:

    Philip - Thanks. I don’t, but what can you do. :-p

  6. philip wrote:

    spaces come to mind… ;-)

  7. Vivian wrote:

    Whew, your summer sounds heavenly compared to mine. I don’t know what got into me, but I’ve undertaken the task of teaching myself TWO classes over the summer. Though they are only high school sophomore levels (undoubtedly nowhere as insanely difficult as your college courses), it’s still mighty tough.

    Congrats on finishing your first year! I think that you can save your layout makeover for last; I like it just the way it is.