Summa Summa Summatime

Hello.  I’ve missed you.  Like, a lot.  Only for some reason I didn’t realize it until it hit me hard in the face this morning.  And then I had to go to four hours of class.  Figures.  But because of my lack of writing over the summer, I decided that I should definitely do an extensive recap, in the same vein as this, but totally way better.  I’m trying to type fast here, which is hard on a practically empty stomach, plus I’ve got this funky Batman ring on, which is all sorts of awkward, but also all sorts of awesome, but I want to finish this soon because I feel like I owe this to…somebody.  Maybe myself.  So let’s talk about this summer, in depth and in detail:

This summer was so so SO different from last summer.  It was not the best summer of my life, and while I was in it, I didn’t appreciate it at all, but now, looking back, it was pretty fucking golden.  This summer started with tears in the arms of my (now ex-) roommate over having to leave so much of what I had loved and grown comfortable with.  The beginning of summer brought an end to something else; it brought an end to my “rescue year”.  The people and places I encountered through the year saved me time and time again, and leaving them behind was so scary because I knew that when I returned in the fall, everything would be different, would have changed.  And change is very hard for me.  So this summer was a little scary.  This summer I readjusted to being in Dayton, to working there instead of here, to being with those friends more often than BG friends.  This summer I didn’t have a freakin’ CAR for the first month-ish of being home, so I felt isolated and bored and frustrated alot.  My dad took me to and from work, so this summer was kind of like being 14, only I didn’t work when I was 14, so maybe not.  Anyways, this summer there was a Florida family vacation for my oldest sister’s wedding, which was understated and perfect and made me believe in true love and all that icky stuff.  This summer was waves and sand and dinners out and lots and lots of family time in the evenings.  This summer was Coldstone, Coldstone, Coldstone day in, day out, working with some people I knew and loved from last summer and some new people whom I now know and love, too.  There were regulars, Virgil the ice cream machine, a broken freezer door, and in general alot of fun that consisted of the last memories I may ever make there.  This summer was also pretty fattening.  This summer was a drunken late-night walk up ghetto Main Street in search of food; instead we found goth kids and prostitutes.  Not a bad trade-off.  This summer two of my very best friends in the whole wide world left for month long trips to Spain and Cameroon, and I felt stranded without them.  I threw myself into working as much as possible because there was not a whole lot else to do.  This summer I spent so much time with Martha, trying to make up for the fact that we won’t see each other a whole lot this year.  I think the people working at the local cheap movie theater started to recognize our faces this summer because of the sheer amount of nights we went to see crap like Obsessed and 17 Again.  Yes, I paid money to see both of those films.  We all know how I feel about Beyonce, people!  And Zac Efron…well, that was a sacrifice I made for Martha’s sake.  This summer I got Lost in Austen, and MY GOD it was horribly wonderful, and I highly suggest it.  This summer saw the return of the trip to Indian Lake for Martha’s yearly family reunion, which oh my GOD, I have missed.  Her family is HUGE and doesn’t mind when I get drunk on whiskey, and her cousins and uncles all do their best to charm me.  It always works.  This summer was a spectacular camping trip involving sangria and apple pie, as well as dirtbikes and whole flaming tree branches.  I like a mix of classy and hillbilly, sometimes.  I saw this band in concert this summer, only to be severely disappointed when their lead singer acted like a total dick, insulting other bands and actually criticizing the way Columbus was laid out, like when was the last time you worked professionally as a city planner, dude?  Shut your trap.  I spent alot of time this summer lonely for school and school people, which meant I traveled back and forth to Springboro alot to visit my future/now current roommate, after, oh yeah, I GOT A FREAKING CAR!!!  That might have been the highlight of my summer.  That or the time I threw up in an East Side Wendy’s parking lot.  Oh yes.  Highlights galore.  This summer was Gossip Girl, Dorm Life, and Mad Men at the very end, so this summer was super dramatic and award-winning.  Because I was so lonely for BG, this summer I also took a trip up here to see some of the people I missed the most.  The trip involved me touching snakes and lizards, standing by while a train sped past my face, eating dinner with a motley crew of friends and friends of friends, and having the exact same conversation with a drunken co-worker while he was well and truly plastered and then sober the next morning.  This summer was baseball, like every other summer, which is not bad, but cozy.  The Cold War Kids and My Morning Jacket came into my life this summer, so as far as music goes, this summer was pretty damn satisfactory.  You would probably be surprised how many times I carted drunk friends to Waffle House this summer.  Once, the cops were called, and the giant, imposing chef bellowed at people to get out.  They listened.  With good reason, trust and believe.  This summer I almost skipped the best barbeque of my life.  Thank God Martha is so persuasive, otherwise I wouldn’t have the memory of waking up (miraculouslyalone in my own bed at home, to an alarm someone had had the good sense to set for me) still drunk in purple frog pajama shorts on backwards with puncture wounds in both my arms.  No, it wasn’t heroin.  It was almost as trashy, though.  Sigh.  Can that be the motto of my summer?  Or, better yet, my life?  “No, it wasn’t heroin.  It was almost as trashy, though.”  That’s the life of every Daytonian.  This summer…wasn’t all that bad.  I’m glad to be back where I am, but part of me now misses it a little.  This summer, I was spoiled, working at an easy job, making decent money, driving around in a new-to-me car, seeing the people I love as much as possible, while still having PLENTY of me time.  So in the end, this summer was pretty OK.

Hang In There!

Oh my gosh, I’m attempting to work furiously on getting a couple new updates posted here, since it’s been, ohhhhhhhh a solid 3 months since the last time I bothered to write shit.  And I don’t even know why, because this summer I was completely listless the majoity of the time, but more on that later.  Just bear with me; I’m writing in the cracks of time I have free from class and work and homework and my life up here, but new things are coming soon, and hopefully with much more regularity than they did last spring and summer.  Fingers crossed.

Man I Gotta Get Out Of This Town

When I was home for Spring Break at the beginning of the month, I went through my notebooks and folders from last semester, and found a piece of writing I’d done in my Social Psych class back in October.  I remember the exact day I wrote it; it was the day I was going home for Fall Break, and I was in the most boring class I’ve ever had, at 4:30 in the afternoon.  I couldn’t sit still for the life of me because I was so excited to go home; it had been a while since I’d seen people in Dayton.  So instead of listening to lecture, I wrote this, and then just walked out of class.

5 Places I Would Rather Be Right Now

• Sunday morning, 1996, Grandma’s house, sitting down to bacon and eggs with her and Lydia and Whitney
• Home, now, lounging in the green chair, chili cooking, football on TV
• May 2008, Brooklyn Bridge, with the beer and the wind and the lights
• In bed, under covers, in soft afternoon light, Ben Lee singing in my ear
• Whenever, wherever, driving my old, wrecked Honda, windows down, music up

And then, after I found it, I stuck it in the folder I use for my Shakespeare class now and forgot about it.  Until St. Patty’s day, sitting in class listening to a boring presentation, when I took it out, reread it, and added to it:

• About 15 hours less than a year ago today, drunk off my ass with my best friends, in the room of two trashy boys
• January of my senior year, driving home from work with a song in my head and the biggest crush
• August, my sister’s, with beach hair and a book
• Springtime at OLOM, 2002 or so, outside in the early morning cool, on the bike racks waiting for the bell to ring
• 4 hours from now, taking a walk around campus with coffee and my iPod

I think this might become a thing I do.

Things I have Done In Lieu of Writing My Literary Theory Midterm:

• Chatted with China
• Gotten a latte
• Listened to Wilco’s “Shot in the Arm” on repeat
• Done several Sudokus
• Gone to work
• Ignored my alarm telling me to wake up and get started
• Used the word “lieu” for maybe the first time in my life

Things I Plan On Doing In Lieu of Writing My Literary Theory Midterm:

• Paint my nails a whorish pink
• Make some beef stew, maybe?
• Stick things under my neighbor Hannah’s door
• Man, that’s basically it

It’s Skyline Tiiiiiiiime

I realize that since I came back to school, I’ve sort of been neglecting any actual writing here in favor of short, 5-ish line posts, and I am sorry about that Roast Beef, but honestly I really do have at least four pieces also being neglected in my “Drafts” folder, plus about seventeen other ideas floating around in my head.  I realize that I keep making these promises to write longer posts about the deep thoughts and feelings I have about my life as a sophomore (and beyond!) and I continue to fail at coming through, but I really really really am going to give it the old college try.  Any day now.  Honestly.

That being said, let’s continue the tradition of bare bones posting, shall we?  Yesterday I found myself alone in my room with two people who had never heard of Skyline Chili.  This moment served to remind me of just how big the world really is, which I tend to forget sometimes becuase I live in Ohio, where it sometimes seems like everyone knows everyone else’s aunt, or old schoolteacher, or  brother’s best friend’s ex-girlfriend.

July…What?

So, I really didn’t realize it had been nearly a month since I updated last.  My total bad, internet!  Because you missed me so much.  Anyway, this month I have been practicing some expert procrastination, which includes neglecting this sight to indulge in all of my slightest whims, like buying season 2 of Psych on DVD, sleeping til noon, and attempting to read four books at once.  I also got an email from my future roommate that I have yet to respond to.  This was a couple of weeks ago.  Seriously, I’m such a rude asshole, I’m sure she doesn’t want to live with me.  However, maybe if bitch would accept my Facebook friend request, I would email her BACK.  Speaking of email, you know what phrase I really have no tolerance for?  “Shoot me an email”.  It just makes me visualize some bizarro world where people message each other via some giant, nationwide air hockey type table, which now that I think about it sounds vaguely awesome.  Damn it!  But then again, it also brings to mind thirtysomethings in suits who “network” and have business lunches and people who call your people and use those irritating little Bluetooths. 

Ok, so clearly my mind is locked into summer mode and just wanders at will every now and then.  Sorry.  Anyways, I honestly have been thinking an awful lot about posting here and I have about a million ideas that I want to write about, including lengthy pieces about New York and last year, both of which I have in draft form, as well as the best characters I encountered freshman year of college, which will hopefully become a yearly installment.  Not to mention all the meaningless lists I make every day, which I know are just the highlight of everyone’s lives.  But for now, we can just talk about how I saw The Hold Steady on Letterman last night, and when I heard it announced I simultaneously choked on my Gatorade and tripped on my own feet running to the TV because I am a graceful and desirable young lady.  But damn, Craig Finn was just so entirely adorkable  and awesome that I decided I desperately need to own more than just Seperation Sunday and will probably end up blowing the money I earn working at the Air Show this weekend on their other three CD’s, since apparently Gem City Records has no available copies of Charm School and the CD has gone out of print.  Have I mentioned that it’s been a great summer for my still developing musical taste?  I almost can’t wait for the two-hour drives back and forth to BG this year….