Summer Ending?

I love this sense of life I experience as others express their disappointment with the ending summer.
I love how my [albeit brief] summer just started.
I love that I prefer autumn to summer.
I love that winter is my favorite season - the only downside being difficult to ride a bike/more intense upkeep.
I love that I got so much done last night. And half a bottle of wine gone.
And I am absolutely excited for eating so much good food and beer this weekend. I have tentative plans to grab food from Ali Baba then head out to Bob's Bar for a few hours. Then home to my growler of Rogue Dead Guy Ale. YEAH!

Second Summer

Summer is here! For me, at least.
Classes finished last week. I am in week 1 of 4 of summer!
And last night, I bought Aarthi birthday donuts! Because birthday donuts beat birthday shots any day.

To Do:
- Clean Room
- Fix bike
- Lots of mending, sewing, and tailoring, and all general "old lady" activities
- Drink tons of quality beer
- Watch lots of Netflix
- Eat a shitton of local food!
- READREADREAD!

I am making very good progress on these!

+ Yesterday, I completely gutted my dank basement bedroom then swept, mopped, and dusted it, the bathroom, and the kitchen. I gutted my desk, closet, shelves, and dresser. Then began putting things back together--in an organized fashion! This is the slow process, but I am almost finished.
+ I finally received the wonderful tires I had ordered for my bike. They are lovely bright blue in hue. They will go well with my recycled blue bicycle. I'm sure I will be posting photos when I'm finished. Though I will probably continue adding contrasting lime green forever, so it will never be truly finished. But I will, at the very least, upload a photo once I get the new tires on it.
+ I have so much sewing to do! I have a white elastic belt I'm working on. A couple more cloth belts to make. A dress that is almost finished. Two dress shirts and a pair of shorts to tailor. Cute tap pants to construct, so I can ride my bike without flashing everyone. A dress that has yet to be started. Ditto with a corset. A beret to crochet. A floppy-eared winter hat to crochet (or knit, if I'm feeling feisty). And a dinosaur hood (similar to this one) to crochet for Aarthi's birthday. All on top of the cross-stitching and afghan I've been working on for funsies. The verdict: I am the best at being a twenty-something old lady.
+ I love craft beer. This, combined with my love of Portland, OR, have inspired me to purchase a growler of Rogue Dead Guy Ale, on top of all of the beer I habitually splurge on. How lovely. (Though I miss Black Butte. So. Fucking. Much.)
+ I have watched tons of shit. Lots of Breaking Bad (because I am unabashedly obsessed with Bryan Cranston). A bit of series two of Skins. A documentary about Snuff films (which made me think of the Palahniuk book of the same name). And I have 2 films that I must watch before they are unavailable on Netflix InstantPlay at midnight tonight, one of which is foreign, so I have my evening cut out for me!
+ My list of local food is very long, and my progress (largely due to my limited pocketbook) very slow. But I am making progress! How a wonderful turkey burger last week. This week will yield $1 grilled cheese and Young's Double Chocolate Stout drafts on Wednesday and hopefully delicious Ethiopian food this weekend.
+ I finished Catching Fire! I feel like a squeeb reading the Hunger Games series, but I haven't been this excited about a series since the Lord of the Rings! I haven't started Mockingjay yet, though. I've been too busy reading War All The Time, because apparently I believe Bukowski is best read while in that vulnerably, foggy state between consciousness and unconsciousness. And my friend just returned Middlesex to me, so I should probably finish that before I start anything else. Next on my list are The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Damned. (If you're also a book geek, look me up on Goodreads).

Summer has been great, and it is just starting. I can't wait. I am so excited to sew and watch and read and eat and drink. This is truly great.

Also, I am currently obsessing over musical artist St. Vincent. Annie Clark is an angel.
Here's her new video:

St. Vincent - "Cruel"

Hey guess what! THINGS DON'T SUCK RIGHT NOW!

My summer is FINALLY beginning! Well, ignoring the GRE I'm retaking next week. But I'm not worried. I've done most of the studying anyway.

I've been doing really well lately. Summer classes were/are nice and chill, and I greatly prefer doing everything in 5 weeks instead of 10. I would absolutely die if I took classes on a semester schedule. I'm kicking ass in all of my classes, which is good because spring quarter was pretty fucking awful, grade-wise.

My Ishy moved in at uni last night. I wasn't able to be there with her, but we've been texting. Her roommate is baller, and she really likes her digs. She starts classes next week. And so will begin her 3 + 2 program in Occupational Therapy. In the Honors college. With a decent scholarship. I am so proud of her.

I have done all my assignments for the last week of class, so all I have to do is pretty much go to class for the next week. So I have TONS of free time. I ordered a new sewing machine, so I'm hoping I get that today. I have a bunch of patterns and fabric ready to go! I had started a new dress from scratch a couple months ago, but my machine broke, so I couldn't finish it. SOON! :D

I've been doing well mentally, too. It's really nice. Starting up some intense therapy. It'll be yet another thing in my schedule, but it'll definitely be worth it. I'm ready.

I've finalized both of my majors as well as both of my minors. And after this next round of honors contract revisions, I will be sending in my application to graduate. March 2012. Hell. Fucking. Yes.

Anyway, that's about it. [I can't believe I've never done this] But if any of you however few readers have any questions about my life or anything, feel free to ask it in a comment. :)

Playlist Poetry

Take me anywhere, I don't care, I don't care, I don't care
Give me one good reason not to do it--(Because I love you)
You once talked to me about love, and you painted pictures of a Never Never Land
I would say 'I love you', but saying it out loud is hard, so I won't say it at all
You are the life I needed all along
There are things we can't recall, blind as night that finds us all
A baby sleeps in all our bones, so scared to be alone
In the morning when you finally go and the nurse runs in with her head hung low, and the cardinal hits the window
In the morning, in the winter shade, on the first of March, on the holiday, I thought I saw you breathing
The most important thing about you standing in my doorway is that it's you, and that you're standing in the doorway
And you smile as you ease the gun from my hand, and I'm frozen with joy right where I stand
There used to be a tree where we took our pretty things
I'm afraid to forget you; I am remembering you: You were spakling
Does his hand in your hair feel a lot like a thing you believe in?
In the morning I'll be with you, but it'll be a different kind
I wish that without me your heart would break,
I wish that without me you'd be spending the rest of your nights awake
Haven't laughed this hard in a long time; I'd better stop now before I start crying
If I leave before you, darling, don't you waste me in the ground
Let the poets cry themselves to sleep, and all their tearful words would turn back into steam
You're the yellow bird that I've been waiting for
But with this long last rush of air, let's speak our vows in starry whisper
I'd give my body to be back again, in the rest of the room
Some had crawled their way into your heart to rend your ventricles apart
A burned out world you know, staying up all night.

[the music]