"UPON US ALL A LITTLE RAIN MUST FALL"

...but this is getting ridiculous. When will all this rain stop to finally reveal some sunshine? I am a sun worshipper, in that if the sun is out in summer, I am never out of my bathing suit or inside my apartment, but this weather is really interfering with my main summer plan - going to the beach.

One of the many other summer initiatives is to get back in shape. Every year I feel like I get so caught up doing other things that the first activity to go by the wayside is working out. Part of the reason is that my couch seems so much more inviting than some machine designed to make me feel like I can't breathe. The other reason is that the effect of exercise isn't immediate. I go through week spurts of being pro-fitness, but I get bored easily, so my current goal is to ignore the boredom and just force myself to do something other than lounge. Man, I'm making this image of myself as a total sloth - that is not entirely true.

Lately, I've been going on runs and long walks, and today, I even went to the little gym. Luckily, the barking man wasn't there... more on that some other time, but it's another reason I decidedly stopped going to the gym. Just when I was ready to give up today, tired of staring at the only thing that gym allows me to stare back at due to its clown-like mirrors, suddenly the song of inspiration appeared from the shuffle setting on my i-pod: "Boogie on, Reggae Woman." I don't know why that song provided what I needed to finish out those last fifteen minutes (although it is a GREAT song), but somehow it did, and I left smiling. VERY unusual for me. If it isn't for the scenery or for some random song that inspires me to keep going, I think I would have stopped after the first day. This is a picture I took yesterday from my walk - I liked the contradiction of steel and natural beauty here.

Well, it's the second week, and I am still seemingly going strong. Let's hope this keeps up. For now, it's time to get back to the couch :)

"SUMMER BREEZE"

As a teacher, I really think I look forward to summer vacation more than most of the kids. Think about this: there are four quarters in the year, where I gave at least two papers that went through the revision process in each of my four classes. Add about 1-3 portfolios per year, plus the shorter writing assignments. Don’t forget about the number of students in each class - 17, 26, 27, 25. I think you can imagine why I’ve been counting down to summer break since April.

It is day one of my summer vacation, which is always a little bit intimidating for me. I have so much I want to do, but at the same time, I want to enjoy doing nothing for this brief moment in time as well. It’s a very weird paradox, and I am never quite sure how to balance it. I’m still trying to figure out how to plan the perfect day one after its un-perfect start...

I had a grand plan of sleeping in this morning after quite a fun afternoon and evening the day before, with my waking up to something other than my blaringly obnoxious alarm clock for the first time in as long as I can remember. Instead, the clamor of construction, mixed with the ridiculously loud mariachas of Spanish music filtered through the air shaft at 7 a.m. There has been construction directly underneath my apartment for the past three months, and they’ve been breaking all the rules of normal decency (don’t even get me started about how they were here banging around until 11 last night, keeping in time with my pounding headache). My entire apartment complex continually complains to our leasing agent, but to no avail. I had no idea it took this long to make a tiny bank in a strip that already houses five banks...

Either way, after a few hours of lounging, it’s time to start my day with something active. Hope your day is pleasant, even if you may not have a summer break!