My vacation has come to an end.
My second week of vacation was pretty fun. Normally I plan out my days the night before, but I didn't plan a single day while I was on vacation. Which left plenty of time for leisure and semi-productive things.
Since she got me plane tickets so that I didn't have to take the train home from California, my mom asked me to help her at her school. So on Tuesday and Thursday, I classified and organized books. It was kind of weird being in an elementary school at the start of a school year--it made it seem like I could have been going to grade school again. Colleges certainly don't have as many colors as elementary schools.
One of the things I wanted to do on vacation was finish Moby Dick. I did it! I started it two years ago when I moved home for fall. It took me so long for several reasons: 1) It is a very long book, 2) I don't read very often, and 3) it's not a book that calls my name. Some people might just read an abridged version. That's all right, but I don't think Moby Dick is so much about the story. It's a full treatise on whales. There's a chapter about a whale's tail, a chapter about a whale's eye, a chapter about a whale's mouth--seriously. I wish this Melville could be as smart as that Melville. Ol' Herman was obviously very intelligent, with all he knew about whales, and all the big words he knew, and the book is packed with biblical and historical allusions. I opted not to start or bring another book because I know at this point I'll only do sporadic reading.
I also spent some time cleaning up my room. It's not clean, but it's cleaner. I haven't really cleaned much in it since I lived at home last fall, and even then I didn't do enough.
One of my goals was to finish my Rudolph blanket. Alas, I didn't finish it; I only got to work on it one night (while watching the Frozen Planet documentary series, which is excellent). But I was able to finish a St. Patrick's Day rug I've been working on for twelve years. One day in fifth grade we had a pioneer day and they showed us pioneer things, such as making candles. One thing they showed us was corking, making rope-like things to make rugs, and suddenly corking became a fifth-grade fad. I hopped in on the bandwagon and made Christmas and Valentine's Day rugs. Then I started a green, white, and orange one, but the fad died and I lost interest and it took me ten years to finish it. They're not very good rugs, and this one is the worst yet. But what else will I do with a long chain of Irish-colored yarn?
I was able to buy a new seat for my bicycle. It cost $40 for the post and $20 for the seat. It was a used seat with some scratches but the store guy said it's usually worth around $90, so I got a good deal. I'm just sad it's black instead of white like the original one. I hate thieves. I wish we could just throw thieves off of cliffs and forget about them forever. I didn't bring my bike back down; I'm going to see what the new semester is like to see if I'll have time to do biking. Provo is a very dangerous place for bikes (just read any Police Beat and you'll see what I mean), so it's not worth having a bike down here if I won't use it. (I would have used my bike more this summer if the seat hadn't been stolen! If I find the thief, he should have to pay not only for the seat but also compensation for my getting fat--I couldn't run this summer, so biking was going to be the replacement. I gained ten pounds!)
I was able to run 43 minutes this week, the longest I've run since the night I fainted. I feel like I'm back in the running game, which makes me quite pleased. It's just in time, too, since I start a jogging class this week.
Yesterday (Saturday) I went to Lagoon with my parents, since it was my dad's work's day there. I rode Rattlesnake Rapids, the Log Flume, the Sky Ride, and the Skyscraper with my parents, but I had to ride a lot of rides by myself: the white Roller Coaster, the Wild Mouse, the Spider, Wicked, Colossus, Tidal Wave, Turn of the Century, and the new Air Race. That was all we had time for. Lagoon really is inferior to Disneyland, even though it's almost as much money.
I'm back in Provo, and today I was given a new calling. I am an assistant ward clerk, which means I have my work cut out for me, getting the records of all the new people in the ward. I suppose this will be a good thing for me, since I'm so introverted.
Classes start tomorrow. I'm taking 15.5 credit hours, the most I've ever taken. I'm taking Empirical Methods in English Linguistics, Varieties of English, Genre and Substantive Editing, Environmental Biology, Jogging, and Geomorphology. I'm probably most excited about geomorphology, even if it's going to make me miss four classes on November 2. (I've never missed a college class before.)
It's hard for me to believe that we're starting to get into my favorite time of year. My second-favorite month starts on Saturday. In three weeks, I'll start getting ready for Halloween. And when it's finals week, it will be Christmastime. Christmastime! It's crazy. Leaves are already falling from their trees. This will be an entirely unique fall for me. But as I was walking home from church at 6:30 (I had to stay late because of my calling) and it was raining, it got me thinking. I'm excited for cooler weather. I'm ready for longer nights. I'm looking forward to chilly rains and snow. (But not ice.) Wow. It's really here.
(Incidentally, I accidentally published this on my other blog, so I had to copy and paste and delete it from there!)
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