yesterday, i missed snow. today all i can think about is sun and trampolines and all the campfires this summer will bring. sleeping in tents, fireflies, playgrounds. i want to make a playlist for every day. i want to drive to erie in may and camp on the beach again.

no progress on essays today. turned in my big essay for my education class yesterday. i meant to write my paper for film analysis last night, but i was pretty burnt out and needed a break. so now i have 18 pages to write by 5:00 tomorrow. probably won't start till some ridiculous hour tonight.

i still keep forgetting that i'll be home in two days. it's going to be so amazing to be back. there's so much i want to do.

bought donuts and orange juice today. study materials. wish me luck.

i took a walk this evening. for about two hours. up hills (i pretended i was climbing mountains). then i sat on a bench in schenley and watched some clouds roll in. i hope the rain will start soon. stopped on my way home and bought a cup of frozen yogurt with blackberries. now i may have a dance party to myself.

cat sneezes are definitely one of the most adorable things ever. topher always looks so surprised after he sneezes.

5 days and i will be out of this apartment for good, back to ligonier for the summer. i think i'll hike out to wolf rocks during my first week back. i'm so excited to start hiking again.

but now, more writing. i have 6 more pages out of my 12 page essay to write by monday. then by wednesday, another 12-page plus an 8-page. then freedom.

today, i accidentally took the wrong bag at panera, and ended up with a free giant cookie in addition to a bagel.

i've been listening to vampire weekend a lot, hosting random solo dance parties, much to the confusion of my cat. saturday was a wine, spaghetti & cookies party with good friends. we bought toy story & puppy temporary tattoos. buzz lightyear is still living strong on my shoulder.

tomorrow, starting to move things home. mom is coming in to fill the car up with books, clothes, my space heater. it's almost over. a month of hiking to look forward to, and then work, the sun, roller coasters.

today i feel like i could do anything. i'm making playlists of songs that put me in a crazy, productive, summer, sun mood, and cleaning every room in my apartment till it's spotless. i'm going to start packing... next week is my last week of classes, and then i can get out of this city.

my apartment smells like fresh cut grass from someone doing yard work near the building, and the wind is picking up. a cold front is moving in. today started with sun and heat and is ending with wind, cold, a storm, and hail. i can't wait.

i made a tumblr: orbatid.tumblr.com.

i need more coffee. and more paper towels and windex.

yesterday, i was out photographing tulips, and an ice storm started. i walked home with coffee and bob dylan playing in my head.

i'm just waiting for summer.

I've been changing my life around, again. My plans to go to grad school and become a high school English teacher have been tossed. Which means that for my senior year, I have a total of three required courses left to take. So my schedule for the fall looks a little something like this amazing badass thing:

I'd be jealous if I weren't me. I'm really not excited about Statistics, or even really about The Modernist Tradition (my last historical period class for my English major), but everything else should be awesome. 

Now, I'm looking forward to joining Americorps for two years after I graduate, hopefully working in one of their environmental programs on the west coast. And after that, I'm moving to Portland with my best friend, and we're going to open a snack bar. We're going to serve mac & cheese, and a whole menu of different kinds of peanut butter and jelly, and we're going to have artists put their work for sale on the walls, and we'll take road trips and hiking trips whenever we can. The idea of this move has me more excited than I've been in a long time, which is what I really need right now. I was an idiot to think I had finally settled on a career and decided I'd stay in Pennsylvania - I'm a restless person, I'll probably never have a career, and I've always wanted to go west but never had someone to do it with me.

I'm focusing on different things, now that I can stop worrying about education and teaching. I'm going to take a lot of environmental classes next year, and in the spring I'm going to take Rock Climbing and Skiing, since Pitt is awesome enough to have both.

All of this came at the perfect time, because I became so sick of this city that all I could think about was how much I wanted to drop out of school and just be done with it. I didn't think I could stand being here for another year, but now that I have a future ahead of me that I'm excited about, it won't be as hard. Now all that I have to do is tell my parents about all of this... which should be lots of fun.

More later, but here's a start.

1. Hike the Appalachian Trail.
2. Move west.
3. Climb a mountain.
4. Work on a farm.
5. Learn how to use a chainsaw.
6. Read every published Tolkien book.
7. Grow an apple tree.
8. Ride a motorcycle.
9. Shoot a gun.
10. Learn how to juggle.
11. Write a book.
12. See the Northern Lights.
13. Live on a boat.
14. Ride in a hot air balloon.
15. Learn how to play the piano.
16. Get my bee tattoo.
17. Work for Americorps.
18. Learn to play the guitar.
19. Ski as fast as my dad.
20. Work at a diner.
21. Try out for roller derby.
22. Make a quilt.
23. Grow a garden.
24. Stop cutting my hair short and dying it.
25. Do as much traveling as I can afford.
26. See the Grand Canyon.
27. Work for a circus.
28. Learn how to ice skate.
29. Go to a Pearl Jam concert.
30. Learn rock climbing.

Hello. It's been a while. Since I'm venturing back to school soonish, I thought I'd do some looking-back. Especially since this has been a fairly stellar summer, in comparison to others.

This summer, I finished my first triathlon. And I didn't come in last place. It was actually fun - a word I wasn't expecting to use for the experience - and I can't wait to do another one.

I was a manager at Idlewild for my first summer. And I think that went really, really well. I hired all my friends, and we had an amazing time together - Monday nights became our regularly scheduled time to do things (oh hi, today is Monday.) We also went our first summer in a long time being relatively drama-free. And that's always nice.

I became closer to some of my friends than I ever have been, and I am so grateful to have them in my life. I really don't know what I would do if I didn't know them. I've laughed more this summer than I have in a very long time, I think, and that is thanks to those people.

I also made some amazing new friends. Some people let us down this summer, but others are people I definitely want in my life for a long time.

I (recently) discovered the beautiful voice of Zee Avi, who has quickly become one of my favorite musicians.

For the first time, I'm actually dreading the end of working at Idlewild and the beginning of school. I'm always counting down the days till I can stop working and move to Pittsburgh, but now I'm only looking forward to coming home on weekends to work Hallowboo.

All of this is about as sappy as I get. But this summer was fantastic, and I really needed to get that down.

 I find so much pleasure every day from seeing the school bus drive past my house.

Yesterday was spent laying in bed, eating ice cream, listening to the rain and a lecture on Buddhism. I've made it a goal for the past two days to be lazy and relax, and have succeeded with gold stars. I've been doing nothing but watching movies and episodes of Lost. Mom and I ordered Chinese food for dinner yesterday.

Today and tomorrow are busy days. I already stopped at Idlewild today to unlock a door for my boss. In half an hour, Christina will be coming over and we're going to meet our whole work crew for a picnic day at Linn Run (why do we always go on picnics on rainy days?). Then tomorrow I'm going to Linn Run again, this time with Valerie - the weather is looking very nice for tomorrow, so hopefully I can get a bit of a tan on my feet before my Idlewild sock tan starts to come in. After Linn Run, I'm going to the movies with Tracey - I can't even remember the last time I saw her, so I'm really excited about that. And after the movies we're going to the bar, and I'm getting my drink on! (wow I did not just say that) And I'm going to follow these two days of wonderful activity with two more days of work.

Work has been exhausting, but I love it. I'm ridiculously organized and have almost everything under control - surprised? I kind of am. I also hired most of my friends, so I can to work with people I love all day, which is lovely.

My hair is turning red again. I found wonderful new music. I love summer more than ever.

So, I changed my schedule. Again. Because I'm awesome.

I'm quite pleased with it. Three English classes, two of which already have reading lists posted, and they are... daunting. But it shall be fun. I'm particularly excited about the Victorian Novel class, because a guest professor from the University of California is teaching it, and he sounds wonderful. Just reading his course descriptions, it seems like he's going to be a great professor.

Today I already ran, and right now I'm working on schedules and calendars and such for work, which starts Thursday (!!!!holycowwtf?!@O). Tomorrow is training, which should be pretty short, and then I might go into Greensburg to continue the search for the perfect polo shirt. My work-related "to do" list is becoming longer and longer with every minute that goes by, so I need to get some of that done today. First on the list: Call Mark. Which is what I'll be doing right now.