Summer Days

Got through finals week and now I'm home and the summer begins! Hopefully, I'll be blogging more regularly now that I have more time. I'm a planner kind of person, so here's my list of summer goals:

1) Reading list! I went to the library today and checked out CYBELE'S SECRET (Juliet Marillier) and DEVILISH (Maureen Johnson) on my booklist. Now, I can legitimately stalk Maureen's blog without feeling like a creeper, because I'll actually have read her stuff. For my "unknown" book, I picked up MIDNIGHT BLUE (Pauline Fisk). Checked out FOLLOW THE BLUE (Brigid Lowry) for a reread. I'm trying to make sure each time I go, I come back with at least two different genres for some variety. 

Conveniently, I have THE RED PYRAMID (Rick Riordan) at home. You see, he is the only author, and I mean the only author, that my brother and I both like. My brother doesn't even like Harry Potter. And luckily, this time, he texted me and told me he bought it. We have learned our lesson, folks. We have two copies of THE LAST OLYMPIAN because we didn't coordinate last time. Rick Riordan, we are bringing you serious business, my brother and I.

2) I have a for-credit internship at my local history museum, doing research on American cemetaries and cemetary walks (I know this sounds really morbid, but I think cemetaries have a lot of cool history). Also, possibly working in the archives. This will give me a good leg-up when I have to continue doing research junior and senior year for my major.

3) LSAAAAAT.* It's that time of my life. I bought the Powerscore Bibles today and I'm planning on studying in the mornings (so it doesn't get in the way of the rest of my life). I'm trying to be as positive about this as possible. The end goal is a Tier 1 law school. My GPA is pretty kickin' so if I can get a good test score, I'll be good to go.

4) Write. I barely had time to write this semester at all, mainly because I had to spend a majority of my afternoons and nights at the newspaper. I really want to get back in the swing of things, maybe start a new novel if I can, and if I can't, well - writing a page a day seems like a decent goal to get the juices flowing. The most important thing is that I just remember to write, so it becomes a habit again.

5) HEADS YOU WIN! and THE CONCISE GUIDE TO COPY-EDITING (Paul LaRocque). Also, AP STYLEBOOK. As copy chief, I want to improve my headline-writing and my familiarity with AP style. I think it's important for me to set a good example to the copy-editors, so therefore, it's time to brush up my own skills. Especially since I'm at a disadvantage not being a journalism major and have little exposure with AP style in class. So lots of newspaper reading and perusing the AP stylebook in my free time. It's dorky, whatever. But you should know that I'm a super competitive person; when I have a task or a job or anything, I like to be the best. 

6) Do more exercise. I am super lazy and unfit. I get away with it because I am a petite Asian and since I'm not epicly obese, everybody thinks I'm healthy. It's a total lie, though. I eat whatever and whenever I want. I'm going to take advantage of the summer and start an exercise regimen because I never exercise at school.

I'm also planning on going to Chicago several times, because luckily for me, my college friends pretty much all live there. And before you ask, YES THERE ARE OTHER CITIES IN ILLINOIS. On my high school band trip, we went to San Antonio, Texas, and one of the ranchers on the dude ranch asked, "So...do you have to go to Chicago to buy your groceries every week? It's two hours away." 

And this coming from someone who lived on a ranch in the middle of nowhere. We do, in fact, have businesses and living places larger than a village outside of the Chicagoland area, thanks.

Long post. Summer plans, anyone?

PS I googled "summer midwest" for a picture, and I got a bunch of photos of people holding up fish. *facepalm*

*Meant to be said out loud in the tone that is a mixture between bone-crunching pain and my-house-just-burned-down-because-the-poptart-in-my-toaster-set-it-on-fire despair. 

**Totally unrelated: My mom told me last night that she was worried because we don't have earthquake insurance. I told her we don't live on any fault lines. "But there are a lot of earthquakes in the world right now!" Mom, you have a Ph.D in statistics, HOW DOES YOUR BRAIN WORK SOMETIMES? *more facepalm*