Running for the Hills

Greetings, my faithful reader (I say reader, because I'm sure at this point there is only one of you. I know who you are. Oh, I know...


Alright, so the first weekend of May has come. Today, thankfully, the Pittsburgh Penguins eliminated the New York Rangers from the Stanley Cup Playoffs, leaving the world safe again, for now. This means we only have two rounds left. Typically, the raising of the Stanley Cup is the true kick start to summer for me. Especially the last two years, where the cup was hoisted just as the ol' teaching year came to a close.

The other important aspect of the first weekend of May -in regards to Summer kick-off- is the first summer blockbuster event movie of the season. This year, it's Marvel's Iron Man - after being denied access on Friday night through massive sell outs, and not mustering the excitement to get to a theater for early openings on Thursday night, I finally caught a late Saturday night movie. This is a big change from last year, where even though I had to teach at 7:20 in the morning on the following day, I was at the midnight screening of Spider-Man 3 that opening Thursday night. Of course, at this point last year, I needed such distractions, and for some reason, be it I knew I had to be even more on my game, I always found days I taught after being out late the night before some of my best days of teaching. It was kind of like I tried even harder to kick ass because I knew how it easy would have been to find a janitor closet and pass out. Spiderman 3 also turned out to be a painful disappointment, not worth the lack of sleep.

But not this year. Not in this town.

I failed at seeing the movie Friday night at this place called the Grove, which is like an uber upscale yuppie center of an outdoor mall. From the outside it looks like a fortress of stone, but inside, it looks like main street of Disney Land meets the Cheesecake Factory (which in fact they have there) It has high end stores, restaurants, and a parking structure that's as much as an event as any of the locales on the inside. Actually, if you know the new portion of the Smithaven Mall in Lake Grove, it's like that, only fancier and more extravagant. One day Smithhaven Mall, one day you'll have your ultimate victory.
However, when your movie is sold out all night, you're not hungry, and have little money, it's kind of like hell.

But, like I said before, I did finally see it. And I loved it. And with all the big geek-event movies on the way this summer, it feels like it's just the start of these kind of crazed opening weekends.

So this week my classes finally close out - ( I say finally, but really, this semester flew by, seeing that it also included that transition phase of moving here, I figure I'll be adjusted in about 16 more months.)

So it would seem summer is almost really hear for me. What am I going to do with myself?
1) Make some money - this is critical - there isn't much free things to do here, gas prices are making me cry.
2) Take a class or two - this is something I'm currently planning to do, this will take care of at least 6 weeks of my summer, and hopefully be beneficial down the line.
3) Get an internship - we'll see how this works out - I mean, money making is my center concern, so giving my time away for free probably won't bode well, but it seems to be the only way to eventually get a job, so if I can find one that'll take me for a day or two a week, I should be able to make it work.
4) Write. I probably have that there every summer, but seriously,the next few years I'm giving myself the time (or the excuse -there's never time) to write.
5) Ehrm?

So, basically, I don't know what else to do with my summer. I mean I should be thrilled to spend a summer in So. Cal, go to beaches of something, but I'm not. I just don't know what I want to do for fun and excitement. I know some people are coming to visit on various weekends... but I can't expect people to come to town to entertain me. So instead I'm putting the pressure on you, the reader, to give me suggestions of what I should do to keep myself from going insane of the next couple of months. What are things you think I should do, see, go to, take on... etc.

My life is in your hands, so don't mess up!