I have been productive, though! In other, more roundabout ways. Here comes the list: I'm up to 31 books read this summer, I've become addicted to Civilization V (but I have not played the newest expansion), I've been practicing cooking from my grandma's recipes (chicken adobo and spaghetti sauce!), I've been experimenting with painting my nails and doing makeup (it's the only reason I use Pinterest), and working on getting my semester together (which includes orientations, meetings with teachers, and setting up my tutoring jobs). See? I think I haven't completely lazed my summer away.
A great present appeared in my email one day as well. I won an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of a book called Just One Year by Gayle Forman, but I didn't think I would like it right away. It came from Penguin's FirstToRead website where I entered in several lotteries to get free ARCs. Now, it's a contemporary romance novel that follows a college-age guy for a year after he meets a girl in England, and it's also the second book in the set. I got a copy of Just One Day, which is the first book that follows the girl in the story for a year. Though it's not my normal genre, I gave this series a chance and was not disappointed. THERE WAS SHAKESPEARE IN IT! OHMYGAWD, the incorporation of his plays in the books really tied everything together and made me love the story even more. I can't say enough good things about these books and I wish I could somehow use them in my future teachings. Pairing them with Shakespeare would be easy, I think. Anyway, y'all gotta read them because it's the best love story I've ever read. I think Just One Year comes out in October, so I suggest waiting to read the first one because it will be very hard to wait for the next one!
And here's a brief overview of my upcoming semester with generalized times:
- M-F 8 am - 12 pm: Practicum in a middle school classroom where I'll be involved in two English classes, two Writing classes, and a prep period
- M-Th 12:30 pm - 3:45 pm: Classes plus a 4:30 pm -7 pm class on Wednesdays that's 45 minutes away and an 8-week Monday night class
- M-F at random times and perhaps until 6 pm: Tutoring elementary and high school students
- M and Sa 4:30 pm - 9 pm: My job at Tad's, though I have to change the Monday night one, now.
And for the last part of this post, I wanted to put up some proof that I have been writing during this time, just not that much. So just for fun, a couple of drabbles I came up with. Peace.
Metal walls reflected multi-colored lights that flashed around the bar, highlighting the dancing figures. At first glance, the party was energetic and intense, but if I fixated on one dancer through the strobe, I could see their moves were jerky and tired. Space stations on the fringe collected the weary and jaded, but mostly the dregs of society. Breathing deeply, I took in the familiar burning metal smell of space, twisted with sweat and alcohol as I looked around, scanning the crowd for my next attack. My eyes lingered on another pirate, his ship full of life-sustaining nutribars to steal.
Ash lined the ground as I wove between the sparse trees, my quick footsteps kicking up small vortexes as I traveled. The perpetually weak sunlight allowed me to see the dreary landscape in varying shades of gray. Patrols never came out this far, so I cared little about silence as I sped toward my destination. I wanted to see it once more, make sure I had reason to hope again. Stumbling into the clearing, I knelt down to touch the emerald grass before looking into the crystal-clear waterfall. Emerging from the mists, the dragon lifted his head nonchalantly-- magic reincarnated.
