words that won't run through your fingers

it has been over a month since i've written in a way that wasn't a poem or a puzzle; i thought we'd celebrate the morning with a glorious throwback to the traditional blogs of yesteryear... ones with names, events, cold, hard spoonfuls of facts with explanations that have definite bounds. So, to all you diehards out there, this one's for you.

Despite those charming June moments when I found myself cripplingly torn and uncertain, this has easily been my best summer in memory. I cannot recall a longer period of general contentedness or a time in my life when i was more excited about waking up in the morning. This is an extra welcome phenomenon after the emotional whirlwind that was last year (more on that in a subsequent blog, perhaps... no, it has very little to do with anything you might be thinking it does). So, God, if you're out there, please kindly accept my "fuck yes!"

School and work- two areas that are often a source of stress and general suckage- have gone down surprisingly smooth this summer. Although I am getting tired of the frequentness and monotony that Statistics has to offer, I do find the subject matter refreshingly fascinating and sensible. Something clicks in my head about viewing the world as a series of possibilities, and the fact that these possibilities can be so easily misinterpreted or manipulated if not viewed through the proper equation... well, that just makes my little "probably-should-have-been-an-English-major" heart sing. As for work, I can't begin to describe how pleasant it is to have a job you don't dread going to every morning. Work has been getting increasingly hectic as deadlines approach, coworkers go missing, and foreign voices blur and rage, but I love working with the people I work with, I love seeing the consequences of my efforts amount to more than a slice of pizza, and I am fulfilled in knowing I have helped a student 3,000 miles away to get an education and have the best American experience possible.

But it is my summer social life that's giving the Gods something to talk about. While tragically, I have had to miss out on a lot of amazing Boonville friends and suffer that terrible void of having no Molly or Steve til mid August, the boys and girls of summer have found 50 ways to make my heart flutter. Joanna has been the ideal roommate: considerate, clean, low-maintenance, available to talk, around to hang out often but busy and social enough herself that we don't bore each other. Emily and Maggie have been wonderfully amusing girls to get more familiar with over the summer, even if I haven't seen them in over a week!:( Jeni has reappeared in my life in living color, making sure this boyo gathers no moss. And Mal and Miguel (and Katherine, when I get to see her) have become a few of my very best friends with their immense sweetness and ungraspable randomness. This is not to mention all my ATO and Dukum friends... god, it has just all been voonderbar!

As for the dating game, it entered my summer a tempest and has dissolved into an evening at the beach. 99 awful choices and 2 or 3 right ones have momentarily lent me to a boy who is good-hearted, strong-willed, and quite complimentary to me. It would seem in a lot of the places where the lord was zigging me he zagged this guy, and the result has been a rush of 360 clarity when we are together. More simply, we mesh. Now I'm not one to wager whether or not we'll ever be more than boys of summer, but I know, in the moment, I adore sharing hands with him and finding/wanting new possibilities in his eyes. I am quite thankful to find myself blanketed in such a calming and encouraging force.

It has been a summer of red letter dates, but the kinds you mention in memoirs, not calendars. I feel this is not the appropriate forum (if there is one) to discuss most of my sunsoaked happenings in a concrete fashion, but i have no problem grocery listing the past few months.
*The week I was in Boonville after interim was dangerously close to perfect. Haley's wedding was beautiful, and honestly a tad awe-inspiring when one considered they were about to partake in the fulfilled promise of love. Plus, I got to spend a lot of time with Maggie and Johnny, two of my favorite cats, and get to know Kurtis for the first time, who is truly an outstanding young man and I'm thrilled that he will be in Kirksville this semester.
* My first date with him couldn't have gone any more flawlessly. Everyone deserves an evening where you do nothing but get to know another person and let them show you how they know the world.
*Luke's birthday party was the perfect summer escape. Too much booze + old friends= the summer magic Haley Mills was talking about.
*My Warrensburg/KC weekend with Katherine was the best weekend I've ever had. I was in constant proximity to amazing people, I got to experience the Augusten Burroughs women in Katherine's life, I saw a great musical with KC Comeaux!, saw my gal pal Sam, and took in art through my eyes and skin.

This weekend is another one for my scrapbook. Nicholas and Matt have been up, and while we haven't gone on any crazy adventures, they've been two great friends to talk about life with. We've been nakedly honest in some respects, catty Sex and the City clones at times, making new friends with pretty French girls, and swapping hilarious personal stories. Matt and I have come up with a new euphemism: "I just shredded her wheat." We've yet to decide what it means exactly, but we're certain it's sexual, a little violent, and really gross. This is to be coupled with Val's "Yeah, I'd fig your newton." Plus, tonight, we get to make dinner for Jo! Three cheers:)!

It's odd to feel like summer is already coming to a close when I still have a quality month ahead. School's almost finished. Work will be ungodly stressful as we prepare for students to arrive. But I have a Boonville weekend to look forward to next week, followed next week by Maggie's birthday party con Steven and Sam!, and then a wonderful week in Oregon where I get to see my aunt and the delicious Tony Lam. Between all this, I get to hang out with Miguel, Mal, Jo, Jeni, Emily, Maggie, and a bunch of other crazy cats.

So, in conclusion: best. summer. ever.