Summer's End

     Move back into the dorms on Saturday. Not really looking forward to it at all. So this week will be filled with those last-second details that need to get finished.

     It was good to have a break from school, though strange at times.

      Watched a ton of movies(for me, anyway) this summer, twelve for school, and then probably another five or so new ones and then rewatching probably twenty more treasured classics. My favorites from the school-movies were a 1984 Clint Eastwood Western called Pale Rider, a 1974 detective story called Chinatown with Jack Nicholson, and of the gangster movies I guess I liked The Godfather best.
      Saw Iron Man 3 in theaters, it was amazing. Rewatched too many favorites to list; some of them were Captain America, Thor, The Fox and the Hound, Tangled, most of the Air Bud movies, the Spider-Man trilogy, Cars...  

     It was great to be able to have time to read. Most of the Mitford books, several random books on homeschooling, Agatha Christie, The Hiding Place, a history of The Andy Griffith Show, Bodie and Brock Thoene, The Great Gatsby, the Harmony series, essay collections also by Philip Gulley, Dracula, Nicholas Sparks' A Walk to Remember, G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown stories, Kevin DeYoung's Just Do Something, Lucy Maud Montgomery, a book of poems written by soldiers during World War I, Will Rogers, Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes, Job, Ecclesiastes, and a lot of those New Testament letters. Many other things partially-read or are simply not coming to mind at the moment.
     It was great, also, to be able to go to a library that actually works as a real library, that has real books. I sort of grew up in the Okmulgee library; first started going there when we moved to Morris when I was six. It would be really interesting to see a listing of all the thousands of books I've checked out over that time. Anyway, one of the librarians commented that she'd missed seeing me with the rest of the family during the school year, because I always read so much and "so many good books, too."

     People asked questions like "You going to get a summer job?" or "What did you enjoy most about the summer?" It might have been nice to be able to get a summer job, I don't know. It just wasn't possible just now; hopefully next year. I guess what I liked the best was spending time with Amy. It sounds boring, but there's that undefinable sweetness about Down's people, that joyfulness, it's good to be around. Read a lot of picture books, danced Ring Around the Rosy a million times, those kinds of things.

     Voluntarily got a haircut after school let out in spring; it was getting too long and hard to deal with. Bangs aren't supposed to drop past your nose. Also got a new pair of glasses a few weeks ago, in a completely different style of frame. And my braces are supposed to hopefully come off in October.

     I know a ton of people going everywhere on Earth, it seems, for vacations: Vancouver, New York City, Florida, Louisiana, Louisville. And a lot of mission trips in far-off places: Mexico, Haiti, San Francisco, Kenya, Turkey. That's good, hopefully they made an impact, maybe someday I'll go on one of those types of trips. But for now the only other "mission field" or whatever you want to call it, besides the house, is Missouri, working as a counselor at church camp. It was a good experience, hopefully the teaching from the sermons will leave a deep impression on the kid's minds.

     It would be kinda nice to just skip over almost the entire month of July...that wasn't fun. The ache is slowly disappearing, but it's still very much there. We did get a new kitten from the Buckmasters named Rags, she usually hangs out in my room, looking out my window or sleeping on my paws while I type.

     The reunion was good to go to, glad I got to be a part of it, see YT pals again. Kyle and Mariah's wedding went pretty well, seemed to fit their personalities. Cody just found out a few days ago that he and his wife will have a baby coming soon.

     The Hall of Fame Game between the Dolphins (in those terrible redesigned uniforms) and Cowboys kicks off in a couple hours, Caleb's REALLY excited about that, since it means the beginning of football season. I don't really care, but it's good that somebody is looking forward to it. I just can't really enjoy football anymore, it seems like. I don't know why.

     I probably should get started packing.