first grad student summer

I heard rumors.  People said, "take a real vacation before you start grad school, because you'll never have a summer again."  I took the counsel too lightly.  "I'll be fine," I assured them [myself] confidently, "I know how to avoid burn-out."  And the moment I realized that I had survived my first year of graduate school (by who knows what means), summer plans erupted.

I was going to go camping/hiking/state-hopping every weekend!!!  I was going to have energy during the summer -- oh yes.

Turns out, I've been working a lot of 10-12hr days 5-6 days a week, barely making an appearance at some wedding events and taking a whopping 2 days off with H.K. to enjoy nature, lakeside, and isolate ourselves (for the most part) from our work.

Proof!

Almost none of my "summer plans" have come to fruition.  I haven't visited loved ones in Colorado, I haven't yet been far enough north to see one of the greatest people on earth, and my shot at seeing my family this summer weighs on their being able to come down here.  Also, no camping has been achieved.  Much to accomplish before late September...

When people said "you'll never had a real vacation again"...  I suppose I didn't understand that that meant "you'll hardly ever have a free weekend again".  Semantics.

But as long as other people can forgive me, it's okay.  Because I love the small peppering of time I have with H.K., I love my new porch garden, I love being able to work through my large stack of leisure reading, and I love drowning in science.