Summer. (N). [suhm-er]. The period of finest development, perfection, or beauty previous to any decline.

School will soon arrive. I'm looking forward to returning to those hallowed halls for some bizarre reason. And most people would use the perfectly legit, yet cliche reason that they only want to see their friends regularly to explain this feeling, yet I have another opinion on this matter. I miss learning. And I never really thought I would say that, or at least not any time soon. I miss that wonderful feeling you get when you finally understand and accomplish something new in a class. I miss not only scholastic knowledge I gain, but also the simple, seemingly pointless, but somehow I end up using them the next day, facts from my various teachers. And I miss hearing about the life experiences of those older than I, and learning from them.

However the learning did not fully come to a halt in the summer. I did attempt to teach myself a bit of French, rather unsuccessfully. But still, I tried. Also I had my brain tested weekly when I would be, unsuspectingly, spoken to in some complex form of Spanish. And I would have to form an adequate response to prove that I had, in fact, not forgotten what a "truly helpful" skill it is to be bilingual.

Also this summer, I improved wonderfully on the guitar. I can see my progress. It's quite marvelous.

I had a number of firsts this summer.
First "Good" Coffee.
First time I ever dyed my hair blue, or dyed my hair at all for that matter.
First time I ever ran to the top of Firetower.
First outdoor concert.
First time I drove.
First time I got flooded with all those lovely college brochures.
First ribbon fries.
First time going into the pit of people at a concert.
First Chinese Fire Drill.
First kidnapping.
First time I went more than 2 weeks without carbonation.
First time I had to say goodbye to a good friend... because college took them away.
First late night run to the park.
First late night tour of someone's backyard.
First time I drove a stick shift.
First time I went to a bunch of new restaurants. Examples: Huey's, Panera Bread, and Bahama Breeze.
First time I went to the same museum 3 times... in one summer.
First time I whole-heartedly walked into a closed glass door.
First time I hugged anyone for more than like a few seconds... for no real reason.
First time I biked in a long time.
First tree-climbing experience.
First horror movie.
First time for this many firsts.

It was just about the best summer ever. Only thing that could've made it better is if I weren't living in this oppressive oven.

"Your voice was the soundtrack of my summer. Do you know you're unlike any other? You'll always be my thunder, and I said your eyes are the brightest of all the colors. I don't wanna ever love another. You'll always be my thunder. So bring on the rain and bring on the thunder."
-Boys Like Girls :)