Things

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As I write this now, it's a lazy, rainy day in Chicago, one of a string that we've been having recently. Ever since my MFA drama finally resolved its second act, things have been quiet. I've been sleeping a lot lately - it seems like all the stress and my allergies have wreaked some havoc, and it's been nice to have the time to just relax.

But really this is kind of the calm before the storm. The timeline for the next four months looks like this:

- Next week I turn 26. Not a huge deal, but officially puts me on the "late" side of the twenties. Adulthood! It just never stops! Wasn't I eating Count Chocula and drinking Gatorade out of a sippy cup like, last week?

- May 20 is the NATO summit here in Chicago. This is going to be big and historic, and part of me wants to go downtown and observe the protesters and try to catch a glimpse of some world leaders and just generally see what happens. The other part of me thinks that this would be a really bad idea given some of the recent security news I've been hearing about. We're far enough from downtown that it won't affect us, but it should be an interesting weekend nonetheless.

- May 24 we're heading down to Kansas City and then to Wichita for Greg's brother Andrew's wedding over Memorial Day Weekend (yes, his poor parents have two weddings to help with in four weeks).

- June 13th or so I'm going to Tennessee to do the final preparations for MY wedding. HOLY SHIT.

- June 23 I'm actually getting married. This really sunk in a couple of days ago. This day that has sort of been a hypothetical for over a year now is actually going to happen. Remember what I said about the Count Chocula and the sippy cup?

- June 30 we're going to leave for eight glorious days in Hawaii. I am so, so, so looking forward to this. We're doing the ritzy resort thing for the first half, during which I plan to lay by the pool and read and drink daiquiris and then go inside and enjoy our king sized bed and then maybe go to the beach and do nothing else. Then we're driving to the other side of the island to stay in a small inn and check out Volcanoes National Park, Mauna Kea, and some other historical sites. Lava! Sea turtles! Manta rays! Did I mention the volcanoes and the pool and the beaches and the king-sized bed?

- The first weekend of August or the last weekend of July we are going to pack shit up in a moving van, drive to Indianapolis, meet up with Greg's parents who will be driving his car, and tag-team it all the way to Raleigh, North Carolina.

- August 16 I start graduate school. Not sure exactly what I'm going to be doing yet, as I'm still waiting for the Graduate School to clear me for registration and for the English department to decide what my TAship 1st year project is going to be (tutoring or admin assistant type stuff, it seems). I am definitely going to be taking a fiction workshop and two lit courses. I'm toying around with the idea of taking an undergrad science course because if there is one thing I regret from BU, it's that I never took biology or chemistry. I'm actually also interested in an intro to atmospheric science course. The credits are covered by my TAship, but I worry that it will be so much work that it might distract from my writing. I might enroll and see how it goes for a few weeks and then drop if it's too difficult. We'll see.

Somewhere in all of that I have to do 10,000 things for the wedding, register for classes, find an apartment (which may or may not entail a quick trip to Raleigh), sign a lease, and do all of the Chicago touristy things that I haven't done yet (like go on a boat tour, go the Aquarium/Planetarium/Field Museum/MSI, go to Navy Pier - that kind of thing). Also, I have a lot of writing to do. I'm in an informal online workshop group with two stories due in the next two months, and I want to have...things...ready to go so I hit the ground running when I get there.

See what I mean about the calm before the storm? That's a lot of stuff to take care of in a pretty short amount of time. And I know it's all going to be here before I know it.

One thing, though: I am starting to get really excited about the wedding. I will definitely be glad when it's over, because the whole thing is a lot of money and work, but marrying Greg in the mountains is going to be pretty awesome.

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