a lovely saturday morning breakfast courtesy of timmy:
my boys playing in the backyard:
and of course, more photoshop projects:
an update since last time: after the governor's internship program ended, the arts council asked that i come back and work for them until school started. what an honor! i was thrilled because it was really my placement there-- seeing what these passionate arts advocates do every day, how they serve as the link between the state and artists and how on earth they go about distributing all of maryland's funds for art-- that made the internship so awesome. so my last three weeks have been doing lots of work on their website redesign (mostly drafting mock pages to see what content would go/stay in the new design) and doing other random projects. it was challenging at times but honestly, such a cool opportunity and a good learning experience. everyone that works there is very devoted to their area of expertise-- whether folk, performing, literary or visual arts-- and made me feel very welcome. on my last day they were sweet enough to give me a bouquet of flowers (which i then carried around on the long-ish bus ride and walk home) and take me out to lunch AND surprise me with an ice cream cake!! what a fabulous day. i'm really going to look back fondly on my time there.
unfortunately, about 200 state employees lost their jobs last week-- one of them being my pseudo-supervisor. she is a whirlwind/ powerhouse/ superwoman/ folklorist extraordinare and it is such a devastating blow to the community that she will be leaving. of course it just means another organization will be lucky to have her, but all this shifting around that the state is doing can really be nerve-wracking and sometimes, i feel, misguided. i have been told that many people chose to work for the state in part because of the job security. now, however, that has been shattered. tough times all around, i suppose.
besides getting acquainted with the working world, drafting web page mock-ups, and the politics of state government, i have been doing more of the same relaxing and hanging out this summer: seeing friends, eating ice cream, avoiding and/or scratching my never-ending bug bites, photoshopping, going on an augusten borroughs spree (i read five of his memoirs in the past few weeks...charming writer, very disturbing life), trying to get involved in the community association, navigating and ultimately giving up on the search for a third roommate, staying hydrated in the notorious mid-atlantic humidity and trying to check every item off of my "fun" to do list before school starts.
i am feeling relatively good about transitioning back into school mode next week (!). i'm guessing i will face some of the same tentative feelings about school that i had last fall, but this semester will just be so different than all others it is hard to compare. i'm living off campus and i am very aware that i only have one semester left, so i think it will be a sort of mad dash to the end that won't include my usual cornucopia of extracurriculars but instead tasks like doing the dishes and going grocery shopping. in addition, the fact that i was abroad last semester (and many of my classmates were gone either in the spring, last fall, or the whole year) means that many classmates' faces will be only vaguely familiar. i feel guilty about this, but i am not really looking forward to the countless polite but rather forced "hi! how are you? where were you last year?" conversations that will inevitably take place next week. i genuinely care about a few of these, but it gets so old to have this conversation again and again. i should stop being a grump about it. on the positive side of things, goucher's brand-new library/student center ("the athenaeum") just opened and it is really something. (some photos below) sure, construction for the past two years has been a pain, but it definitely paid off. the building is HUGE and really cutting-edge. it is a far cry from our former, comfy-as-a-living room library and doesn't really feel familiar at goucher yet, but i think it will become well-loved by students.
one final note: it seems like all my summer blog posts have been in this order-- talk about work at length, then have a big run-on sentence describing free time and discuss the upcoming future a little bit. is that how life goes for most adults?
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