Summer Plans (in December)

I have decided that this summer, instead of pursuing summer courses, or a prestigious internship, I will take it easy (but not really).

I plan to self-educate. That means reading as many classical or cultural or spiritual books as possible. I have a steadily growing list that will never get read during the school year, due to all my courses. I'll post it soon.

I also want to take advantage of my employment at Rogers and watch all the movies and DVDs that would further my cultural knowledge. I like "getting" cultural references, like if someone mentions a line from a movie, I like being able to know where the line is from, how it alludes to other references and the significance of why the person said it and how it fits in to the situation.

I'm going to relive High school by watching teen dramas such as Dawson's Creek and Smallville. I figure that there's plenty of time for me to grow up and get an internship in the next few years.

I haven't heard back from the Toronto Star yet (I ended up applying to an internship there last minute), but I probably didn't get the job, knowing that there are many other applicants who have better portfolios than mine. I'm not going to be applying to internships for a while until my portfolio is well-maintained with lots of quality work and I have lots (meaning 3 more years) of experience writing for my campus paper.

I'm only 19, while that means there are other 19, even 18 year olds out there who are doing their best to grab internships or jobs in their field, I'm really in no rush to grow up. There's plenty of time to do that later. Plenty of time to devote my life to work. My friend is 31 and he's in the same program as me, though we show no signs of getting younger, there is no rush to establish ourselves in our line of work.

My main concern is keeping a focus this summer of reading and watching movies. And creating art. Last summer and the summer before that; too many social activities. Luckily, this summer most of my friends are pretty involved in summer courses and jobs. Hopefully I won't get distracted from my goals.

I envision myself hanging out at a library or a coffeeshop everyday, reading a book, attending concerts/music events occasionally, going out to cultural events (theatre), watching movies at night, and working (at most) twice a week. And making art.

4 whole months x 4-5 books a month = approximately 16-20 books in total. Plus 4-8 movies a week. The goal of my summer is not to make money or meet new people, but to learn.