80% Fun

Awhile back, I kvetched that I was only having 1% fun, due to a punishing schedule of full-time job, full-time grad school, and teaching college two afternoons a week. Now 2/3rds of that is over. So now what?

If I feel like watching TV or a movie, or reading a book, I can! Just because I want to! I don't need to plan book reading or movie watching around the Byzantine complications of my weekly schedule!

Speaking of which, I can read for pleasure! I've whipped through 5 books already since the end of May, and am reading Lud-in-the Mist right now.

If friends want to meet for drinks or dinner, well....I'm free! We don't need to schedule it two months in advance.

I'm reaching 80% fun right now. I'm worried that I may engorge myself with so much fun that it will make me sick, like a dehydrated person who needs to be fed water very slowly so as not to overwhelm the system.

But I'm not quite done with my adamant "let's do this" productivity, either. We have a house that's been patiently waiting since Thanksgiving to be fully unpacked and organized. There's a yard we're still scratching our heads over. Plumbing issues that can't be ignored (despite our best attempts). Piles of unwanted stuff that must be sorted and distributed to appropriate recycling/refuse facilities. Piles of wanted stuff that must be organized and tucked away. At least a half dozen technical/electronic items are knock-knock-knocking on heaven's door, so replacements must be found. And, frankly, there is a novel that must be completed. Remember my poor novel sitting there in the corner, barely surviving on a few crusts of attention? Yeah. I'm finishing it. Starting in July.

So while the fun is ballooning, I'm not quite at a place where I just wake up in the morning, stretch my arms to the sky, sigh with warm content and think "now, whatever should I do today?" There are lists. Kind of elaborate multi-functional to-do lists. But the difference is that this summer the deadlines are our own and not dictated by class schedules. And that's a sweet difference indeed.

Back to fun things. This past weekend was David Day! Nothing pleases Dave more than tank-viewing, so we went to the military museum at Fort Ripley where they have a supposedly rare Jumbo Sherman Tank. Now, to me a tank is a tank and I don't see much difference, much like to Dave one pair of black pumps is the same as any other pair of black pumps. But apparently this Jumbo Sherman is unlike other tanks in a variety of significant ways I can't remember, except that it's heavier. Whatever the case, he sure liked it...which is the goal of David Day.

After spending a couple hours at the museum, we came home and I made Welsh rarebit macaroni and cheese and a homemade banana cream pie for my man. I've never made a custard pie from scratch before (I'm used to making the kind that involves pre-made crust and jello pudding), and really...there's no going back now, even if it does take a couple hours and involves de-seeding vanilla pods. All banana cream pies must now meet this standard. I messed up the recipe in three different ways, and the thing still tasted so good that I couldn't even resist eating part of it before taking this photo. Didn't even need whipped cream. So yum.

Tomorrow is Terri Day, so I shall see what surprises await me.