Summer Plans

It's May now...and I am ready to make some summer goals. I think it is funny that summer is the one season that I ever make legitimate goals for...but I think it stems from summer breaks in childhood when you weren't supposed to waste away your free time. Anyways, here's the goals for Summer 2010:

- Spend a lot of time in the garden. So when Bobby the Republican moved to the Shire of Marshfield, Wisconsin I was extremely excited to hear that he was planning a garden. And this year I am excited to be a part of it. After all, I really FEEL like I'm in the Shire when I am out there. One thing we need more of though: Corn, pumpkins, and sunflowers. Ole Bobby is obsessed with tomatoes and stuff, but corn, pumpkins, and sunflowers growing in the country complete a country garden feel...so I might plant some without him knowing.

- Summer reading. Since the summer of 2004 when Elisa Findlay got me to join her book club "The Paper Cuts", I have felt like the summer is a time to be super-devoted to reading. Especially in the midst of the excessively hot July when it's too hot to be outside. This summer I want to read Gone With the Wind again, as well as some more Tolkien. Maybe I will read Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit again.

- Lift weights. I know what you're thinking...Grant...lifting weights? The fact of the matter is that I am somewhat scrawny, and when you are gay and scrawny you get referred to as a "twink". It isn't really a term I want to be known for. Basically "twink" is a term for the stereotypical skinny white gay guy that is promiscuous, effeminate, and shallow. And in the gay community like tends to attract like, and I can't stand dating shallow twinks. So I've decided to try to bulk up a bit in hopes of avoiding the term and feel better about how I look. We'll see how it goes.

- Attempt to enjoy the summer heat. I'm not really a summery-kind of person. I'm a fan of the late summer when it is transitioning to fall, but as far as the super hot July and such...not really a fan. But in Wisconsin, you have to enjoy the heat, knowing that in a few months when it is snowing on Halloween you'll be wishing you had.

- Nature hikes and McMillan Marsh exploration. So Wisconsin is obscenely beautiful in the summer. Like I said before, it is like being in The Shire. Armed with insect repellent, I'd like to go on more nature hikes and spend more time in McMillan Marsh. There are still a couple of trails in the marsh that I haven't gone on, and since McMillan Marsh is where I'd go if"they" ever came to burn the house down, I should make sure I know it well. Plus, there are other places to explore like Big Eau Pleine Park and Rib Mountain.

- Harass the children. What can I say? It's my sworn duty as an older brother to make my younger siblings life horrible. How am I going to do this? The best tactic is to remind Mom and Dad of how much stricter they were with the older kids and how we used to have a lot of chores everyday when we were the younger kids' ages. It's true...they are total softies with these younger three. I seriously remember doing a lot of house and yard work when I was a wee child. So my duty this summer is to bring that great tradition back. It usually helps if I also bring up how we didn't have the internet, Ipods, or cell phones when we were their age.

- And of course, I am already on the look-out for the "Song of the Summer". That is the song that defines the summer, a song that even when I listen to it a few years later, still reminds me of the good times. The "Song of the Spring" was "Whataya Want From Me" by Adam Lambert.