Summer days drifting away

Consider this my mid-summer update. To date, l'été simple has been magnifique! Work is going quite well; I spend many many hours at the circulation desk, but I'm becoming more confident and experienced (e.g. I can answer the phone without fear and I haven't dropped a transfer in weeks!) Also, there is a terrible electric hole puncher that I have been using to bind Supreme Court briefs. I occasionally want to smash it with a sledge hammer. But I refrain.

The many hours at the circ desk and the long bus commute to and from the U-district allows me plenty of reading time. My summer book list is coming along nicely. So far I have read:

• War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
• This Book Is Overdue: How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All by Marilyn Johnson
• How To Read Novels Like a Professor by Thomas Foster
• Paper Towns by John Green
• The Road of Lost Innocence by Somaly Mam
• The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
• Orlando: a biography by Virginia Woolf
• The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
• The Trial by Franz Kafka
• Looking For Alaska by John Green
• Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan (not originally on my list)

Andbutso, (thanks John Green, for my new favorite informal initial conjunction) nine books remain. I am currently reading Baking Cakes in Kigali by I forget the author and working my way through Caroline Kennedy's She Walks In Beauty. My favorite book of the summer has been The Lacuna, I think. But it's very difficult to choose. I've been quite happy with my reading list.

In case you didn't hear, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 came out last week. I'm sure you heard, though. It was just about everywhere. On July 14, I quickly reread the second half of the book in preparation. I had forgotten how absolutely brilliant the Harry Potter books are. That evening, a group of us went to the midnight premiere. And it was fantastic. Because the book was made into two films, both movies were incredibly accurate adaptions. Strange to think that the Harry Potter series is over (unless you count Pottermore, which I still don't fully understand. Signed up anyway.) Did I tear up during the movie? Of course. "Tearing up" is putting it lightly though.

As for the rest of my summer list:

• Had the Doctor Who marathon. Second half of season come sooner please!
• Picked strawberries and made jam.
• Revived my baby rose (much pruning and salvaging of the last living shoot).
• Am reading through the New Testament from The Message.
• Playing piano when I can (I really, really, really want to learn Philip Glass's"Metamorphosis 2").
• Have been running, but my knee has been bothering me. Time to get new shoes perhaps?
• Biked a bit, but not on Centennial
• Haven't baked a cake yet. But I now have my idea: I'm going to bake the cake from The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake. It will look something like this:

• Been getting involved with the new abolitionists group at my church (Theo Chocolate Factory tour, screening of The Dark Side of Chocolate, Free2Walk event, etc.) Cambodia is still constantly on my mind.

On my week of vacation, we went camping at Wallowa Lake in eastern Oregon. Très amusante. Reading, boating (yes, I was on a boat!), Hell's Canyon, tram ride to Mt. Howard, the lovely town of Joseph, etc.

J'adore l'été.

Andbutso, it is now time to enjoy this extraordinary sunshine with a long run.