It is the twenty-somethingth of August and that means summer is nearly over. It is not ending in terms of the calendar-year but the (North American) academic calendar that most of us still follow. We’re going back to school. I know this because of the Best Buy advertisements of course. I know this because camp is ending and camp is for elementary school-aged children (tomorrow is our last day). I know this because Val is leaving for Ottawa tomorrow. I know this because people are trying to see each other before Labour Day weekend. I know this because I just booked my train ticket back to Montreal.

Josie and I went to Val’s house after work yesterday to see her before she leaves. Ren was there too are we all watched Star Trek: The Next Generation. There were boxes about and packing and it reminded me of the summer dying down. But she says she will visit me in Montreal because she will be the closest giftie to me because everyone else is in south-western Ontario pretty much. Yay! She hasn’t found accomodations in Ottawa yet but she has a place to stay when she gets there and good things like that so I’m glad.

Annie is having a party on Saturday but I’ll be in New York City unfortunately. I will be sad if the shopping and museum-hopping are not good enough to make up for not seeing friends. (They can only level each other out because shopping and museum-hopping in New York is spending time with Mom.)

I want to stop using unneccesary contractions in my writing. It lengthens essays but really, they don’t feel neccessary in written language… they are useful in spoken language for obvious reasons -tehe Data– though Helder was making fun of me today at work about mumbling so I should try to avoid them since speaking isn’t one of my fortes. Reading eloquent writing also makes me want to write better too. I am still yet to finish Memory for Forgetfulness but there’s that… some blogs I read, like Kinders’ (he even rants well) and Ren’s (even though I don’t keep in touch with him much, grayscale is good to read -not even to find out what’s going on with people I know, because that is my usual reason for reading blogs but because he writes so well and says so much). I like blogs- I used to have mixed feelings about them, negative ones for those of “professional bloggers” who make money by telling others what they think. But for the most part, I do believe people should have an outlet for their thoughts and the Internet (MS Word tells me I should capitalise the first letter) is an excellent mode for communication. I wish I could write better.

I had to go back so many times while writing that paragraph to uncontract contractions.

So the summer is dying down. I am feeling pretty good about this summer… I would say I have made better use of it than the last summer. Frosh was a waste; friends are much better supposed optimal (ie. intoxicated) situations for friend-making. I have seen my friends, I have learnt some French, and I have earned some money.

I have run out of things to say at this point… I have to make Rice Krispies squares (Riks! Raks! Pocs!) for the kids. If you have any tips for improving writing, please let me know.