Finals are over!!!! .... Now what?

YES! I am just excited as the rest of you, our academic year is coming to a close! And as I sit here listening to my disgusting co-worker clip his nails in the lab (I KNOW-- IN WHAT WORLD IS THAT OKAY?!), I'm pondering about what freedom I have. But freedom from what and for what? It's true, I am sick of being ultimately stressed about things, but what am I going to do now? Am I just going to sit and rot for the rest of the summer? I need that rush of there's-something-to-be-done-and-I-better-do-it, and I need new information to digest all the time. What am I going to do without school? Is this just me?

So I've decided, learning will not stop in the summer. Here's my brain's to-do list SO FAR:

1. Read a book every week. I want to prime myself for next semester. I am taking classes with reading galore, and I want to keep myself conditioned. I'm thinking reading a 300-400 page book every week might do that for me (I'm not saying that they're all going to be about Einstein's theory of relativity, but I'm sure the Shopaholic series will give me some relaxing brain food in between "A Tale of Two Cities" and "A Brief History of Time".

2. Write at least 10 pages a week. I can write 70 pages a day if I wanted to, because I'm in love with the written word, but I'm aiming for ten, so if I don't do it one week, I don't want to kill myself the next week because I have too much to do.

3. Learn about the stock market. I've come to realize that it's not the "stilettos versus platforms" is what makes the world go round. And if I am to understand politics to a greater degree than I do now, I am going to have to understand the way money changes lives. I am against the stock market, I guess, because from what I understand, the money gleaned from it is taken right from the pocket of the Little Man, and in my world, that's not okay.

4. Read the Qur'an and its tafseer. I know I'm not a sheikha, and I'm glad I can admit that, unlike some people who sit there and recite hadith after hadith without reflecting on themselves. So this summer will be another small step for my deeper understanding of Islam and its Holy Book.

I do have other goals during the summer besides being a nerd and giving myself schoolwork, but this is what it is for now because I'm already starting to miss having to revise a paper for the umpteenth time before handing it in or cramming for a test by an awesome teacher whose busywork I hate. Well, I guess you'll be hearing a lot more from me.

Good luck on all your remaining finals!!!