Back at July
As planned, the month began on a high, with three days off for both Kim and me. Kim had her normal three days off: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and I took vacation days for Tuesday and Thursday, having Wednesday already off as a holiday for The Fourth of July. As I recall, we didn’t go anywhere or do much of anything, but it was still good to have the time off. The second week, we went out to a new rib joint in town, owned by a friend of ours, and it was great. We also watched Love, Simon, which also was great. The highlight of the third week was getting the complete series of Homicide: Life on the Street and starting a landscaping project on a driveway we share with a neighbor. This past week, Kim and I were able to go to an Endless Mountain Music Festival concert at Mansfield University and it was very good. I also was able to continue the landscaping project and get it mostly done.
On the reading front, I had a great month as I read 12 books, thanks to back-to-back readathons the last two weekends of the month: the 24in48 Readathon and Dewey’s Summer Reverse Readathon. Altogether, I have read 27 books for this year.
The dozen books this month were:
- Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue
- Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet by by Ta-Nehisi Coates (writer), Brian Stelfreeze (artist), Joe Sabino (letterer), Manny Mederos (designer), Rian Hughes (logo designer), Jack Kirby (writer, artist), and Laura Martin
- A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny
- The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
- Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli
- The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
- Queenpin: A Novel by Megan Abbott
- Rebound by Kwame Alexander
- Richard Stark’s Parker: Slayground by Darwyn Cooke (author/illustrator), Richard Stark (source)
- Richard Stark’s Parker: The Hunter by Darwyn Cooke (author/illustrator), Richard Stark (source)
- Richard Stark’s Parker: The Outfit by Darwyn Cooke (author/illustrator), Richard Stark (source)
- Richard Stark’s Parker: The Score by Darwyn Cooke (author/illustrator), Richard Stark (source)
All were good, but the best ones were Behold the Dreamers, The Hate U Give, The Poet X, and Queenpin.
Musically, three albums in particular grabbed me: Sundays by San Francisco musician Hannah van Loon, who performs as Tanukichan; Third by guitarist Nathan Salsburg; and Wild Pink’s Yolk in the Fur, with the latter being the one I was playing the most on the virtual turntable.
Forward to August
This month begins with a visit to my mother the first weekend for her birthday (it’s this Friday, but we’ll celebrate it on Sunday). I have the second Friday off as I work that Saturday at the library (has to do with the number of hours I work per pay period, they give me a day off before I work my one Saturday a month). I don’t know what we’re doing yet, but Kim and I probably will go on a day trip, maybe to the Corning Museum of Glass, maybe to Finger Lakes wine country. We’ll see what the day brings.
So how was your month of July? Read any good books, seen any good movies and/or TV shows, listened to any good music? What was the highlight of your month? What are you looking forward to in August? Share in the comments.
In case you missed it, yesterday I posted my thoughts on “The State of The Blog 2018,” in which I also decided I’m only going to post once a week here.
Still an unfinished person... 
July was a blip on the calendar for me. I try not to let time zip past me. I really do but I’ve been mired in summer school independent learning hell. My daughter is taking three classes this summer to get ahead for next year but I’ve learned that she is not a good independent learning. I would have killed for an opportunity like this when I was in school but it’s been a real struggle getting her to do the work. Constant badgering. No time to do anything. Her entire summer is shot as she will be done only a few days before regular school starts. I have been taking days off but if I take her to the beach then the books have to come with us and it’s a real drag.
So, what I’ve been reading is “have to read” stuff because it all got pushed to the side. Fortunately, my have to read stuff is pretty good. Not seen any movies but I want to see Mission Impossible even though I am not a fan of Cruise. And I won’t like, that Skyscraper movie looks dumb but still entertaining. I may see that too.
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Sorry for the hell you are undergoing now… Hope it gets better. I want to see the Mission Impossible movie too.
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I feel like July, like most of my life lately, disappeared in a whirl. We did not do much because Holly still had dance and Connor is trying to work as many hours as possible before he heads back to school. I know I was crazy busy with work, which caused my reading to take a hit. I never thought I would say it, but I am sort of ready for school to start again because it relieves the pressure of having to have a fabulous summer.
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