Thoughts for the last weekend of summer

Not to be beaten out by the summer of divorce, death, and dysentery, this summer has been one of the more eventful summers in my life. All in all, I'd give it a solid A-... lots of emotional revelation (missing all my dear friends at home; seeing Jocelyn, Susie, Alan, Jeff, Vijay, Brian, Daniel,Mom and Daddy; realizing that old hurts are just that--old), completion of ridiculously time-consuming projects (take that, dissertation bitches), and plenty of yummy flirtations (mmmmm, Army rangers and economics professors... delicious). So, in honor of my A- summer of events, I've put together a list of things to practice. Some of them are skills I will need to maintain; some are skills I've yet to master. But I think endings are a good time to make lists--beginnings are great for lists, too, but beginning lists are awfully bossy. Ending lists are a lot less demanding.

Things I Do Pretty Well
1) Make people feel comfortable and included.
2) Reading
3) Witty repartee
4) Obsessing over various moral philosophers
5) Making spaghetti sauce
6) Forgiveness
7) Learning to live in new places

Things I Wish I Were Better At
1) Russian.
2) Non-procrastination.
3) Financial bits.
4) Diplomacy/non-committal grunts.
5) Alphabetizing my books.
6) Teleportation.
7) Dusting.