Heh.

Well.

This is kinda embarrassing.

But the truth is that I honestly don't have oodles of time to write these days, mostly because I'm either swimming or kayaking after work and on weekends. What this translates to is that for 1-and-half hours a day, 5 to 6 days a week, I'm outside and doing some kind of water-based sport.

(I can hear you say "EW!" You all have dirty, dirty, dirty minds!)

I'm actually letting myself tan *a little bit* this year. Of course, I'm going through so many ounces of lotion to counteract the sun exposure that I look like I'm suffering from some kind of lotion-based compulsion.

So, yeah...

I swear I'm not ignoring anyone. It's just that I'd much rather be outside and enjoying the sunshine while the summer weather lasts.

In fact, I'm already plotting to escape the heatwave (the next 5 days are promising to be Hell on Earth in Massachusetts) by hiding in a swimming pool for 2 hours after work today, tomorrow, and Friday. I'm thinking of just moving into the pull for the day on Saturday.

I will try to get on the Journals more often, especially now that work has fallen back to a livable 40-hours a week (down from the 50 to 60 hours-a-week I was working through April, May, June, and the beginning of this month).

It should be doable.

Also on the to-do list: Taking a a flame-thrower to my apartment to clean up months of clutter and general *yuck* as work took over my life.

Despite the work-based crazy that ate almost all of Spring and the first half of summer, this is turning out to be the most relaxing summer I've had.

I credit easy (if expensive) access to both pool and kayaks, and always having a choice between which one I want to do on any given day.

It's nice to finally have a life where kayaking-or-swimming is the most taxing decision I have to make, as opposed to the stressful groceries-or-health insurance decision, which I've had to make twice in my life and had to live with for multiple years (a grand total of 4 to be precise).

It took *years* to get here, so I plan to enjoy the low stress time for however long it lasts.