The Ministry of Happiness

In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer. ~ Albert Camus

Happy End of Summer

When you work in higher education you live off of a different calendar. The year doesn’t go by the normal calendar, it starts on July 1st and ends on June 30th. I’ve lived on this schedule so long it just feels natural and normal now. Seasons, are also at times linked to the academic calendar. Summer begins when fall semester classes end, and ends, at least for me, when our summer four day schedule ends. My job sucks for a lot of reasons, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t perks that I’m thankful for including our four day a week summer schedule. Which unfortunately, this past Friday was our last Friday off for the summer. So that means of course that starting tomorrow, the academic year really kicks off, faculty return this week, students and classes start the week after. For a lot of reasons, some of which I can’t get into, this is likely to be a really gnarly year. So while for most of us there is a bit of a Sunday night dread each week, this one is particularly large dread as the annual cycle starts again.

I wanted to make the most of this last gasp of summer. For my last Friday off, instead of going grand, I went small, I decided to have an absolutely mellow day. I slept in a little bit, I got up and made a nice breakfast. I spent the rest of the day grazing off little snack things that I like including some spinach dip with good bread, crackers and cheese, some sushi and dolmas. I did a little writing and applied for a job. Saturday I decided to do a pretty typical city walking day, I headed out to Golden Gate Park, Outside Lands was kicking off so the park and surrounding streets were hopping. It was a New York sort of food day, I started by getting a really yummy breakfast bagel at a bagel place I’ve been eyeing for some time. I strolled through the park and Haight/Ashbury, grabbed a mushroom slice at Escape for New York, walked and hung out in the park in the Panhandle then strolled over Hayes, down past the Three Sisters and popped into Gioia for the best NY slice in the city. Back over to BART and home for the afternoon to watch a little basketball and relax.

I was briefly interrupted by the City calling, the signal went up and in my alter ego I answered. I’m Batman!

I then decided to take it easy on Saturday night and watch a movie on Netflix, it’s called, The Last House. It’s an interesting science fiction flick, the premise and underlying science are kind of shit, but what I did like about the movie was the ability of the film to really ramp up anxiety. I mean, in the moment, I hated it, but I love when a director can suck you in and make you really feel an emotion, great work.

Today was chore day, laundry and shopping (holy shit grocery prices are nuts) and then cooking for the week and I made the absolute best pot of lentil soup I have ever made. I make the soup with an African spice pallet, using some pepper a friend brought back from Ethiopia as well as some cumin, garam masala and cinnamon. I don’t have any kind of recipe, so each time I make it the blend is unique and I really nailed it tonight, it’s a big pot, but it is not gonna last long. Finally, I applied for another job and this one is a bit of a different position than I’ve been applying for, it’s an apprenticeship director position and I was really honored to have a couple of heavy hitters in the apprenticeship space agree to serve as references for the position. I also got a rejection from my last second round interview tonight.

The summer was ok, some of the madness that’s been plaguing me has abated and in the last week I spoke with several of the best friends I have. I got to spend a week on Cape Cod, with family and say goodbye to my mother as we spread her ashes at sea. I even checked off a bucket list item and did my first ever surfing lesson with my niece and brother. And, hopefully this won’t jinx it, but hopefully the sale of my house will be closing soon. Hopefully this chapter is coming to a close soon and the next chapter is soon to start.

Happy end of summer, whether yours is wrapping up as well, or you get that full one more month to Labor Day, I hope you’ve found some time to relax, to do something fun, maybe even stretch yourself a little bit and most of all, I hope you’ve had some happy days my friends. ~ Rev Kane