Summer dies and it's just moments we have together

With the return to school hovering like a helicopter, everyone seems to be in a frenzy of "Oh my God, we have to jam as much fun stuff in as we can before summer is over!" And I, like everyone else, have fallen into this trap. My earlier summer plan is not yet shot to hell, I like to think--I didn't relearn piano, get a summer job, or spend as much time being phsyically active as I would've liked. However, I did fulfil SOME requirements--and now, with summer being almost over, I have reprioritized (if that's even a word).

Here's my new end-of-summer schedule:

Tomorrow--go to the Pinery (which is a lovely, LOVELY place in Canada, with a beach and hiking trail and plenty of places to explore).
Hopefully tonight or sometime this weekend--Go to the Imlay City carnival, which is, I'm not joking, the cleanest carnival I've ever seen.
Weekend of the 20th--Go to Cincinnati to see The Almost, a.k.a. the BEST Christian rock band I've ever heard.
27th--Go to my cousin's wedding in a gorgeous mansion, and play croquet.

Unscheduled events: Read my ass off, see more indie films, work out in the basement exercise room so I'm not a jelly doughnut by the time I have to go back to Inty, set up my Skype (because it STILL doesn't work!) and, oh yes...

PLAN A MOVIE WITH MY BEST FRIEND.

Not kidding. I am the one who swore up and down I would NEVER be able to shoot a film written by anyone other than myself. I am the one who insisted that if I didn't write the screenplay, my movie would be crap because I'd be too afraid of "compromising a fellow artist's vision" to film it properly. And yet I am the one who read a screenplay by a VERY close friend and completely fell in love with it, and the next thing you know--BAM, instant collaboration.

The upcoming film, which will be called The Icarus Effect, will be shot at Interlochen, completely independent of all outside assistance. That basically means that we're going to do it all ourselves, with no help from the MPA faculty or any other IAA staff. We might have to go through the motions of pretending to get permission, but as most of the areas that we'll be shooting in are outdoor or common areas, we don't need written waviers.

How awesome is that?

Of course it's not all just a walk in the park. I have to figure out how to light a beach at dusk (not the easiest thing to do, that), make prop diplomas (and I am one of the worst graphic artists you have ever seen; even a COMPUTER can't help me draw a damn straight line), find a cast for this project (thank God Mishka knows exactly what she wants), and somehow find a crew as well (provided anyone actually WANTS to help us with this silly but meaningful-to-us endeavor).

With all this in mind, I'm going to have a VERY eventful August and an even more eventful return to school. So here is my final list of things I absolutely MUST do before I go back to school.

1. See The Runaways, The Shawshank Redemption, Were the World Mine, The Departed, Invictus, Big Stan, and The Girl Next Door.
2. Go to at least ONE carnival, preferably the one in Imlay City.
3. Go to the beach at least once.
4. Get my damn Skype to work.
5. Read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (I've been told that it's a VERY good book.)
6. Get as much music stocked on my iTunes as humanly possible.
7. Finish revamping and redecorating any wardrobe items that still need additional fabric paint (long story).
8. Learn the words to "Don't Stop Believing" so I don't feel like a dork when everyone is singing that and I'm all, "Wait, what'd they just say?"
9. Invite SOMEONE over for a pool party. I have friends who actually LIVE in Michigan--I'm just saying.
10. The all-important ten posts in August (I'm already behind--this was supposed to come out yesterday).


So there we go. My end-of-summer to-do list. And if anyone else has suggestions for how to close my final summer of high school with a bang, I'd love to hear them.

STOLEN DIALOGUE, PUBLIC SCHOOL EDITION:

(most of this dialogue was stored up from when I was in public high school, with a bit of dialogue from home thrown in.)

Person one: On the street, a man with strange, exotic features grins at him, revealing large canine teeth, and winks at him.
Person two: Who’s the canine-teeth dude?
Person one: He’s a fairy.
Person two: As in, the magical kind?
Person one: Yeah, though I’m quite sure he’d screw a guy if he really wanted to.

"You know, all things considered, it's a wonder I haven't kicked your ass yet."

"Your treatment makes The Odessy look like a one-liner."

"Do you really wanna keep him around? 'Cause you know, I have a knitting needle right here..."

[while discussing a class project]
Teacher: No sex, no drugs, no alcohol, no cursing.
Student: Aw, I just ran out of ideas.

[discussing a Spanish class exercise]
Teacher: Okay, the driver is speaking in past tense. The backseat left is speaking in present tense, the backseat right is speaking in future tense. And shotgun is...what is shotgun doing?
Teacher: Shooting!

Person one: Do you guys smell coffee?
Person two: What?
Person one: I said, 'Do you guys smell coffee?'
Person two: Oh! I thought you said, 'Do you guys SMOKE coffee?'
Person three: What is UP with you?!

Person one: You really intimidate him.
Person two: Okay, you people really need to stop using pronouns. There's six hundred 'hims' in this school. Which one are we talking about?

"See, for Dad this is just a little speck on my face and it doesn't mean anything, but...I think I'm going to end up in ICU."

Person one: My dad's girlfriend is weird. We have tree bark in our refrigerator. I'm not kidding.
Person two: She'd better be smoking something.
Person one: Oh yeah, she is.

"I'm a good drinker because I'm like, part Irish, part Finnish, part German...like, if it's good at drinking, I'm part it."

Person one: She likes you.
Person two: No she doesn't.
Person one: She does, and you have to ask her out.
Person three: Unless you don't have the guts--
Person one: --or the nuts.

Person one: Oh yeah. I've smoked with him, and his friend, what's-his-name--
Person two: Is there anyone in this school you HAVEN'T smoked with?
Person one: Yeah--you.

[while filming a behind-the-scenes thing for the school play, two people have a fight with a rubber chicken]
Person one: Thus displays the maturity of the cast of A Christmas Story, the school drama 2008.
Person two: Maturity? What's that word mean?
Person one: I rest my case, ladies and gentlemen.

"If you do that again, I'm going to hit you with a blunt penguin."

Person one: Here, put this in the bathroom downstairs! [tosses a massive roll of toilet paper down the stairs]
Person two: Whoa, that's huge!
Person three: That thing should be rolling through a cave chasing Indiana Jones!

"Is there a magic spell or something to shut you up? No? Shit, I was afraid of that."

Person one: They keep shining those stupid keylights into my eyes.
Person two: I'll make them knock it off.
Person one: No need, I've already threatened their lives.

[to a guy who just left his sister's bra on a girl's desk]
"Dude...pick up your bra."

[We were told we could wear costumes to school on Halloween, one guy wore a miniskirt over his jeans for his costume]
Person one: I'm going to take off my pants and just wear this [gestures to skirt] next hour!
Person two: In that case, thank God I'm not in your next hour.

Teacher: If you go to Salem, where the actual witch trials occurred--
Student: FIELD TRIP!
Teacher: Yeah, that'll be the day, when I take an entire sophomore class to Salem on a field trip...