My Summer Dreams are Simple

That's not mold on my shoulder. It's just a shadow.

When summer starts, the world seems full of promise. It is a beautiful new beginning. A clean slate of long, brightly lit days ahead of you. It’s kind of like when your kids go back to school and you feel like you are getting a fresh start on everything. The only difference being that in September my goals are around being more productive and focused and having a plan. And in the summer my goals take on a slightly different, more lazy feel.

Oh, I am still goal oriented, mind you. But I don’t want the goals to be strenuous or meaningful. So here are my hopes and dreams for the summer:

1. Grow a beard. I think if the main topic of this blog is fatherhood, the subtopic is hair and the lack there of or abundance thereof. (And the sub-sub topic would be Ken being naked.) Much like I cannot grow hair on my head, I cannot grow an actual beard. But I am on vacation this week. And then I am home for a week and then on ANOTHER vacation, so this is the year to give the beard a real chance to become established. Right now the beard is in the bristly, patchy, obnoxious stage. (The photo above has enhanced contrast thanks to Instagram, so the beard looks deceptively full.) 
2. Read more. Particularly while on vacation and while sitting on my back porch. I set a goal on Goodreads to read 70 books this year and I am currently 12 behind, so I need to really do some serious sitting on my butt to get caught up. As far as I am concerned, the kids can play frisbee with themselves - these Young Adult Sci-Fi Zombie Romanpocalypses aren’t going to read themselves!! 
3. Eat more Popsicles. This will be hard to do, since I already eat one Popsicle a day (usually right before bed, much to my wife’s chagrin.) But don’t you think one Popsicle a day seems sad and lonely? Shouldn’t that number be closer to 3 or 5? We’re in agreement then? Great. 
4. Catch up on Dr. Who. I’m tired of being behind. I’m sad that I didn’t get to watch Asylum of the Dalek’s with everyone else. I guess I care that Matt Smith is leaving but I haven’t watched any episodes of his yet, so I don’t really care. But I should. And I want to. So I need to kick the Netflix into high gear and get all up to speed on my Timelord Lore. 
5.  Go to more movies by myself. A few weeks ago I really wanted to see Star Trek. And so after the kids were in bed one night, I just went. It was delightful and I loved it. Summer is full of movies that my wife has no interest in seeing. So I should just go. Elysium, I’m looking at you.

So that’s it. I’m not trying to lose 50 pounds. Or finish the great American Novel. Just some good, old-fashioned summer laziness. The world shall be my oyster. My lazy, inconsequential oyster.