And The Living Is No Longer Easy

With September just around the corner, this can only mean one thing: summer is nearing its end. Kids are preparing to go back to school, community pools are closing their gates, and the days are getting noticeably shorter. This leaves me sad and empty inside. This is not because I am sad to see the carefree summer days fade away. It's because I haven't even experienced the care free days of summer. This is destined to go down in my personal annals as the summer James forgot.

I haven't done one fun, summery thing all season. I haven't gone anywhere. I haven't gone out and played or frolicked - not like in the good old days of my youth. I haven't been swimming once. I haven't even taken my shirt off outside. Not once. It's not even due to shame of my body. I like my body. I am in possession of one rock hard, dead sexy - though now milky white - bod, and it's a crying shame I haven't shared this wonder with the world. This summer has been hot, dull drudgery.

What happened to the carefree halcyon days of my youth? I used to take full advantage of the summer. I was outside. I was playing. I was perfecting my cannonball. I was constantly peeling the dead skin from my rosy nose. I'd party till question mark and then sleep to another question mark - usually 10:30ish. I was king of the summer, a barefoot scamp who did as he pleased. Why can't I go back to those days.

I guess it's just part of growing up. This is the first summer where I worked at least five days a week every single week with no time off. It's the first summer I had to deal with paying rent plus utilities. Then, I got myself involved in all sorts of other projects. Of course I had a Cellar Dweller show - which was completely awesome. Then I started writing a radio show - 'Dodge Intrepid and the Pages of Time' Sat Aug 27th at Cafe Kolache in Beaver (it's going to be even awesomer than awesome) - with Little Mike. Then, there were a thousand tiny things I had to do. I even had to conduct an apartment hunt - not done yet which means I could be homeless in a little over a week, which is as nerve racking as it is oddly exhilarating.

It seems like just yesterday it was the beginning of June and the summer stretched out before me like a sea of limitless possibilities. Now, I look back and wonder what happened to all the time. I feel like everyone else was out raising hell and I was locked in a room toiling away like a clerk in a Dickens novel. Well, I'm not going to let this happen again and I'm not waiting a full year to prove it. As of right now, Fall is the new summer and I'm going to live the hell out of it. I'm going for walks in the crisp Autumn morning. I'm jumping in leaf piles. I'm going to toss the old pig skin around. And hopefully I won't be doing all of this while living in the streets.

shalom
James