here we go, the summer retrospective no one actually asked for lol
Seeing as I’ve done this summer retrospective for years, back on the old LJ and did it here last here, I thought I’d do it again. It’s under a cut, because this is for me, but like feel free to read through it and judge me, I guess lol.
This summer was weird. In so many ways. For starters, it was my shortest summer in a really long time – if ever, minus the year I worked at McGill. The end of the school year dragged on for like 3 weeks and by the time it actually ended, it took me, retrospectively, another 3 weeks to recuperate from it. I ended up replacing a teacher who got Covid in November and never came back and the group was hard as hell and that took a gigantic toll on me – emotionally and physically and mentally. This entire year was a shit show of stress and “anxiety”, so that was - fun. On top of that, there were also places I wanted to go to/go back to that unfortunately closed because of the pandemic.
Then, just as I was getting into the spirit of summer, the last leg of it decided to test all my emotions at once and that was another roller-coaster.
July was grey and overcast and I’m sure that also didn’t help.
Regardless, I still managed to do quite a few things, so here’s the list – for my own benefit, obviously. I know it seems like A Lot, but keep in mind I was off for 7 some weeks and some things were grouped within a day.
Ice cream places visited: Iconoglace, Hocheglacé, Unicone, Meu Meu, Armoire à glaces, Kameha, Riverside, Havre aux glaces, Pineault, Chocolat favoris, Calem, Koba, Sachère desserts, Ice cream glacée
I caught up again with the photo albums.
Got the second dose of the vaccine
Restaurants and food: Pigeon café, Espadon, Paramount, Sushi Sama, Thai Express, Drogheria Fine, Gérard, La Beignerie, Mitch Deli, Slice & Soda, Sushi Shop, Bête à pain, Guillaume, Parfum d’Asie, Ma poule mouillée
Outings and Activities: La Ronde, La grande roue, Downtown, Chinatown, Pointe à Callière, Old Port, Oratoire St-Joseph, Square Victoria, Avenue Mt-Royal, Hochelaga, watched the meteor shower and saw some on two nights, Jean-Talon Market, walked on the back of Mont-Royal, supper at Gougoune’s, Mt-Tremblant, La fromagerie St-François, boat ride, Georgie’s House – twice!, le Petit navire, plage du Quai de l’Horlogex3, Bassin Peel, Atwater Market, Pink & Green house, walked in the Village, Habitat 67, lookout du Quai de Montréal, Sunflower farm
Friends and hangouts: Somehow or other, I managed to make new friends on the day that I went to the museum and on le Petit navire. I also had one dinner with my camp crew, went to La Ronde with a friend I hadn’t seen in years, had dinner with another friend and ice cream with another.
I ran into some old friends from camp at the pool, a friend from school at the la Grande roue, and a friend from university while I was out and about. (And two students – one from 6 years ago and another from this past year. Lol.)
Dad and I finally built the new shed. I fixed my Mom’s mug.
Pool: 11x – the municipal pool I used to go to when I worked at camp reopened and they did a really good job on it.
In the early stages of summer, the Habs were still in what feels like a fever dream of a playoff run and I decided to splurge and get my name added on my jersey.
Painted nails: 3
Painted plant boxes: 5
I took care of my plants and added a few more to the collection.... oups. I also grew sunflowers from seed – and barely got to enjoy them as they unfortunately got eaten L
Despite everything, I managed to write some fics and work on some AUs, but I would have liked to do more.
I also managed to do some art, but even that felt like it wasn’t the amount of what I would have liked.
I chilled in my hammock as well.
I went on some bike rides, but equally feel that compared to past years, I didn’t go as often or as far as usual...
Reading (re): Antique Bakery, I splurged and bought all the Sailor Moon mangas and read them, booklet on SAQ, No Time like the Future, started two other books as well that I did not finish.
Watched: Sailor Moon 90s anime, We are Lady Parts!, caught up on some stuff on the PVR, Schitt’s Creek, Green Book
Mended stuff that had been waiting for ages for some TLC
Started the MOOC on Indigenous Studies
FINALLY FINISHED FAKE FIGUARY.
Finished updating my plant documents. Finally.
Went to see my auntie I hadn’t seen since – Xmas 2019 lol. Went to my godparents’ house, and mom’s friend came over for dinner.
And obviously, did some puttering around and cleaning at home and such. Got stuff ready for the new school year...
All in all, this summer had its moments. The fact that I knew where I was going to be working before the end of summer kind of was a good and bad thing. Obvs knowing where I’d be was good, but it also didn’t let me fully disconnect. Inevitably, I felt as though I was already behind but I firmly told myself that no – I was on vacation, too bad for the rest.
I was also able to do some things that I’d never done before – visit landmarks of the city that I hadn’t seen before and that was nice. Going back to eat at a restaurant was nice and going up north for the day was pleasant. I would have liked to see more of my friends, but it seems everyone is allergic to hanging out and too busy for me lol. Still, I feel like this summer was all over the place. Between the weather – which wasn’t our usual, the state of things in the world and my own mood, it was – ok, but could have been better.
Tomorrow I go back to teaching and with the pandemic still going, I’m annoyed that whatever hype I had has been slowly eaten away by the general stupidity of people in regards to Covid. But that’s an issue for another day.
Here’s to you summer 2021, until next time.
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