JULY SECRETS REVEALED:

I am making this one last post while I'm still awake in what is still my July if not the Gregorian July. (you can make your own Julian calendar joke here if you want.)

LET'S GET TO THE SECRETS! (warning: these may or may not be secrets. They also may or may not have anything to do with July except that I'm writing this in July. kind of.)

1) I love July, and not just because of my birthday.

2) I sat down for too much of July. What's up with that? Maybe I should commit to standing for all of August. I'll sleep propped up against the wall!

3) low-effort crowd pleaser: Sam Cooke singing Cupid from the car stereo. This came up on a mix CD (thanks, Martina!) when I was coming or going from one place to the other - it wasn't super loud, but it was audible - so many smiles and waves and people just singing! Young/ old and all those other opposites. I felt like we were performing a public service.

4) I'm so pleased that I'll get to work all of August at my favorite branch, but I'm also nervous because of an after hours casual backyard picnic. It's RIDIC, because I like all of these people and they went out of their way to invite me, but certain social situations can cause my rational brain to go totally wonky. I think I have to make myself go, if only so when Christmas comes around I'm not the person who has some convenient excuse three times in a row. (they asked me last Christmas, too. There was ice on the road, but I probably could have made it.)

5) so many good books! I think my favorites read this month would have to be The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender, and A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. More on those later, in the standing month of August.

(I just got REALLY TIRED of sitting and am going to go to bed instead. Goodbye July, I'll miss you. See you next year.)