Okay, no, it’s not summer.  It’s not even spring yet.  But, I have some new plans for summer that are making me feel good.

For one, I found out today that my contract is not June-June, but Sept-August, which means I will get paid until August 30. DAMN. That is so. cool.  I will have the summer income, and NOT have to take some retail job or temp assignment to make ends meet.  Regardless of what happens with grad school, my meeting with That Guy, etc, I am set until September 1.  And at that point, the jobs that I am most qualified for at this point start up. Ed teching, subbing, tutoring — all academic year positions. Yes, yes yes yes. This is GREAT NEWS.

I also turn 30 this summer, which is kind of big and weird, no?  And I’m thinking I need to do something cool, so I think I might rehash my ideas of another NYC trip again.  I had talked about going last year, but we bought the house, and I spent sooo much time in curriculum and other workshops, that it felt like I had no summer at all.  With the paid summer, though, it wouldn’t be completely out of line to take my birthday money and use it toward an Acela ticket (or maybe air, honestly, it’s probably the same cost when you figure in the bus to Boston, and I would train just because I LOVE trains) and a cheap hotel room. Okay, so it won’t be the Unbelievably Free Trip of 2003, where I got to shack up at the Tribeca Grand and look like some sort of vagrant on the lift with people asking me how it compared to the Millennium. ("Oh, this place is nice.")  I now know how Dave felt when he was on that Vegas assignment for the opening of the Palms, and had an all access pass to everywhere in the building, and when he wasn’t shooting, he was in the Ghost Bar alongside some Real Worlders, and people kept talking to him… one of those "if they are THIS dressed down, they must be trying really hard to look poor" when in fact, no, we’re just poor.

So, yes. Another NYC trip would be nice, and for more than 2 nights this time. Maybe 4.  And I could do all those things I want to do Pre-baby. And if I’m knocked up, I can, I don’t know, get a cool baby book at Kate’s Paperie or something.  When I went in 2003, it was just such a good reminder of the pieces of me that exist separate of my marriage, or my job, or my ovarian pursuits. You know?

Yay! Paid til August! (Regardless of when I give notice, because my contract is for the academic year and I choose year round paychecks instead of academic year checks) And Yay! NYC!