What are you planning to do this summer?

[Ender]

I'll be working full-time at a bookstore, and then taking Spanish language classes at night. I hope to become proficient enough in Spanish so that I can read works like Don Quixote, Cien Anos de Soledad, etc. in the original.

I'm also looking forward to attending several classical concerts downtown. I'm going to keep an eye out for anything by Beethoven. I'm also going to try to get into other composers, maybe Bach and Chopin, because at the moment all I can appreciate is Beethoven.

And of course I look forward to late-night shots of Tequila, Coronas on the porch with a book in hand, barbecues during baseball games...

... and I'd like to date more often, and exercise to lose some weight (I've gained a bit these past months); perhaps I could start a biking habit...

Ah, summer :-)

[while1]

Sex, and lots of it.

[iago]

Working, heading to Vegas for Defcon 18. That's about it.

[while1]

On a serious note, my list of mental notes for things to do this summer:

-Figure out when Sidoh and Sidoh's GF are in the area and meetup with them to do shizzle.  Same with Towelie if he's here for training or w/e it is.
-Move out of my current apartment and move into my new apartment ~100 meters down the street in early July.  Also, figure out how I'm going to move some of my furniture... bah.
-Have my LASIK eye surgery performed in late July.
-Get sexy muscles.

[Blaze]

Also, figure out how I'm going to move some of my furniture... bah.

How did you get it in the apartment?

[Armin]

I'm moving to Venice in California next month, we've already got the place. Not fully moving though, we'll be spending two weeks a month in Arizona and two in Cali. We'll be working to build a fan base in Cali like that we already have in Phoenix, and trying to build our fan base in Phoenix even further, so we'll be doing a lot of flyering and promoting in both places, and of course a ton of daily practicing. We got a regular gig at the Whisky a Go Go in Hollywood, every fourth Friday we headline. We're one in four or five bands in the history of the Whisky to ever have such a regular spot, and those bands were The Doors, Motley Crue, Van Halen, and I can't remember the rest.

We're also going to finish recording the album before the summers done, so tons of writing and studio time. We're going back into the studio with Ryan Greene, who has quite the resume. He did most of the tracks for Guitar Hero 3, and he's a legend within the punk rock scene, and did the preproduction for Megadeth's Countdown for Extinction. He also did our last record, but those were very different circumstances. He had just gotten into his new studio and we were the second band he had recorded, so he didn't really "know the room" that well. The album was rushed, but now that he knows and believes in us, he's doing it for free up front and is taking his time with it until it's perfect. AND our singer was still developing his voice style. He had previously come from an R&B background, so his voice was very clean, and he had just started singing with a little more rasp when they recorded him.

And we're flying back out to Germany again in August for a killer three day festival we did last year. They found us on fucking myspace and offered to pay for our flights, food, hotels, transportation, rental gear AND money on top of it. We thought it was a scam at first, but it turned out to being one of the coolest things I've ever done. They're REALLY into American rock in Germany; we got to headline two of the three nights, and we were the first band in the festival's history to play all three days in a row. Keeping in mind the festival only draws about 5,000 people, but still.

So yeah, my schedule will consist of writing, practicing old and new material and techniques, learning to sing, learning a lot of covers for the hell of it, playing shows, and promoting. It's nice to have enough money to get by and still do what you love every second of every day. I don't even care if nothing else ever happens with our band.

[Joe]

Armin is the next Hammett.
- Become fluent (if that's the word?) in Latin, then either Spanish (easy, after Latin?) or Russian.
- Work. A lot.
- Taking PC Hardware Essentials, Advanced Web Dev (XML) and Contemporary American Society at college.
- Work some more.
- Get a Verizon iPhone, if they come out with one.
- Work

I'd like to establish a decent savings cushion to start saving for a house. I'd like to buy my first place mostly loan-free, but that's going to definitely be a stretch. There's some $35,000 places in town here that I'd like to buy then remove all walls. My dad's a jack-of-all-trades and can fix about anything, so it should be a relatively inexpensive fixmeup.

[while1]

Also, figure out how I'm going to move some of my furniture... bah.

How did you get it in the apartment?

Dad and sister's help.  Unfortunately, my move-out and move-in date falls on a Tuesday so my Dad isn't able to come up to help.  Both fortunately and unfortunately, my move-out and move-in date falls within a 10 day period I will have off from work with only having to take off 3 days of vacation, meaning I will have plenty of time to pack and get situated in my new place, but also means that the vast majority of available co-workers for me to ask to help will also be on vacation and likely out of town (preliminary polling results = more than 50%).

So yeah, I have to figure out the details of how I'm going to move some of my furniture.

[Hitmen]

Armin is the next Hammett.

Don't insult Armin like that!

[Ender]

Armin is the next Hammett.
- Become fluent (if that's the word?) in Latin, then either Spanish (easy, after Latin?) or Russian.

Haha, omg. Joe, first of all, I'm not sure if it means much to say that you're fluent in Latin, since Latin is not a spoken language. Perhaps one can say "I can read and write Latin fluently". Even then, you won't have any practical use for writing Latin, only reading it. It will improve your vocabulary, and it will allow you to read Latin poets and statesmen in the original, if you're into that. It will help you learn Romance languages, like Spanish, but it won't make the process "easy".

It is very hard to become fluent in a language. Most people never become fluent, and only reach a level of profiency. In fact, it is awfully hard to become fluent without going to a country where the language is spoken natively. You have set before yourself the task of becoming fluent in three languages - Latin, Spanish, and Russian - and I don't think you realize how much commitment this will take.

I suggest you tackle Spanish first, since it is so widely spoken worldwide, not only in the US but also in South and Central America, as well as Spain of course. It might in fact be the most widespread langauge after English. I would recommend Spanish over Latin, because I don't think you would have any real use for Latin. As I said, it's only good for reading dead poets and improving your vocabulary. But it's not worth the effort to improve your vocabulary; there are much easier ways to do this, and you have already taken the SATs, anyway. You should learn it if you want to read Latin literature, and I'm not sure whether this is your cup of coffee.

EDIT:

I misunderstood you a little. I didn't see that you said "Spanish or Russian". Okay, so your ambitions aren't as great as I had thought. But still, I think you should skip Latin and go straight to Spanish or Russian. Also, ask yourself why you want to learn these languages. What is your motivation? Recognizing your motives will help you choose a language.

[Armin]

Armin is the next Hammett.

Don't insult Armin like that!

Seriously. WTF?!

[Ergot]

SysAdmining... like a boss.

[Newby]

Programming... like a boss. It won't be fun, but it'll pay really really well!

[Towelie]

I'll be in San Diego most of June for training (a week with aviation, subs, marines, and surface), then I'll go back to Annapolis for a month of training until the 3rd week in July, then I'll be back in San Diego until mid august.

[truste1]

Hopefully I'll find a decent summer job that will fit with my schedule. I'm going to be also interning with the Chamber of Commerce faciliating networking between young professionals and working for my mom while one of her employees is out on maternity leave. Filing contracts, etc. Every now and then I'll tag along doing physical labor hanging drywall and that sort of thing. Not the most fun but it's pretty easy and pays decently.

Other than that, leisure stuff. Probably a weekend out in Charleston, WV visiting a good friend, hopefully visiting some friends in New York City, Florida, DC, and the beaches of the Outer Banks. Sailing, maybe beach lacrosse. I turn 21 this summer so I'm also looking forward to that.