Summer 2011 report card.

With the end of my summer unofficially coming up relatively soon (I begin training for a job on August 21, which will effectively carry into the school year thus marking the end of my summer "break") I have been reflecting on the past few months trying to figure out if I would consider this summer to be a "success" or not. In order to best figure this out I have decided to grade my summer via a breakdown of summer-related categories and I'll share these grades with all of you! I consider my "summer break" to have begun when my regular school year ended, so I'll be reflecting on the period of May through August:

Productivity: 6/10

I consider "productivity" to be things that you don't necessarily enjoy doing, but you do them because they'll assist you at a later time (they produce a future good, not the production of good in-and-of-itself). The primary measure of productivity would be wage-labour (summer employment) and this is something I have ultimately failed to do this summer. Despite managing to get 3 interviews at good jobs, and actually having to turn down a couple other jobs (for various reasons) I could not find gainful employment this summer. So why did I award myself a 6/10, even though I haven't been earning money the past four months? The answer is that I feel that I earned productivity marks in other non-employment related ways. For instance, this summer I took a course at school, earning a credit which will (somewhat) alleviate the stress this upcoming school year will inevitably bring. I also began diligently studying for my LSAT, which is also "work" in the sense that I'd rather be doing something else but it is something that must be done. Therefore my attention to studious endeavours over the summer have earned me, I believe, a 6/10 in this category. 

Social: 8/10

Another major aspect of the summer is the social one. The summer is a time when most people have less to worry about (especially us students) and therefore more time to get together and socialize. The summer is also the ideal time to catch-up with friends and acquaintances who you don't normally see during the regular year. For me, the socialization aspect of the summer has been pretty good. I managed to hang out with most of the people I wanted to at some point, and I feel like I have re-strengthened bonds with some old friends as well. There have been plenty of social occasions this summer; parties, get-togethers, trips, etc., and the only thing really left wanting in this category would be an awesome end-of-summer-bash (that I still hope someone puts on). I also managed to hang out with the girlfriend quite a bit (who I normally see maybe 4 times a month during the school year) so that was nice as well. 

Events: 9/10

More amounts of free-time plus the awesome weather means that the summer is the best time to go out and do things that you wouldn't normally do during the year. Despite not working and therefore not having much money, as well as May-June primarily being dedicated to my school course, I am quite happy with this category. Two big concerts featuring some of my favourite bands (I managed to see personal favourites Rise Against, Blink-182, Tokyo Police Club and the Arkells live), a weekend trip to Niagara Falls, two Blue Jays game, an Argonauts football game, and a day trip to Wasaga, all within the span of 6-odd weeks has left me satisfied with that summer "need" to do stuff (plus a quite large credit card bill for the month of July has effectively scared me off of doing anything more). The only things lacking in this category would be a cottage trip of some sort. I love cottage life and I love hanging out with good friends. I think combining these two things would be the ultimate summer event. If only I had a cottage...

Rest and Relaxation: 10/10

Again I can credit my low "Productivity" mark for this one and even though the break part of my "summer break" didn't really begin until July, I really feel that I have rested up as well as anyone can during the past few weeks. At this point I actually feel restless and I am excited for the upcoming school year. I have reached that point where I want to be busy, to have structure in my life again. It's a good thing as it means that I won't (hopefully) burn out with everything come October because I never really got a break. With a lot of my friends actually having jobs, plus the geographic distance I am from other friends, there have been plenty of days where I spend the majority of my time simply lounging around doing whatever. This has allowed me to catch up on my favourite hobbies (music, gaming, reading fiction, and movies, etc.) which are usually neglected during the school year.

Overall Total: 33/40 = 82.5% (A-)

I think this total is accurate, I would give my summer a low "A" rating. It's been a good few months. Nothing grand or life-altering, but decent enough that I have no major complaints. I got some work done that will help me in the future, I managed to catch up with a good number of friends, I have made memories and have been kept busy, and I ultimately was able to recharge my batteries in anticipation of the upcoming year.

I believe that these four categories adequately demonstrate all that I hope to get out of during a summer break and if you feel like reflecting on your time this summer feel free to write your own post (or leave it in the comments) grading yourself in these four areas of summer (if you agree with me and think it's an adequate breakdown of what a summer should entail. If you don't think so, feel free to create a scale of your own.). It would be interesting to see how our grades compare and contrast!