I got stung by a yellow jacket yesterday. It crawled up my leg while I was eating at a picnic table, and when I tried to brush it away, it stung me below my knee. Everyone else has been freaking out over the little monsters, annoying as they can be when they decide to sample your dinner. But of course I was the one to actually get stung. I was surprised at how bad it wasn’t — my leg was sore for a time after the initial pinprick, but ice cream, I discovered, does an excellent job of numbing the pain. I could even play Bust-A-Move while holding the container in place with my other leg. I can’t say it improved my performance at all, though.

I wish it would rain. The sun is all well and good, but frankly at this point it’s just being selfish. Not a cloud in the sky, hardly a break in the brightness and the heat, barely a breeze on the air. I wish the sun would melt before I do.

Life sounds unpleasant, doesn’t it? But it’s really not. Even with a fair bit of social tension and turbulence in Sub Free this year, the annoyances and discomforts are tempered with friendship and love. Relationships are at a different level now: they mean more, they’re more honest, and more real. I’ve discovered a few things about myself, too: when people are pained and unhappy and I can’t do anything about it, I feel so helpless and frustrated. And when I can do something to protect others, I might even have the strength to do it.

There was a time when academics was my entire life. I hear people now, talking about taking academic overloads: “It’s totally doable,” they say, “you just have to give up your social life.” There was a time when I would have gladly made that trade-off, and regularly did. But not now. Humans — they just kind of grow on you, don’t they?

χαίρω δε τῇ ἀγάπῃ.