Big Plans!

I always begin the summer with big plans: I'm going to turn a couple of conference papers into articles, dust of a book proposal that I began working on a couple years ago, actually get on top of courses for the year, read books that I don't have time to read during the academic year,  etc., etc.  Typically, I complete a fraction of this work due to the various other obligations I have: summer teaching, family obligations, the list of home repairs that is at least as ambitious as my various scholarly plans.  I never finish any of the lists, although I do make a dent in all them.  I've learned to be relatively upbeat about this sorry state of affairs; after all, our plans really don't amount to all that much in the grand scheme of things.  Maybe I'll put "enjoy the summer" at the top of all my various lists.