What I did last summer, in advance

I've started making plans for the summer. Seeing as how I'll be stuck in Ann Arbor, with no obvious vacation destination in mind, I've decided to do the equivalent of sign up for a ton of extracurricular activities. Here's my list so far:

- Volunteering with Washtenaw Literacy. There was a good part of me once known as a teacher.

- Taking yoga at the nearest rec center. I love me some good tai chi, but I've already had three semesters of it.

- Taking a language class at the community college. I've never felt it was a waste of time to learn more about other people.

In short, whatever it takes to get me out of the lab and into the world. If Ann Arbor can seem like a prison, then the lab can surely seem like my prison cell. But it's also my cell where I have everything arranged just as I want it. My chair is arranged to the right height; I have a fast internet connection; I can play music as loud as I want (after 5 p.m.). In fact, the lab (or at least my little corner of it) is too comfortable. I'm the alpha of a 5' x 5' space. I'm 30 years old and the alpha of a 5' x 5' space!

HAMLET: [Ann Arbor's] a prison.

ROSENCRANTZ: Then is the world one.

HAMLET: A goodly one; in which there are many confines,
wards and dungeons, [Ann Arbor] being one o' the worst.

ROSENCRANTZ: We think not so, my lord.

HAMLET: Why, then, 'tis none to you; for there is nothing
either good or bad, but thinking makes it so: to me
it is a prison.