I recently had two very visual dreams; I think my subconscious is trying to tell me something.

The first one, I was driving down this feeder road, and suddenly it got a little windy. I struggled to maintain control of the wheel, my hands shaking from the effort. When making a left turn, the car was swept off the ground in waves by an inundation of ... sand. The grains rushed through the windows and slipped past my fingers. And right then, I felt this sense of absolute serenity.

Then dream numero dos, I was running, arms-flailing, hair-ripping, chest-pounding running down a long, never-ending ... diving board. My goal was this horizon of crystal blue sea sparkling iridescence under the sun. And I could feel my whole body tense up, ready to reach the end, ready to spring, jump, and feel the deep, cool water.

Well, obviously there’s no need for intense psychoanalysis here to figure out my repressed desire.

It’s my uncontrollable lust for ...Summer!

Ah summer, a senior year’s summer has finally finally arrived. The last day of school, as I was walking out into the parking lot, forever leaving Austin High, its alphabet hallways, its yellow burritos, its wall murals, its keyboard tiles, its temporary buildings, its blooming flowers, its teachers, its students, the school itself, I wasn’t compelled to look back. I didn’t feel pangs of regret or nostalgia or anything, besides the warm toast of sun on my skin.

The season really doesn’t start until school’s out. Then, it’s three full months of bliss. We seem to undo a whole year of rigidity by loosening our cloth, ignoring clocks, sleeping whenever, and letting the glorious feeling of suspended Today rush over us instead of worrying about Tomorrow.

The other morning I returned to a delicious, traditional summer ritual. I woke up around 8 since my body clock is still on school time, but with nothing to do, I grabbed a magazine to read in the guest room. This room is my favorite, mainly because it has these golden orange curtains that radiates when the sun comes out. And so I read on the neatly made bed in the golden room, drifted into sleep, dreamt, felt sunspots dance on my eyelids, woke up, and aimlessly flipped through TV channels. Later, I ate a big breakfast of cereal, eggs, muffins, and strawberry jam.

Not that all my days are going to be like this, since this summer, a week from now, I will be in China! And after two months more, I will be moving away for college. So you can imagine all the packing I need to prepare for, two trips, one across the globe, the other across the country.

My mom and I have been frantically dorm-room shopping. You know how hard it is to find bedding in twin extra-long?

Anyway, I bought a new bikini, flip-flops, tank-tops, waterproof mascara, and the likes to survive this summer.