the third lap.

Ten-year-old niece picked this out for me from the grocery store: "Sorry you have to study this weekend!" Yar. A nice gesture from someone who is on summer break and spends most of the day slip-n-sliding. She thought, bitterly.

We are hitting the homestretch on the whole studying thing. More correctly, we are on the painful third lap of the mile--the one where you are beginning to really feel the first two laps you ran, and still have another 400 meters to go.

"Surf on Saturday?"
"Can't, I'm meeting S. We both have a ton of studying to do."
"That sucks."
"Thanks. Because THAT makes me feel better about it."

Granted, I have not been in school for a few years, but this whole eschewing-fun-for-learning feels about 10 times more painful than I had remembered. Apparently, learning? Is always the hard way.