Things under consideration.

1. Chris Hemsworth's arms and general Thor-ishness.

2. Mark Ruffalo, the very best The Hulk of all the Hulks.

3. Okay, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, full stop.

4. The fact that I am possibly, maybe, getting a little bit stronger.

5. The fact that I am not working at the moment, at least not at my job job, and thus, I can be firm about the need for flexibility--i.e., my need for flexibility--when I am asked to work work at my job job. ('job job' is kind of fun to say.)

6. Today is the birthday of both Timothy Olyphant and Matt Czuchry--all hail the hotness.

7. The splendor that is the SLCC Publication Center, where I made little bound notebooks today for various people.

8. How thoroughly daunting it can feel to gather one's wits and one's poems to begin sending them out again.

9. HOWEVER with superior mental toughness and so forth, the dauntingness can be contained.

10. i.e., I am sending out packets of poems tomorrow.

11. Vanilla Icebox Cookies.

12. Rain.

Tell me which way you liked that.

It is time to break the Summer of 2007 all the way down with the Best and Worst list:

Best new recordings: Rickie Lee Jones, The Sermon on Exposition Blvd., Feist, The Reminder, Rufus Wainwright, Release the Stars

Best family stuff: the Scots came to town, baby Deacon was born, family gatherings of all sorts when my brother came to town, my sister came to breakfast at my house. Running out with college daughter and running son for sodas late at night. Late night movies with college daughter.

Best household developments: I cleaned out my closet and gave away so many clothes, so many that I can now see that I still have a bunch to give (I told the historian last week that I bet I could reduce my sweaters by a third--and I did). I bought a vacuum cleaner. I got the downstairs carpets cleaned.

Best television: so many middle-aged actresses have shows now--Lili Taylor, Holly Hunter, Glenn Close, Kyra Sedgwick. I now have a weekly regimen of State of Mind, Saving Grace, Damages, and The Closer. I'm also watching The Office, 30 Rock, and the pretty horrible most recent season of Scrubs. Also, a brilliant series on AMC called Mad Men. Also random episodes of Top Chef. Aside from that one, I could never get into the reality tv scene, so summer has kind of been a wasteland--but now, there's actual new television: some shows that are only barely passable as shows but with terrific acting (State of Mind and Saving Grace), but also terrific shows with excellent acting (The Closer, Damages, The Office, 30 Rock, and Mad Men).

Best movies (aka, movies at which I had a good time): Superbad, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Hairspray, Once, Hot Fuzz, Knocked Up, Disturbia, Away From Her, Broken English, and The Simpsons Movie.

I'm also adding the amazing vacation we took to the "Best" list.

Sundry other bests: I got to write new poems, including trying my hand at a canzone (still working on it), read new books, and relax a lot. I wrote a paper with counterintuitive. I've got some poems coming out this fall. I feel invigorated about my writing and submitting life. I can carry a lot of music around on my iPod.

Worst: Well, after a summer like that, it would be a little churlish to linger on "worst." Worst is, maybe, having to contemplate checking all the links on your readings pages for the online class you're about to teach. Or having to spend Tuesday in meetings. Or having to get your parking hang tag. Or thinking about how very, very whiny you have all of a sudden, after a pretty much blissful summer, become.