I have made a preliminary plan for the month and a half of summer that I have before I ship off to Japan. The idea is that each week will have a theme, and I will focus all my attention on that one theme so that I am actually productive and not just wasting time on the internet. Coincidentally, the themes for each week all start with the letter P. So I guess I can call it my Summer "P"lans. :D Anyway, here's what it looks like so far.
>WEEK 1 (May 5th - May 9th): Planning
It's not a full week, but it's a decent amount of time. This week will begin with unpacking all my stuff and settling in at home. I will then continue to iron out the details of the rest of my summer plans and more specific things I'd like to accomplish.
>WEEK 2 (May 10th - May 16th): Pokémon
I will finally set aside time to build a Pokémon team! I figured I'd get it out of my system early in the summer so that I can get it over with and have something ready for Japan and next year at WPI. I will probably begin the week by finishing up HeartGold and then proceed to actually building the team I planned out a while ago.
>WEEK 3 (May 17th - May 23rd): Portfolio
Since I'll have way too much time on my hands, I really should use it to add stuff to my portfolio. This school year has given me a bunch of stuff to show off, and more importantly a lot of knowledge and skill that I can put towards making more portfolio pieces. Although I am not going to be looking for a summer internship this year because of my Japan trip, I should have a portfolio that I can show off at any time, to potential employers and even just family. I'd also like to make a small game during this week, possibly in collaboration with other WPI IMGD majors.
>WEEK 4 (May 24th - May 30th): Play
What good is a summer vacation if you don't play video games? Although I'll probably be doing this throughout the summer, I thought that having a full week devoted to games would help me clear out my backlog of games. If you're interested in what my backlog looks like, here it is:
PC:
> Mirror's Edge
> Trine
> World of Goo
> Psychonauts
Wii:
> The Conduit
> Excitebots
> Sonic Unleashed
> Super Mario Galaxy 2
VC:
> Kirby's Dreamland 3
> Super Mario RPG
> Cave Story
DS:
> Sonic Chronicles
> Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story
> Trace Memory
> Hotel Dusk
> Prof. Layton: Diabolical Box
> Pokémon HeartGold
I'm sure I'm missing some, and more will come out during the summer. Not to mention, there are still some on my wishlist that I haven't picked up and therefore haven't started. Also, Super Mario Galaxy 2 comes out on May 23rd (the last day of this week) so I may make this week Week 4 and make something else Week 3. Decided to swap Week 3 and Week 4 since I'm feeling the need to work on my portfolio and thinking that Super Mario Galaxy 2 is a great way to start off Week 4.
>WEEK 5 (May 31st - June 6th): Personal
I really couldn't think of another theme, but this one might work. Since it will be my second to last week in the USA I thought having a week to myself (not that the other weeks aren't for myself; they all are :D) to take care of any personal things would be beneficial. This includes hanging out with my girlfriend more, cleaning up my room, spending time with family, etc.
>WEEK 6 (June 7th - June 13th): Packing
On June 15th I leave for Japan and I will be living there for about 4 months (until October 8th). To make sure I don't leave the country without anything, I've devoted a whole week to packing and making sure I'm ready for the trip. I'll be cramming Japanese language, culture, and everything during this week (although I will be studying Japanese over the course of my summer vacation).
So there you have it. A plan for using my free time well for once. And now that it's written down and made public on the internet, I have more incentive to follow it!
