Summer Plans a la Robert Frost

This is what my last posting was supposed to be about. Let's hope I don't stray this time.

I'll be home in approximately a fortnight/2 weeks/14 days. As always, I have plans for the summer which generally involve some form of self-improvement.

Past planned summer activities for me have included
- Reading all the United Nations documentation on the Israel/Palestine conflict
- Becoming moderately skilled at the Harmonica
- Getting my 800 meter dash (if we can call 800 meters a dash) time down to a respectable 2:00 (minutes, not hours)
- Learning how to speak _________ (insert language here)
- Lifting regularly enough to be able to bench my own body weight (which is really not much more than the bar, to be honest)
- Making and maintaining a webpage (this blog doesn't count; the Indian** did all the set-up work for me. The Indian, you may know, is my source for all answers Internet. And he's a really great guy too... for an Indian.)

Past actual summer activities for me have included
- None of the above
- Not much else

I'm very good at planning/organizing/making lists. Not so good at following through with them. This summer I'm getting smart. I'm going to set a small number of clearly defined goals and resist the temptation to add more.

So, without further ado, I present to you

The Foreigner's Summer Plans 2006... in VERSE!!

Summertime is here again
I'm heading home, yes on a plane
Two years almost I've been gone
Karachi, dude! What's going on?

Sunny days are on their way
Little work and lots of play
Maybe cricket, maybe squash
Maybe World Cup Soccer. Gosh!

The harmonica will reappear
Lovely tunes to tease your ear
But only if I take a class
I don't want to break no glass

Webpage building here we go
Take it easy, take it slow
No demands, no deadline pressure
Time for an XML refresher

Have to get my F1 visa
Columbus, not Berlin or Pisa
Study some for graduate school
Can't show up and look the fool

Music, sports, the Internet
Would you like a cigarette?
No would be the correct answer
Nothing sucks quite like lung cancer

The last three lines are out of place
I could edit, change the space
But that would counter my intent:
Public Service Announcement

Anyway, I'm almost done
Said my verse, now have to run
But! Before this poem I smother
A message for my father, mother

The perfect son I may not be
The apple fell far from the tree?
Mistakes galore this boy has made
But on this point I won't be swayed

You may flinch; I will not blink
"Oh, what will your uncles think?"
No matter how you show dismay
The hair has gone; the stud will stay