How I Spent My Fourth of July

• Mostly, working. Mira asked me to come in today, so I spent my afternoon playing with the boys. They're fun to be with, so I'm certainly not complaining, but the walk over there and their boundless energy really wore me out.
• Eating pancakes. Hillary and Lauren invited me over for their Independence Day dinner, which consisted of raspberry-blueberry pancakes with whipped cream (and salmon, but I don't eat fish). It was nice not to have to cook, and even nicer to hang out with them and their friends.
• Playing the Sims 2. I'm going to need to institute some serious population control methods, goodness gracious. That, or I'll have to consolidate a bunch of households. More than ten families on the rotation is a bit too much to handle.
• Listening to, but not watching, fireworks. This is only the second Fourth of July in my memory that I didn't go out to see fireworks; the first was when I was living in Costa Rica ten years ago and the only place having a fireworks show in San Jose was the American embassy, which our lack of a car and/or political connections made difficult to work out.
• Cowering through yet another thunderstorm. I don't hide under the bed like I used to when I was five, but believe me, I'm following Julie Andrews's advice and thinking of my favorite things the entire time. Even twenty-year-olds need coping mechanisms, okay?