As Good A Time As Any...

Well. It's officially two am. I swear, I thought it was like, 11:30. That was like, two minutes ago! How is it two in the morning already? I don't know. But I do know that this happens to me way too often...

I have a lot of bad habits. You know, I'm constantly telling myself to do things better, like Oliver, don't drink soda, drink water - soda will just give you heartburn and a breakout, you know it will. Or, Ok, Ollie. Today, you need to write at least four thousand words. Walk in the park, no big deal, you just have to stay fo- wait. What are you doing? OLIVER. PUT DOWN THE CONTROLLER. OLIVER DO NOT OPEN NETFLIX YOU NEED TO WRI- well. Too late now...

I literally know that I'm going to regret doing something, but I do it anyway. I'm a lazy slug. And tomorrow, when I have to drag myself out of bed and write thousands of words, and then shower and make coffee and join the world as a functioning human being, I will regret staying up this late. As it is right now, though, I'm feeling pretty good.

Well, except for the ache in my shoulder...

I went camping this weekend. Yeah. Me: Mr, I hate the outdoors, I need wifi, I need electricity, I need constant connection for christ's sake! I honestly wasn't going to go, because I didn't have a ride...but then my friend offered me one, and I didn't want to back out, so I took her up on the offer and started packing. And you know, this funny thing happened: she told me to pack my sketchbook, so I did. She told me to pack a flashlight, so I did. She did not tell me to pack blankets or a pillow, so I didn't. Guess who ended up sleeping on the tent floor/the ground? This guy, right here:

(Camping Selfies Are Not Optional...)

So now I'm sore. I should add that this pain in my back had just gone away after sleeping on my bedroom floor so Dea (aforementioned friend) could have the bed during her like, 7 day long visit. So that's like 7 days of sleeping on a floor, and 1 night of sleeping on the ground, all in the pursuit of hanging out with Dea. But it's all good, because in the morning we went up to the cabin (where above selfies were taken over breakfast) and her mom made me fried eggs and bacon on toast, and we ate with a perfect view of the massive lake... which we spent the entire day swimming in!

There were a bunch of ducks in that lake, and although I don't trust ducks (see: Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunters Saga for a myriad of reasons to distrust ducks) we spent hours chasing them around the water and tossing them breadcrumbs. Sometime around mid-morning we walked to two separate Gas Stations in pursuit of a lighter, which was a damn hard mission.

In the city they just, y'know, sell you a lighter. In the country, they ask your age. I don't know why. When I'm in the city I've never seen a clerk ask someone's age to sell them a lighter - and I mean, why should they? It's a freaking lighter! Why would you need to be the legal drinking age (19) in order to have access to fire? People are camping out here! We need flames! This is the wilderness. But alas, although I actually am nineteen, I have no ID yet, and the woman at the first store wouldn't sell me a lighter. I guess the woman at the second one thought I actually looked my age, because she sold me the lighter. Thanks, random woman! After that we had a barbecue and I ate around like, a million burgers and hot dogs.

The sun had been baking into us for hours at that point, and eventually I decided to high-tail it home. Walking. The walk from our camp-site to my house (which are both in the middle of nowhere) was like an hour and forty minute walk, according to google. I wouldn't know since halfway through my brother passed me on the side of the road and stopped to give me a lift.

And in other outing news, I also went into the city for a day last week or so. I had some royalty money saved up and I wanted to hit up the used bookstore and grab a coffee, so I met up with Dea and our friend Mac to walk around all day. I ended up buying:

• Immortal Beloved, by Cate Tiernan (loved it so much I have the second book coming in the mail)
• Forever by Maggie Stiefvater (already read it but needed a physical copy) and
• The Reckoning by Kelly Armstrong (also already read it and needed a copy)

We got coffee, junk food, and hung out on the docks and in the park before walking around checking out stores and restaurants. And I ended the day by coming home to my mom cooking an entire Turkey Dinner in the middle of July, which was a plus.

Summer is looking good, so far... I'm really hoping for more food, more fun, and more fortune, before it ends, though!