On a camping trip right now for the next couple of days. Actually, I had tix and hotel for SacAnime but it was never a 100% guaranteed thing. It was just a plan that i had just in case where wasn’t anything else that would pop up over Labor Day weekend. Since last summer was a shitshow for me and J and J’s dad, I really wanted to make sure I had a summer that was pretty dang cool. Going to a summer con is always cool, but J’s friend gave an open invite to go up to his place in Somerset (east of Sacramento). Ostensibly because he’s a car guy, J’s a car guy, and they’re going to work on a bunch of jeeps to get them ready for an offroading event next week

it being a holiday weekend and really with nothing else to do, I wanted to go with J up there, pitch up a tent, and then camp for the weekend. Honestly the appeal of camping greatly increased after I watched Yuru Camp and Solo Camping for Two. Unlike some other anime, like sports or fighting anime, where the appeal is watching others go through something and then learn and then accomplish something great, camping seemed like something anyone could do with just a little time, effort, and some cash to get some decent gear.

Watching Yuru Camp in particular was so peaceful and healing that I wanted to get that sort of feeling myself. And I’m right now laying down on a cot in a very nice tent, out in the middle of the California woods, not doing a damn thing except chilling and vibing with nature. it’s fantastic. And, even though I’m not with people I know super well, I trust J to have cool friends, and he does! I’m so grateful that I’m not under pressure to socialize. I can just be by myself while everyone else is working on fixing cars. I’m just out here and I don’t have to be around people or say hi to anyone I don’t have to say hi to. It’s…freeing. I can hang out in the tent, watching stuff on my laptop, reading a book, eating snacks, listening to birds, it’s nice! And I really want to do it more.