Summer isn’t really summer without camp

Entry 1:

I’ve been thinking about camp a lot recently and how much I miss it. I would be there right now if it weren’t for this virus and that’s so upsetting that I can’t even begin to express it. Maybe I sound like one of those crazy kids who is obsessed with summer camp, but I guess maybe I am one of those crazy camp kids. I just feel totally at home there, in the middle of the woods with the bugs and mice. I even miss the dry, overcooked chicken for dinner every Sunday night. I miss the big fish named Shalissa who lives in the lake and nibbles on our toes when we go swimming. I’ve met some of my favorite people there. I still talk to them of course, but it’s not the same. 

Earlier, I started thinking about memories. There’s this trend on Tik Tok where people talk about the movie Inside Out and how the main character Riley (is that her name?? I can’t remember) has these five core memories that are part of her personality and stuff and I literally have no idea what my core memories are. Like I have no idea what mine would be. And like I forget so many things. I feel like Dory sometimes, the way I be forgetting stuff. So I thought maybe I’d start writing down what I did every day to remember. I just had that idea like an hour ago so I haven’t started yet but I really feel like if I don’t start doing it, I’m gonna forget. I’ve had journals since I was a little kid and they’re kinda funny to read since there’s always like a few entries from all around the same time and they always start out like “oops sorry I forgot to write I’m gonna start again” and then there’s a few entries and then none for months or a year. It’s pretty funny.

My boyfriend keeps telling me I need to watch more movies. He sent me a bunch of DVDs in the mail but I haven’t watched any of them… Not sure how to tell him. He’s a huge movie fan and he loves horror movies. I don’t. At all. Scary…

Well, actually I don’t really mind horror movies. They aren’t my favorite but I haven’t really seen enough to judge them as a whole category.

I want to have a paranormal experience. Like I’m not sure if I believe in ghosts and the supernatural and stuff but I think it would be cool. I also kinda wanna learn how to do card tricks and magic but I’m not that invested in it.

Criminal Minds is my favorite show but oh my god there was this one freaky episode that I cannot stop thinking about. There was this one shot where this kid is going to bed and he hears this creaking noise and a clown like pops out from under his bed. It was a good episode but oh my god….

Entry 2;

Last night I went to the drive-in. We pulled up early, way before the movie was supposed to start. It was still light out, and we pulled into the parking spot and grabbed the chairs out from the trunk. I had iced tea in my water bottle, and the ice cubes clinked as I took it out. The women in the spot next to us were chatting and laughing loudly as they smoked cigarettes. I sat with my mom as my sister and dad trekked to the back of the field to buy us food. We asked each other trivia questions as we waited with the heat of the evening washing over me in a thick cloud. My family came back with our dinner as the sun began to sink towards the horizon. The warm food steamed up the inside of the plastic containers, and my sister and I snacked on soggy fries. We laughed and I felt content. (I almost didn’t care that there was no cell service. Almost.) The sunset took my breath away. It stained the sky pink just as Grease started to play on the big screen. I looked up at the stars to ‘Summer Lovin’ and sang along to ‘Greased Lightning’. I hadn’t smiled that wide in a while. It felt freeing in a way, to eat slush under the glow of the movie screen while listening to songs I love. I felt happy. It smelled like bug spray and hamburgers, and the sound coming out of the back of the car echoed. People were singing along and laughing, making comments about what was happening on screen. We drove home in the dark, listening to Bruce Springsteen on the car radio, my sister and I squeezed in between coolers and pillows in the back seat, just enjoying each other’s company.

Entry 3:

I have this thing where I say that my bedroom looks like a history teacher’s classroom. It makes me think that maybe I want to be a history teacher, in order to decorate my classroom and teach kids about international politics. The first thing people notice when they come in is that I have 100 flags hanging from my ceiling.

I don’t even really remember how I first got interested in flags, but I have been for a while. For fun, I do Sporcle quizzes about identifying world flags. I don’t have the entire world down yet, but I’m getting there. Right now I can identify all of Europe and South America, and I’m working on Asia. When I’m identifying all the flags in the whole world, I bat a solid 85% which isn’t great but it’s an interesting skill to have.

I know a ton of facts about flags that I spit off without warning or prompting — I think the people I know are getting a little tired of it. I have a couple of books on flags and I like knowing the history and the story behind the colors and shapes.

The American flag gets a solid 5/10 in my book. It’s not bad looking, but it’s not that great either (my criticism of a country’s flag isn’t a criticism of the country, just the flag). I find the American flag too busy. The colors are nice, but I’m not really a fan of flags that just have something in the corner. My favorites flags are ones that are more artistic like Northern Macedonia, Malawi, Kyrgyzstan, and Kiribati.

I’m not just into national flags though, I also like naval flags and the state flags. However, the Massachusetts state flag is pretty boring and basic. A white background? Really? I wish it was a bit more interesting and eye-catching, but it isn’t. We should take a note from Arizona, their flag is epic.