Camp Rules & Regulations

Top Ten Summer Camp Rules:

1) Cook. Take time each day to prepare healthy, delicious meals using new recipes and fresh ingredients. Heavy on the fish and produce, light on the carbs and dairy. Think Mediterranean and Caribbean and Pacific. Bodies of water. Seas and oceans. Stuff tan and skinny people eat.

2) Write. Take all those assorted essays and op-eds and random notes on my computer and do something with them.

3) Design. Start a blog with a portfolio of graphic design projects over the last decade. Develop new product design ideas for the shop.

4) Read. Revisit the classics. On my nightstand: The Great Gatsby, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Catcher in the Rye, Lolita. Also: The Emperor's Children and Juliet, Naked. (Note: I'm not promising to read all of them. Just even one would be nice.)

5) Paint. Set up the easel in the backyard and have at it. Don't worry so much about the finished product. Just enjoy the process.

6) Look. Appreciate small details. The stuff of everyday life. Take photographs. Take a second look. Be present.

7) Listen. Enjoy good music of all genres. On my iPod: Bon Iver, Patti Griffin, Yo La Tengo, Willie Nelson, Lauryn Hill, Wilco, Beach House, Sam Cooke, Middle East, just to name a few. Seek out new music, too.

8) Watch. No television allowed at Summer Camp, except for The Wire on DVD and TED Talks on my computer. That should be all the entertainment I need.

9) Move. Take bike rides and long walks. Maybe even swim.

10) Unplug. Limit dependence on the clock, the phone, email, Facebook. The world will continue to spin, and it's okay if I'm not a part of it for a minute.

Does this sound boring to you? It sounds positively BLISSFUL to me. I'm excited.