Beware and be-love the summer haze

What is the summer haze? 

First off, if you hate summer you probably don't experience this. However, it is something that I personally notice. It's both beautiful and dangerous. 

The heat is intense yet comforting, like a warm blanket. It sends you into a sort of torpor. I've always said I'm basically a lizard. I'm cold-blooded. I can still crank my way through a water park before the crowds get there, but the haze starts to set in after that first hour or so. 

The air is filled with cotton, like snow in June or July. The world is green and blue, and the air smells of barbecue and cinnamon and chlorine and sunscreen. People are laughing and talking and splashing. This feeling is strongest at public parks, including the ones at Provo Canyon, water parks, and amusement parks. It is obviously amplified in seasonal places where half the year the air hurts your face. 

My brain personally can easily fall into this half-zoned out, dissociative state where I'm lost in a sort of pleasant, fuzzy half-daydream. Riding along a water slide provides a wonderful physical stimulus for my brain, which almost constantly craves stimulation. This is great! And there's nothing wrong with it. In fact, it's a wonderful thing. It makes going to work and putting in all the effort 1000% worth it!

The danger is letting it consume you. That's when it becomes a sort of poison. 

I bombed two Art Fights in a row due to succumbing to the summer haze. I can't even remember which team I was on or who won. I'd show up 90 minutes late to church due to the summer haze. I didn't submit to writing group for like 4 months due to the summer haze. I didn't touch video games for like multiple summers due to falling asleep in front of my computer when I tried, due to the summer haze. Then November hits and you PANIC. We only have limited time on this earth; it CANNOT be wasted. 

But we need to have fun too. No point in learning theme park engineering if I never go to theme parks. 

What's the antidote? On Saturdays, I will protect the 2 PM - 6 PM block, UNLESS: 

  • It is a PRE-PLANNED double Lagoon-a-Beach and Cherry Hill day. LAB hours for 2026 haven't been released yet, but this WILL influence the calculus. 
  • Or it's a pre-planned full theme park day. 
  • OR it's a hike, but I am only going on maybe 2 hikes max this summer. Too much to do. 
And that's it. 

Am I at Lagoon and NOT doubling? Yeah, gotta leave by 12:50 PM. 

This does mean a slight extra caffeine boost on Saturday will be imperative, but that's fine. Splash Summit, Cowabunga Bay, Scera Pools, Lindon Aquatics, all of those locations can easily fit with a 2 PM - 6 PM study block. And then the evening is mine to game and maybe take a walk, or watch a movie. 

A few other notes: 
  • Water park prep and even long run prep should mostly be done during Thursday PM cleaning-and-reading block. 
  • Total caffeine = about 246mg on Saturdays. Roughly 96 pre-workout, 30 during workout (Gu), 120 post. 
  • Memorial Day Weekend will likely be a 3/4 park day, doubling at LAB and Cherry Hill, so I will come up with a slightly lighter schedule for that weekend. 

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