Yeah, I had to question myself when I typed that too. It’s not bad enough that I’m traveling to New Jersey in the middle of summer while that area of the country is experiencing record-high temperatures. But worse, I’m headed to Seaside Heights, which might be the epicenter of all things douchebag (though that argument could be made for the place I call home, too), at least if you watch MTV (I don’t). Yes, I live in a hot-ass desert, but it’s the desert part (read: dry heat) that makes 100-degree-or-more temps bearable, unlike, say, Florida. But coupled with high humidity and guys who call themselves “The Situation?” Gah.

OK, to be honest, I’m looking forward to taking what might be my first real vacation in years. The location may not be the ideal summer destination for me personally, but the girlfriend and I are staying with friends of hers in a beach house for a week, so it shouldn’t be too bad. In theory, my work should be all caught up this week and the plan is to rest, recuperate and not do too much else. I will be taking sketchbooks and notebooks, and though I have no designs, it might be nice if I can just do some free-form writing like back in the day, maybe some sketches just for sketching sake, and, yeah, I’ll probably find myself doing some actual work on comic layouts. But I’m not taking a computer, I’m not taking any other tools, and I’m actually packing shorts, so I’m at least going to try to play the “vacation” game. Because I need it. Whether or not I agree.

Of course, I will have my trusty DROID, so look for what will surely be a plethora of Twitpics, Tweets and other various social media posts throughout the week. I’ll be back around July 19, in case any of you really need me. Just in time to either rejoice or lament on the fact that I won’t be at San Diego Comic-Con this year.