bad habits

I believe just yesterday, I told a huge lie, which was that I might do some cooking this week. It was easy to say that before DC turned into the equivalent of a massive steam room, and now that it's nearly 100 degrees, well, the only thing I'm getting from the kitchen is a beer. Or, more accurately, I'm meeting friends at the bar for a beer. See, I'm in the throes of wild, unrestrained procrastination (one of my many awesomely bad habits). My bedroom floor looks like this... 

...and in seven days, I have my first exam in, I don't know, four years, I then have to remember how to write a ten page paper, and things at work are a little crazy. Oof, life. Naturally the most responsible thing to do is squeeze multiple happy hours in to the same day, er, week. BUT, the point is not that I'm quickly learning more about what restaurants have the best offerings than about international relations theory (well, ok, I am...). It's that apparently I'm not alone in my propensity to flock to a watering hole instead of a store for booze.

Apparently, according to NPR, the amount Americans spend on alcohol hasn't changed much over the past three decades, but the locations at which they spend it have. The percentage of money spent at bars and restaurants has nearly doubled. Meanwhile the price of alcohol at bars and restaurants has skyrocketed while the price of it at stores has gone down. And yet to the bars we all go. (I'd like to think that's actually healthier behavior, but I'm no expert). 

Interesting stuff, at least to me. Then again I'm a sucker for a good infographic. And, it's all I've got until summer realizes it's being unreasonable and cools down a little so I can cook something. Now excuse me while I go freak out about the fact that our professor just informed us the aforementioned paper my class was assigned has to be written in teams.