3 Laps Around Walmart

 So last night I had the great idea to help me manage my free time - go do something Wed and Saturdays. I figure if I can just get out of the house 2x a week that should help with a lot of things.

- Not Bummer Summer

- Detach from work

- Untangle some jealousy (because less free-thinking time)

- Better appreciation of free time

So my chicken wing competition didn't get far. I tried one place and I was kind of done. I think I'm chicken-winged out for now. That's kind of how the story goes for me. But I have to stop seeing it as failures. I have lots of great ideas. So I started the Summer with wanting a Not Bummer Summer - I was going to get out of the house twice a week, I was going to stop working > 40 hrs/week, I was going to stop focusing so much on my boss and colleagues and all its associated feelings.

Getting out of the house twice a week proved more difficult than I thought - where do I go? What do I do? 

Well, Brain won't let it go. So last night, I looked up some meetups. Then I remembered - oh yeah, pandemic. And I haven't really established my out-in-public policy so I don't know yet where I stand with public events. I'm just so absent minded I don't trust myself to be safe enough. 

Side note - my volunteer hours goals is on hold for this year. #pandemic

Ok, so last night I mad-clicked my way to - my area's parks and rec. I didn't really find anything. I discovered a few new parks. I was really looking for planned events. I was willing to spend the money in the name of the trending self-care. For whatever reason, I didn't find what I was looking for.

I even looked into just attending baseball games twice a week. Actually that was still on the table, so not sure what happened there. Oh I think the $15/game price tag. But it was going to be worth it to have something else to focus on. 

Not committed to the idea, but it's still there.

I looked into virtual trivia nights because I realized I wanted to talk to people. I'm losing track of the days again. That proved to be harder to find than I thought. To me, I feel like that would be widespread but I don't think I know how to search for things like that. 

So this morning I woke up with the grand idea of just starting small. I've been lamenting about my hood-adjacent neighborhood not being all that conducive to walking. But when I took a break from cursing it, I realized, I could just drive to the Wal-Mart down the street.

It's pretty huge. So I figured 3 laps is probably some distance close to a mile. Then I remembered #pandemic. For some reason, I guess 3 is my go-to number for good faith effort. So in my mind I would do this for 3 months - aug, sept, oct. Don't ask me where those months came from - there might have been a reason at 4a but I surely can't remember now. 

So then I got stuck in the - do I walk the laps inside the store and risk exposure to COVID or do I walk outside the store and risk heat exhaustion. 

Then of course I took it way past the current. Maybe this could be a long-term thing. When the weather cools down, I can walk outside the store. Then I remembered all the shows I saw on ID and got scared. And was about ready to scratch the whole idea - both on the chance of dying, by pandemic or something more sinister.

And that's how Brain works. 

So then I try to figure out time. Ideally, when the sun goes down, but I know once I get settled, it's hard for me to get back in motion - what is that Newton's law? An object at rest...

Then I extended the idea to just walking to Walmart instead of driving... baby steps. I'd have to cross a pretty busy street with no crosswalks or sidewalks. Sounds unlikely. 

And something that seemed so simple got lost in the weeds.

So I still don't know where I stand. 

But I really need to break-up with work. I think that's ultimately the goal. It's been like my captor and almost-abuser. 

So maybe on Wed, no later than 6:30p - I go to Walmart. Because people are allegedly vaccinated, it might be okay to walk inside. I'll wear my mask, don't go too fast so my oxygen demand is not high. This is not meant to be cardio, more psychological. People-watch without engaging and burning my skin off. I was thinking starting August 1, but I might go out this Wednesday. 

I think the 6:30p was good because it's a good event start time. And if I'm still working or toodling on laptop, it'll force me to stop. And also, maybe the sun will be less hot? 

When I look at the weather today, it looks like the high breaks after 5p.  Honestly just walking to and from the car in 90-degree heat makes me break out into a sweat.

Yeah, if I'm going to do this, it's gotta be indoors. 

I'll have to remember to wear socks. I don't actually have good tennis shoes anymore because I lost the insoles to one when I was trying to be cheap, but I have some Keds I can probably use. Should be okay if I keep it low-impact. 

The other thing I want to do is start auto-sending money to family overseas. Why talk about the speck in your neighbor's eye when there's a plank in your own eye. Reading something about Joe @ Retire by 40, gave me the idea that $500/mon is a good number. There's no legacy law like that in my culture, but I think it's probably a good idea. I was getting angry that my brother doesn't help, but I technically don't really give my family anything on a monthly  basis either. 

And greedily, I don't see my first mom living longer than 3 years otherwise I'd be concerned with how I would sustain this post-FIRE. We shall see.