Fri, Dec 9, 2022, Freshly showered and feeling fine

 Out of respect for my fellow travelers on the train tomorrow, I took a shower. While I am fine with my smell, I knew I'd be worried about what odor I was giving off everytime I shifted position. And that would make me sweat and smell more. 

I was kind of annoyed with packing yesterday because my carry-on was half full with just a pair of sweats and a billowy dress. So glad Rational Brain talked me out of trying to travel with just a backpack. Why choose hard when you can choose easy.

So I packed last night and bought my ticket this morning. I was getting a little annoyed with myself with some money leaks ($15 on two dresses I could save if I re-bought them with new discounts) and $15 more on the Amtrak fare for buying it the day before. But for the Amtrak, I remembered this is just what has to happen with travel and me for now. 

So today, I'm feeling great. All packed, showered, ticketed. Today's big world decisions include:

- Take the trash to dump today or tomorrow

- Dinner

- Am I getting Chipotle lunch before my trip tomorrow

   - Speaking of ...should I pretend to download some books on iPad in case I get bored. I have downloaded many a thing for travel and have yet to use them, but we'll do 1 book and 1 audio book just in case. Now where are my headphones?

I had been wanting some Thai food on Wed, so I told myself I could get it on Thursday. But the weather was a bit warmer and I didn't want to eat anything that heavy. But I said it would be my reward for driving all the way out to Old Navy to do the returns. But everything I was looking at was coming up $15+. Am I back in Seattle?

I just couldn't do it.

With the "lost" $15 at Old Navy and the "lost" $15 at Amtrak, I just couldn't spend another $15. I know, I know. This is just how it is sometimes.

Losing money doesn't feel good. Yes, I'll drop $50 on some vegan cookies, but I didn't lose money. I got the thing and that was how much the thing cost.

Anyway. 

My HOA provider went to monthly billing for next year so I had to set them up in BillPay. That was fun. I have a credit for the 1st 3 months next year, so that was a fun reminder. 

I have some other cards I need to change over next year. (This is why I prefer BillPay to using auto-pay with each biller's site.) And I still need to close 2 pre-paid cards. 

And 90 seconds later, I just closed the Target Red Debit Card! Woot! That was quite painless, not sure why I waited so long!

And now Bluebird. I'm on hold.

But yeah, that's the weekend.

Ok Bluebird was closed in 5 mins.

Yay!! Look at me doing things!!

I feel amazing. I want to watch some true crime and eat chips!!

Eventhough I have these tasty vegan cookies, I still want my peanut butter patties from Food Lion. This is life.

Yesterday, I started to feel really bad for how I've been treating God lately. I was probably watching true crime or something and realized I probably had some wayward behavior in my childhood and I'm not intrinsically good. But I was truly blessed to have a family and not a lot of bad actors in my life. 

Obviously from my lamentations on this blog, it hasn't been all rosy. BUT MOSTLY, it was.

I forget that sometimes.

I don't know how I can love Christmas and forget that we're celebrating Jesus. So He has to exist. I'm sorry, God, I give you such a hard time. 

I know I won't be better next year, so I won't say I will. My life is just a Groundhog Day on repeat. So we'll be right back here next year.

Anywhoozle.

I don't want to be sad. I want to be happy. I want to stop thinking about next year, but I can't seem to. 

I need something to obsess over and plan and re-plan and accomplish and achieve. I need a background goal that's achievable and is not passive like Savings.

Savings is definitely a great goal! And I'm glad it's achievable. 

But I think to make next year go as well as possible in terms of my "preference" (therapy words) to be engaged by the end of the year, I need something else to focus on while I practice patient passiveness. 

It's been fun re-reading A Purple Life's archives for the umpteenth time. I always learn something new, even if it's just about her. Or rather different things ping my brain each time I read it. This time, I'm paying more attention to Travel hacking/ award travel. There's some good information there.

I think what I've done right so far is actually have some trips picked out and work from there on getting the rewards.

Yesterday out of curiosity I looked to see how many points it would take to travel to DC from here and it was 9k which I have, but I also remembered I could fly to Seattle on that! So that is not a bargain. Considering the train ride is $77, I'll pay the $77 and keep my miles. 

So I'm excited to earn some miles next year and hope it doesn't make me anxious. I have enough to pay for at least one leg there and since I have some flexibility with dates, I hope I can luck into some web specials and get two legs with just the points I have. 

So default goal: use points for 1 leg

Goal +1: use points for 2 legs

Stretch goal: earn new points for third leg

She and both Root of Good have mentioned it is a bit of mental gymnastics, but I'm not as avid of a traveler as them and at this time I'm not super interested in long-term solo international travel. 

I've actually never really done it. There's always been someone to meet me at the destination. Even with my escorted travel, Gate 1 was there. 

Now that I am getting used to my version of early retirement though, I'm going to have to find new ways to spend my time. Travel is an easy escape. 

Even now, I'm like there's nothing that says because the weather is milder in NC in winter that I actually have to stay here. I remember saying before how my favorite time of year in NC is Oct to April, but now I don't know how true that is.

It's milder compared to a mid-west winter but maybe I was comparing that time period to other time periods in NC not time periods in other places.

I wish I were even remotely interested in a cruise. Root of Good seems to enjoy them and it seems like such an easy escape. You don't have to worry about anything...no thinking is my kind of travel.

But then I remembered..there's probably not good wifi on a cruise, so I can't really use that as an escape if I want to do remote work.

But if travel ends up being something I do...weather, wifi, and access to good food will probably be top of my list.

Today, I am excited about my future.