Tuesday, April 19, 2016

If You Aren't Learning, You Aren't Growing

File this under Weird Things I Know How To Do Now That I Didn't Think Would Happen.

- Navigate a big city using Google Maps on an almost daily basis. I do this for traffic alerts and to make sure the path I want to take to work is available. Now navigating that traffic, that's a different story.

- Cook pizza from scratch. Dough and all. It is to the point that I can do it based on memory, and I haven't touched a frozen pizza in months. Even when I do take out pizza, I avoid chains. Domino's and Pizza Hut are two things I haven't had in a really long time.

- Work out. Read previous posts regarding the oddness of this in my life

- Living in Texas. It has been quite the journey so far, and the fact that I can openly say it and not be baffled by it sends s shiver down my spine at times. It is Texas, shouldn't that frighten me? Land of the cowboys, guns, and crazies? I do live in the weirdest town in the state, and that is saying a lot.

- Being asked daily for handouts at most intersections I stop at. I will say this, I haven't been yelled at. All you have to do is just say sorry, no cash and people move on. I hate lying to people, especially when I could give, but...but... damn it, now I gave myself a complex. I just don't want to start to give to one, because then I justifiably can't deny it to another one. Even in instances where they are only asking for a buck or a quarter.

- Cooking vegetables and eating them as snacks. I have always been a chips, snacks, salty, bad for you foods, and give me more terrible diet choices kind of person. I eat vegetables almost daily, get most of my grocery shopping done in the produce section, and enjoy prepping vegetables for me to easily grab and go. I still indulge myself in the occasional snack or chip, but that happens almost in the exact opposite manner than what it was two years ago.  I'm not all veggie guy these days, but I almost prefer it at food gatherings now more so than the other stuff.

- Drinking bottled water. Apparently the water here in Texas isn't that great with lots of sediments in it. To combat this, as well as avoid a kidney stone, I drink a lot of filtered water and bottled water. With recycling so big around here, I consider that everything is balancing out in the end.

- Acne. I don't like that I've gotten a little used to it, but since moving down it has flared up. I'm thinking it has to do with stress, and the amount of exercise I've been doing has definitely cut down on the flare ups. I still think that this is something that a 34 year old shouldn't have to go through, but my body is still in a bit of adjustment period since moving down.

- Making new friends at every corner. It happens so often that it just seems natural these days. Everyone I meet is a potential new friend. When people tell you how hard it is to make friends after a certain age, call them liars. You can make new friends any day that you encounter new people you haven't met before.

- Using my debit card everywhere. Since I was a big time server back in Illinois, I got used to having cash on hand and spending it as I could. Now I have to calculate everything out on my debit card and make sure not to go broke. Having money on hand just isn't the same as it was before. I've tried just taking cash out of the bank, but I am finding that more of an annoyance than anything. Strange how that only took six months to change that habit.

It will be nice that a digital record is kept of this so I can come back a year from now and see what new habits I've picked up.

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