Today I took advice from a girl.
Because, let's face it, girls are smarter than boys.

This morning I woke up at a decent time, took a shower after only ten minutes of laying around, then I gathered my things to head on a misadventure.  These things included one unfinished sketchbook, a bible, Michael J. Fox's newest book "Always Looking Up", and a graph paper spiral.  It did take me about 20 minutes to get these things, as when I started looking at my old journals and sketchbooks I began to reminisce.  It's amazing how many things I've seemed to start but never finished.  Amazing because I'm the kind of person that likes to finish one thing before I start on another.  To this day, as old as 3 years since I started one of the journals, I still would like to keep writing in it before I decide to pick up a new one.  Unfortunately there's no purpose in it anymore, so they will forever remain unfinished.  Other projects include a comic that just never got off the ground for me, called "No Refill."  It was supposed to follow me and my friends through our misadventures (there's that word again) in life, but at the time (military) I wasn't allowed to have much of a life to begin with.  Sad too.  What's also sad is that the character based off me was given long, and tamable,  where I wasn't allotted that luxury either.

But I digress.

I was gathering these things for a reason.  That reason was to get out of the apartment for a change.  Destination:  Downtown.

This was something I kept telling myself I would do more often, but it took a girl to suggest it, and/or otherwise convince me, before I actually could find the motivation to do it.  Go figure.

"Walking is Free."  I never realized I was making excuses until this was snarkily thrown in my face.
It was like a wake up call, and I needed it.

My first stop was Zilker park.  This was mostly because, though I would love to go downtown, I didn't feel like paying anytime I felt like parking there.  A park seemed logical, as it was close by and I could walk, not to mention it would provide a great place to just sit around and think.  To be honest, there was no objective to the day, it was just whatever goes.  I'll spare you the details since this blog post also has no main point, but I'll give you the outline of what happened next:

-Walked around for about an hour.  Saw a guy feeding his squirrel while taking a break from playing his guitar.  Also watched turtles swim around for a while.
-Sat on a rock and read the prologue of Michael's book before it got too windy.
-Headed downtown.  Took a good while, but after you've spent four days in Venice with no vehicle this is nothing to complain about.  Sometimes I wish America didn't rely so much on private vehicles.
-Got a Gyro.  Ate it in front of the Capital.
-Decided to try out public transportation in order to get back to parked car.
-Caught the wrong bus.  Ended up going to South Austin.
-Caught another bus.  Got off closest to the park.  Walked another half hour.

All-in-all, this was a very good day compared to just sleeping in for 4-5 hours.  I don't mind getting lost, as this usually leads to doing things you may never have done otherwise, or learning from the experience.  I'm not sure what I thought about, or what exactly I accomplished, but anything is better than just sitting around doing nothing.  Overall, I'm glad I did it, and I'm sure I'll do it again many days when I know I'll have nothing else to do.  One disadvantage is the drive to and from my destination, it's pretty annoying when I just want to be walking around.  Perhaps I'll be finding a "park-and-ride" close by so I can just take the bus to downtown.  Should prove better on gas and would make the trip more interesting.  I like not having to worry about anyone on days that...well...I don't want to have to worry about anything.  Just take the ride.  Just walk the trail.  Just find a place.

You know...
Just.

This is what happens to my hair on windy days. Note to self: When hair gets longer, remember to bring a hat.

Question: If you saw this guy walking downtown, what would you think of him?