Odd Habits

The subject of ‘weird habits’ came up today when I ran to the local convenience store for lunch.

I started driving at fifteen, got my license at sixteen. Almost immediately I noticed I and other people were wasting huge amounts of time and gas looking for parking spots, especially at big box stores. So I started parking at basically the first available parking spot I could find. This was often at the far end of the parking lot. Also I parked near trees and lamp posts as I was cursed with absolutely no sense of direction or the ability to remember where I parked.

This does a few things, one, I don’t waste time looking for a parking spot. Two, it makes it way easier to find my vehicle. In Amarillo, since I drove a small car in a land of SUV’s and pickup trucks, this was not such a huge problem. In LA, I’m one of several hundred thousand identical Toyota Corollas. I’ve accidentally tried to get into someone else’s car here because it looked so similar and was parked close to where normally park.

The main benefit is it causes me to actually walk some distance into the store. Which has probably had some small cumulative benefit over the last couple decades.

Today, I ran to the convenience store to grab a snack and obligatory Red Bull. As I was walking to my vehicle a guy asked why I parked so far away. I told him it was just a weird habit I have. He said, “Great! It’s good for you!”

Then he said, “You know what isn’t good for you? That mask.”

So, thanks random man I should have talked to more. Glad someone validated my weird parking habits. Also, thank you for being the first anti-masker I’ve run into, and being so polite and being seemingly genuinely concerned for my well-being, even if we probably disagree about how bad they are for one’s health.