The weather is growing cooler this time of where, where I live... and although I initially was largely rejecting the notion in my mind, I'm starting to accept it, and even embrace it. I'm definitely more of a summer person, I think, by far... but there is something I can't deny I love about the fall... and maybe it's mostly Halloween. Haha.
This week held the grounds for two unexpected things I did. I suppose we'll start with the less interesting. Whenever I want to take a trip down nostalgia road and play some good old PC games from my childhood, I have a physical machine running Windows XP I can run most all of those on. This weekend, I spontaneously decided I would see how changing that to a virtual environment would pan out. And, as of right now, ...the results are mixed. On the one hand, it's one less thing taking up space on my entertainment center. On the other, ...it seems to suffer from all the quirks a virtualized environment would bring about. And more... it may prove fatal, but I'm glad I at least made the try, whether it works out or not.
But the more interesting and unusual thing I did this week was go on a hike. Well, okay, not just that I went on a hike, but the circumstances. My wife's best friend is getting married soon, and her fiance is a foreigner who just moved her three weeks ago. I had met him previously on a different occasion a few years ago, but this Saturday, out of the blue, my wife's friend called me and asked if I would like to go hiking with him.
It's here, I have to admit I was very close to saying no... but mainly for the reason that I'm partially an introvert, and the idea seemed a bit out of my comfort zone. And what's more, I had plans that would fill the time gap that the hike would employ. All the pieces were lined up for me to politely decline, but something in me knew I should accept. So, I did. And honestly? It was a great experience! In writing this, I don't want to come off as sounding phony or anything, but I felt like I made a better acquaintance with him, yesterday, and he was a pretty neat person to meet!
If nothing else, it was a good opportunity for me to step outside my comfort zone and be a little more social. I suppose that kind of thing might be a little challenging, sometimes, for anyone introverted or otherwise. In a way, I have to laugh at myself a bit, because I feel like in this aspect, I am no different than my second grade self- nervous to make a friend, even though I have little to no reason to be! I suppose some things never change, right? But long story short, I was glad I made a good friend, that day.
And there you have it for another week in the life. I won't put out a challenge to any reader of this blog to go make a friend, because I feel like it creates the opposite stigma, and it's easy to just retreat and say, "uh... yeah, I guess, like, I'll try, maybe". So, instead, I'll offer, say hi to someone you don't normally talk to, this week. Or more than one someone! And if you feel particularly brave, and you're like me and have a hard time retaining names, see if you can surprise someone by remembering their name!
Until next week, see ya!