bye comfort zone #2
the solo adventure
Hi guys. It’s been a bit. I’m back again after a brief hiatus. But don’t worry, I’m here to continue my series: on a quest for discomfort. First, we conquered grocery store aisles. Now, we are conquering solo adventures.
The perfect day
On Saturday, it was an ideal day for an adventure. I woke up at 8am to go to a run club, so then, by 11am, I found myself ready to go out and about in the city. Unfortunately, all of my friends were either studying for big scary tests (aka MCAT or LSAT) or on their grad school homework grind, so I couldn’t find anyone to explore with me.
I decided that was not going to stop me.
My primary mission was boot shopping because I was in need of a new shoe to wear on a night out. Although, I decided to make it into a bigger outing by stopping at a book festival on my way to DSW.
The journey
Right when I walked to the stop, the train was pulling up. I hadn’t even checked to see when it was coming, so I immediately thought the universe was in favor of my solo adventure.
That was a very short-lived thought.
As the doors opened, I suddenly found out that the car was packed full. I wiggled my way in, but I found myself in a mass of people with nothing to hang on to. Everyone around me was also in the same boat, so suddenly, we were surfing. As the train slowed down and sped up, surfing quickly turned into swaying amidst a sea of bodies, but it was kind of a wholesome human experience (aside from the fact that my germaphobe self never wants to be back-to-back and simultaneously arm-to-arm with strangers).
Of course, I stayed on the train for one too many stops because I have yet to master public transportation. You would think I would have wanted to get out of that packed train, but apparently not.
After re-entering daylight, I walked to an outdoor book festival. As you all know, I’m a big reader, so I was excited for it. Although, once I got there, it was just a bunch of booths, spinny wheels, and lines to get free stuff from the spinny wheels. I did a lap, decided I didn’t want to wait in a line just because, and then decided to head out. But, before I left the book festival premises, a girl complimented my sweater.
Outfit compliments are top tier because that is something that I picked out and put together. Other compliments, such as hair compliments, are fun too, but then they’re just complimenting my being, not my personality. Clothes are PERSONALITY. It was a great moment.
Although, that brings me to my first con of solo adventures. There’s no one to take photos of you.
What if I wanted a photo at the book festival in my cool sweater?
Too bad.
I was alone.
Project: boots
As I was walking through the shopping street to enter DSW, I walked past a dog halloween costume competition.
Yes, you read that right.
I made the really big mistake of deciding to shoe shop and watch the costume competition afterwards. Turns out, that wasn’t even an option. Once I left the store, there wasn’t a dog or dog owner in sight.
Once in the store, I aimlessly walked through the boot aisle with no idea what I was even looking for. I called my sister because she’s the stylish one, and luckily she provided some guidance.
Trying on knee-high boots might be one of the most awkward shopping experiences ever. I would roll up my baggy jeans to then put on tall boots and act like I could tell if they were cute. But also, it’s not like I was going to pull up to DSW in a mini skirt. So, this has to be a common experience, right?
Then, to make it more awkward, I was taking photos of myself in the mirror because, to remind you, I was on my solo adventure. This is another con of being alone; opinions are necessary when shopping, but people over the phone can only sort of tell how cute something is.
Meanwhile, there was also tissue paper and cardboard everywhere. DSW is truly an adventure in itself because workers don’t help you find shoes, and simultaenously, the shoes are still extremely wrapped up inside the box.
It was quite the journey. Luckily, I found a super cute pair and headed to the cash register where I happily presented the worker with a little coupon a DSW man had given to me when I walked in. She then proceeded to tell me that my “$5 off with a DSW rewards account” was in fact just one of many possible cards I could have been gifted when I walked in, including upwards of 20% off.
Why did she have to tell me that?
Suddenly my “$5 off with a DSW rewards account” was even more depressing than it had been before. For some reason, I decided to sign up for a DSW account, when in reality, those $5 amounted to basically nothing. Also, I probably won’t step foot in DSW for awhile.
I typically decide if I want to create rewards accounts along the same frequency of 1) deciding whether or not I want a receipt at a store and 2) whether or not I tip coffee shop workers.
Nevertheless, once I made it on the train home with my ginormous DSW bag, I turned on some Giveon and Mariah the Scientist in my airpods, and life was good.
