First report on "new" places

Late last year on a family trip, one of the things I wanted to do was vetoed by the other members of my family.  It didn't help that the thing I wanted to do fell at the very end of the trip after everyone was exhausted.

After sucking in my disappointment, I got to thinking.   Most of the new places I go are because other people have invited me to go with them.  I resolved to go one new place each week and to make it a place that I wanted to go.  So far, I have been one new place each week, but only a few times has it been completely, totally under my own volition.  Here is my report for the first two months of this year.

1. Week of January 1, 2006. Found myself at Winter Lodge for ice skating. Even though it was more W's choice than mine, but I soon added to my list of places to go back to again and again.  It is rustic like a ski lodge right in the middle of Silicon Valley. Two gas fireplaces, and golden varnished wood everywhere give it a warm, ski-chalet feeling.
2. Week of January 8, 2006. Attended a membership meeting for a political club.  Even though I had been to the apartment complex meeting room before, I had not been to it under those exact auspices before.  To make excuses, this is before I really remembered that my resolution applied to my life ASAP.
3. Week of January 15, 2006. Another lame week when my only new place, because I remembered my resolution at last en route to a meeting across the valley. After I spaced out and missed a turn one day, the next day, I looked for and found a new route in case I ever spaced out again.
4. Week of January 22, 2006. W. and I went to dinner at couple's house. We are trying to start a friendship because we share so many common interests. The couple, who live in the next town to the south, have a charming open-air atrium with a fountain and lawn sculptures, so we already asked them to join us at a nearby art and wine festival thick with lawn sculptures to buy.
5. Week of January 29, 2006. Visited another friend in his new house on the coast, a 45-minute drive from my place. I took along a picnic and we went to Natural Bridges State Beach.  The park is named after some wave-carved rock formations just off the coast. It is too bad I did not go there before the bridge fell down. Now, the park should be called Pleasant Beach with Rocks Just Offshore.
6. Week of February 5, 2006. After running in the Kaiser Permaente half marathon and 5K on February 5th, W and I ate at Isobune Sushi in the San Francisco Japan Center. Isobune Sushi claims to be the first ever sushi boat place. How can diners not be charmed by food floating hypnotically in front of them. We were hungry after the race, so we very much enjoyed the good food. Later that week, I saw a movie at Camera 12 in San Jose, then another at CineArts in San Francisco followed by a drink at Irish pub, Joxer Dalys. All were new places for me.  And, finally, very late in the week I joined a friend for something to drink at Splash San Jose.
7. Week of February 12, 2006.  Went to a place called Brandon Wines in downtown Sunnyvale because they are the only store in a wide vicinity that carries Sweet Shop truffles (the ideal Valentine's candy for Texans or for anyone, really). My beloved was happy to receive them.
8. Week of February 19, 2006. I went to the corporate offices of a well-known construction company in San Jose for a non-profit board meeting. I consider counting a board meeting room pretty much the dregs in the "someplace new" category of exploration and adventure.
9. Week of February 26, 2006. I went to a new Starbucks across town to meet someone for coffee. It's just getting worse in terms of new places.

I have never been to Ikea or Old Navy, so those ought to be easy additions. So should the hundreds of nearby restaurants I have never sampled.

So why don't I?  Well, I sometimes don't feel up to the challenge.  Or, I forget.

Today, I have been very distracted.  At lunch, I threw away my cash instead of my plastic cup.  Fortunately, I noticed it right away.  I said a few words, like, "Oh, nuts" and dug my money out of the trash, where I provided entertainment for the people near me. One sympathetic woman told me she had thrown her wallet away without realizing it.  She said someone delivered it to her three months later and that it had clearly been in the dump at some point.  She thought I was a step ahead in the game of keeping it all together.

I am not wild about venturing forth into the world if I can't even hold a thought for five seconds, much less my cash.  Writing a lot helps with the thoughts, but I still haven't figured out how to take care of the cash.