I’ve now realized that it’s the time in my life to stop giving so much of a damn about stupid stuff.    I’m buying myself a fanny pack, I’m wearing socks with my sandals whenever I want, and I’m going to (again) quit reading any non-local news.  I’m not going to be a beer snob, food snob, or whatever snob.  I’m going to quit buying crap I don’t need and save money up for trips and other big things.   If I want to wear my bucket hat, I’m wearing it.

This is all a culmination of things I saw on the trip.   I see how Brian and Lois have gotten to travel the world and do cool stuff.   The Chinese dude in the belly shirt at the mall did his thing and didn’t give two cents about others, and yet he was smiling ear-to-ear.  I saw a TON of people drinking Coors Light and having fun.  I saw some unusual anime people at the beach who were dressed all crazy (“Ridiculous” in Evelyn’s terms), who were having a blast.   There was also a dude swimming in his underwear, but had a gal with him who was way out of his league.   There were a lot of cyclists on bikes that looked right out of 1980, and sounded like it, too, but they were getting the job done.

The whole keeping up game and trying to be snooty about things not being up to some “standard” is a waste of energy.