Soothsayers and Omens

Today’s weight = Not available

Today’s coinage = $3.09

Best Find, narrative follows

In terms of secular logic, I am absolutely and completely a bona fide scientific method person.  Yet I could not ignore some premonition to take a Sunday afternoon walk.  In the first block I found a curb nickel, surely an omen of good things to follow. But if the find was an augury, it was a negative one.  The next 30 blocks in spite of active scanning and focusing, not another coin, not even a penny was found.  I now knew, or thought I knew that my once promising walk was being foreshadowed by failure.  Still a modest amount of coins were accumulating, but well below average.  Then as if a horseshoe had been placed in my hand, compelled by a hunch, an inner voice sounding something like a soothsayer from the East, compelled me to take a detour from my established walking route and to the parking lot of New Orleans’ India House a youth hostel.  There along the curb was one of the largest scatters of my many years of moneywalking --six quarters, four dimes, three nickels, and eight pennies for a total of $2.13.  That plus the $.96 made a total of $3.09.  As I said, science and logic trumps fear and superstition every time.

MoneyWalker

Unrequested Favors

Weight = 179.6 lbs.   Not bringing the weight down as rapidly as hoped following the gluttonous vacation over the Easter holidays at Destin, Fl.  Still too much Easter candy in the pantry.

Coinage = $.63   Another off day for money walking.

Best Find = A dime and penny scatter along the curb just before the walk ended.  Although totals were low, the walk did yield four different scatter finds.

Comment = Today was a better day for reflection than reclamation.  Booker award winner Anita Brookner frequently has her characters taking long walks.  From Lewis Percy:   

“Whatever the reason, he was not anxious to get home without some kind of interval rumination, some time to call his own. The idea of covering a long distance appealed to him. Gentlemen in Trollope, to whom he was devoted, even more than to his early heroes, covered vast distances and were thus able to sustain their noble thoughts. He resolved to walk home regularly, and to tell Tissy to expect him an hour later than his usual time.”

Friday morning was extra cool in New Orleans and just outside of my home; I passed a young man with only a thin t-shirt and a back pack.  Wanting to help, I quickly retrieved a hooded warm-up top.  I had retrieved it curb-side from an earlier walk and washed it for the purpose of giving it away (reclamation).  Here was the chance—give it to the young man. 

Although shivering, he refused the warm-up.  Why?  Behaviorists explain that “unrequested favors” are often viewed with suspicion, that if accepted the person feels obligated to the donor.  So maybe my friend suspected me of untoward behavior.  Anyway, my two reclamation projects of restoring coins into the economy and recycling warm clothing both failed.  But, during the walk, the mind was free to reflect and 'ruminate.'

MoneyWalker

Staying Focused

Weight = 179.4, down .2 lbs

Coinage found = $.98

Best find = a curb quarter found in a most unlikely place

Comment:  This four mile walk yielded 4 or 5 pennies after two miles.  Slowly, the coins began to accumulate.  A couple of nickels, a scatter of pennies, a quarter and then another.  But try as I might, I could not break the $1.00 barrier.  Still, the work principle is reinforced, if you stay focused, achievement follows.

Coinage Found = $1.81

Today's weight = 179.6 lbs

Best Find = a "super find" two quarters in a grassy area near a pass through.

Comment:  weight up following a six day vacation.  Today's walk was cut short by thunder and lighting.

MoneyWalker

Zen Walker
BK taught me the concept of combining money walking with power walking.  B has moved but we visit a couple of times a year and always take a 5 miler.  While my blog gets the attention of our mutual friends, he never lets me forget that he is the original Zen Master of money walking.  As my luck would have it, he spotted a $20 on our walk this morning.  Worse, he found it just as I was explaining my money walking techniques to other friends on the walk.  I guess BK will always be the Zen Master.

John's Humanity

Weight = 177.6 lbs

Coinage = $2.43

Best Find = a lonely dime in an muddy ditch.

Panhandler Profile:

As a frequent walker, I am often approached by panhandlers, men and women.  Yesterday while enjoying a senior coffee at Mickey Ds, a man ask me for a couple of quarters to “get something.”  I always say yes.  But I don’t just hand it to them without a human connection.  As I slowly handed the change, I introduced myself and ask for his name.  “John!” he said.  I said, “John, do you work.”  I unintentionally put him on the defensive as he thought I was scolding him.  Said John with some level of exasperation, “I’m 65!”  Then backing off, perhaps aware that I still possessed more change, “And I’m disabled.”  Handing John a couple more quarters I asked what he did before he became disabled.  “Carpenter,” he said.  “Trim or framing?” I replied.  “Mostly just general construction,” said John.  By now he trusted my questions as being friendly and after I gave him my last bit of change, off he went.  But he had earned his dollar burger—the change was not forthcoming until eye contact was made and the  transaction instilled with humanity.  I sensed a return of a bit of dignity as he exited looking for his next mark.

Weight = 177.6 lbs

Money Found = $2.53

Best Finds = 1) 2 nickels and six pennies found in a “curb scatter.” 2) A “super find” of two quarters and a dime in a Times Picayune Newspaper stand.  Many found quarters made this amount possible.

Previews of coming comments:  Now that I’m back, in the future look for

·         profiles of people that I meet on the street that engage me with their panhandling;

·         a new motivation technique based on adding and subtracting;

·         change cleaned and deposited in Capital One Bank’s coin machine;

·         amount of money sent to two different charities;

·         and much more.

The MoneyWalker