January 06, 2004~~4:11 p.m.
New Year's Resolution and the Sad Plight of the Penny
My New Year�s resolution is to keep my head down. So far, I have been mildly successful. Allow me to explain. Over the past few years, I have become rather obsessed with looking for and finding money on the ground. Perhaps it was all the years of impoverished student-hood, or maybe it was the time in the workforce when I lived paycheck to paycheck, but somehow, I developed into a penny-pinching miser. No coin was too small to warrant picking it up and tossing it into my wallet. In fact, I sort of sympathized with the plight of the penny after I realized that most people, when seeing pennies on the ground, just pass them by. I mean, after five passes over pennies, you�d have a nickel, right? You�d pick up a nickel, wouldn�t you? So pick up the pennies! They need to feel worth something! And anyway, you never know when you�ll need a penny and there won�t be any in the �take a penny, leave a penny� tray at the store. Over time, I have realized that the trick to finding money on the ground is not to be short-legged, but instead, to keep your head down. Do not look up, lest you miss the shine from a coin catching the sunlight. I advised Omar of this strategy not too long ago as we trekked across the Home Depot parking lot (a plethora of opportunity for finding stray cash, I might add). I told him, �Omar, the fact is, that you�ll never get ahead in life if you keep your head up. The trick is to look the parking lot in the face and get moving. Now let�s go!� Omar said the Marines tell you to keep your head up or you�ll get shot. Whatever. I never said the strategy worked for everyone. With all the Marines in the world walking with their heads up, there is far more money on the ground for me to find. My good friend Jeni�s mom, Nina, keeps all the money she finds for the whole year in a jar. At the end of the year, she adds it up and then goes and buys something with her cash. One year, she found over $30, but the total was boosted by the fact that she happened across a five dollar bill once. Most years aren�t so lucky. I�ve decided that I, too, will keep my coins in a jar to see how much I end up with. I�m going to compete with Nina to see who finds the most. Quite literally, I�m going to give her a run for her money, if you will. So far, in 2004, all I have found is a Golfland Arcade token that has no monetary value, or so it says on the coin. I�m not sure what this means. It could be a good luck omen, or it could indicate a long year of thinking that shiny round thing on the ground is a quarter, when in fact, it turns out to be gum. Recently, Omar asked if I had thought about finding a way to make some money from home, while I stay with Elizabeth. I told him that no, I really wasn�t interested in working, but he was in luck! Because with all my free time and spring coming in only a few short months, I will be outside a lot more and that will give me ample opportunities to look for lots of money on the ground. Until then, I�ll just keep my head down and hope for the best. And I will keep repeating to myself the old adage, �Find a penny, pick it up, all day long you�ll have good luck.� Good luck to me.
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