The Questionable Choice I made worked out okay

[float_on_alright]

We were slammed at work today. I went in late and it was nice. I had a nice, good sleep in and of course that’s making me feel like I’m invincible--like I don’t have to be up at 7 am to get ready for work. I’m debating between showering tonight or showering in the morning. I also have to get my clothes out of the wash. Ugh. I forgot until just now that I’d thrown a bunch of stuff in the wash. Shit and piss. Ugh.

I risked my life for Pokemon Go today. Kind of. Not in a “I entered a dangerous area” or “Got close to moving cars” kind of way. But I met up with strangers after dark to raid for a Legendary Pokemon I’d been trying to win for weeks.

I stopped at the library on my way home and noticed while I was there that one of the Pokestops nearby that I often go to had a “lure” on it. Now, if you’re a player of the game, you know that lures only last for thirty minutes and since you only have a limited number of them, you tend not to leave before they’ve ended. And the one that it was put on is super close to a Pokemon Gym which also happened to have a raid with about fifteen minutes left in it. That’s pretty much the best possible world for a fan of the game. I figured that if I got over there before the lure ended, I had a chance of joining them for a raid battle.

That… was not the questionable choice I made.

So I went over there--it’s a well-lit area. The Pokestop is in the Post Office beside like five fast food joints, all which were hoping. The gym is in the Smoothie King parking lot--again well lit and hoping. It’s in a small, safe town. The majority of crime that happens out here all have to do with bored teens. Okay, maybe not all of it, but the vast majority of it really is just bored teens who need something to do. I live in a pretty safe area. Not that a “safe area” is a guarantee for safety, but there’s nothing in the world that’s really a guarantee for safety. When I got there, there were two guys in a massive pick up truck mostly definitely playing Pokemon Go and wondering if I was there for the raid. It was a father and son--a grown dude, not a kid. We talked a bit and decided that we couldn’t defeat the raid with just the three of us. But the same Legendary Pokemon was at another gym too and would be there for longer than the one we were considering at that moment.

I did text my friends where I was going and what I was doing. I did it in a joking way, but I made a point to mention to them that I had texted my friends to tell them what was up. They didn’t act like I was being a dick, which made me feel a little better. It’s usually the guys who get all wound up about how dare I not believe they’re a nice guy that I’m concerned about.

But yeah, I met up with three strange dudes in a dark park with my foot still in a walking boot.

My instincts have been sharpened over the years to be pretty good about people, and I was relatively certain that they were decent guys. I stand by that. They’re definitely good ol’ southern boys who love their mamma and Jesus, etc. etc. The brother is getting his Master’s Degree in Religious Studies from UNC Charlotte and their mom is in remission from cancer. The first son I met used Pokemon Go to help him stay sober when he quit drinking and partying.

The more I tell stories like this, the more I realize I’m definitely not an introvert the way I always thought I was. Sure, I need downtime and alone time, but I enjoyed my time with those random guys. I always thought I was an introvert because of how much I love to read, how much I enjoy time to myself, how much I prefer really digging into people’s lives and hearing their stories rather than just engaging in the general small talk type stuff, and how much of a homebody I’ve always been. I’m not big on crowds of people or big parties. But I realize now that the markers people are using for extroverts and introverts are off. Like a lot off. And that I’m very much an extrovert.

Anyway, I’m glad it worked out.

And I got the Legendary Pokemon that had been alluding me for weeks!