I took my first trip out to the lake this morning with my RC boat because of on an insight I had yesterday as well as another another one last week. I got there at 6am, a little after sunrise. Except for a passing fisherman in a real boat, I was the only one there. I have mixed feelings about this, but, I flipped the boat in the lake. At first I had a strong “oh crap” reaction. The only way for me to retrieve it was to take a swim. Then I felt some embarrassment. I can’t explain why other than I felt stupid for being in this situation and perhaps the fisherman might have been watching me.
So I took my clothes off and went for a swim. To my surprise, the water wasn’t cold! And in the end, it wasn’t a horrible experience. Kind of refreshing, even.
But, it’s not something I really want to be doing at 6am (or do I?). Here’s the conflict though: I’d really like a better boat. One that is faster and doesn’t flip, or can right itself. But that’s going to be hundreds of dollars. And that sorta conflicts with one of my life philosophies I call: use what you have. It’s just that, using whatever things you already own as long as possible. It helps prevent impulsive purchases that I later regret. Like, how do I know if I will even keep doing this? If I lose interest, then maybe I shouldn’t waste money and obtain more useless clutter.
If I use what I have, I only have one battery. I could just get more of those instead of spending hundreds on a new toy. The batteries for this boat only last 10 minutes, but their fairly cheap. I could get a few more, probably around $60. But I’d be even more committed to a boat the flips easily and forces me to go swimming when perhaps maybe I won’t want to.
Another thing I like to do is give myself a goal of using what I have X number of times. And if I keep it up, then that warrants spending money on it further.
I’ll need to keep thinking about this….
Anyways, it was a pretty cool morning.
