Things I'll do alone

This Artist's date thing has me thinking of dates I'd like to go on by myself. Some ideas:

• Go to the North End and write in a cafe there (while eating Italian pasteries of course)
• Walk around the outdoor food markets at Hay Market
• Take a train somewhere for a day trip on my own
• Go to a nice yarn store and browse
• Walk in the Arboretum and look at the leaves
• Go to a movie by myself. Maybe a French one that I always have trouble finding a "date" for anyway. :)

Just thinking about these fun activities is stressing me out right now because I don't know that I'll get to fit in any of the more time consuming artists dates for quite a while. October is getting busier and busier. I'm going to have to start saying no to things again, even things I want to do. :( I just canceled a gardening lecture I was going to go to. And I'll cancel a meditation class I was going to take. (I have been meditating on my own, though!)

The real problem is a work trip I'm taking to New Mexico. I am VERY excited about it, but it comes right before our final MFA submission is due, so I'm not sure how that's going to work out... And I ordered a bunch of bulbs that need to get into the ground in the next few weeks. I guess it just will come together somehow!

OK, I'm babbling. The real point I wanted to make with this post was to think about the things I won't do by myself, though I wish I would. One is kayak. Another is hike. All of this is thanks to my parents who instilled in me a fear of being a girl alone in the world. While I appreciate their desire to protect me, I don't appreciate the fact that I can never enjoy being alone in nature because there is always a rapist/kidnapper/murderer hiding behind the next tree.