I am despondent. If I stay more than 2 days at home I start to itch and pace. It doesn't matter if it's ten o'clock in the evening and the last full show at the nearest mall is halfway through, I just have to get out of the house. Now going out of the house requires a budget, and after last summer's going out binge with the usual suspects, I find that it's [a] not practical and [b] you will be appalled by the vast sums of money you have just thrown down the drain, as evidenced by last quarter's bank statements. So for every chance I get I try to stay home and do something productive -- laundry, reading, write a bit. Which would make me shift and squirm in my seat after some time. I just had to go out. Now that's bad. Like an addiction going on overload. And since the usual suspect has also realized that going out can cost you an arm and a leg, there is no one left to roam places with. It's not that I can't go out now without a companion. I used to do that a lot before, and I still do, and was perfectly happy being alone. But after getting used to company, and how fun it could be, you miss it a bit.

So I propose that we have a budget. It doesn't necessarily have to cost you much. And I really would like to avoid the malls as much as I can. Unless it's a film showing, or something else that doesn't require shopping and spending too much. Really, you really don't need that much money to really have fun. It can be a "you, me and five bucks and some conversation" sort of deal. And I would be perfectly happy with that.