You know what's Free? Walking. Yes, walking.

"But, I already know walking's free. What the hell are you talking about, you ambiguous idiot?!?"

I'm talking about getting home from the bars/friend's-house-you-were-drinking-at without the worry of a DUI, the cost of a cab, or having to leave early to catch a bus. Sure, you could have a a friend be your designated driver. There's a quick drive down, then a 45 minute scavenger hunt for anything that comes close to resembling a parking space (A free spot of course. Because $12 for a night spot is only in emergency situations when you need to shake your ass at the club ASAP). Then there's the fact that your DD will inevitably get drunk! This is because they feel the need to slam their 2 drinks fast in order to be sober by last call. Unfortunately, the slamming of two drinks leads to a later slamming of two drinks - "We're not leaving for 4 and a half hours! That means my body will have already processed out 2 drinks by midnight. I got this! I'll be ready by Last Call." This invariably leads to a cab ride home FOLLOWED by a morning carpool back to the DD's car that was left downtown!!

This all leads back to my main point- WALKING IS FREE! By the time 2:30am rolls around, you'll be drunk and a 1 hour walk will seem like a 15 minute conversation! Last night, we made the walk from 1st & Denny (Queen Anne) to the edge of Magnolia! It seriously took just under an hour, was accompanied by an excellent conversation, and was totally free! Normally, the cab ride would have been near $15 with tip. Split among two people, that's $7.50 a person. Now think about how much you bring home after taxes for an hour of work... $7.50 is 3 PBR tallboys with tip, people!!! If we had stopped 10 minutes earlier, we would have been on the North Side of Queen Anne. 15 more minutes of walking and we would have been in Ballard! Are you seeing the message? I'm not telling you that walking is free. I'm telling you that it's not a huge ordeal or pain in the ass to do it. As long as you have a conversation partner, your walk will be a fleeting memory and you'll love your bed even more when you get home.

-J