Since the earliest days of grade school I have always had someone telling me to get my life in order, to be better organized, to plan ahead. And these recommendations were not by accident. I have always been the kid waiting until the last second to start my end of the year project or the one printing his term paper and stapling it as he runs through the door five minutes late. I have no real excuse for this, it's just the way I'm programmed, it's "how I do".
Lately this lack of planning has taken shape in life outside of school in the form of narrowly making a flight or running to catch the last bus home after a late night. But while this may seem careless and slightly irresponsible, it also carries along advantages. For one I feel less tied down by a set schedule, free of time's shackles if you will. And two, flying by the seat of your pants (in moderation) allows for spontaneity and creativity, the spice of life.
Take my last Friday for instance. That particular day had a lot of seperate entities that somehow I had to make one. A responsible human being might have had a brain meltdown trying to piece it together, but I chose not to worry and ride the wave as long as I could without falling off (or getting barreled). It was hectic from the start. Get to work and perform all the menial tasks required of an intern at early hours, but then onto the big stuff. After programming the TV to a European cable feed (still don't know how I accomplished that one) I watched the Euro X Games halfpipe final in Tignes, France. After watching Louie Vito stomp his first ever gold medal run, I grabbed my cell phone, gave the dude a call and got a quote from 8 time zones away, something that always never gets old and always seems pretty cool.
Just after my quote collecting my boss runs into my office and grabs me for our company ski day at the Canyons. Not wanting to miss out, I grab my laptop and in the 10 minute ride over to the resort write up a full story with only minimal speed-bump induced typos. I posted the story on the website as I was throwing on my ski boots in the parking lot and then met my co-workers for some afternoon runs.
We grabbed some beers after and I was settling into a nice altitude buzz when my cousin Connor called me up saying he was in Utah en route to Tahoe and wanted to meet up. Now without a car out here I'm pretty much a sitting duck, but I was determined to make it work. I had my ski stuff, I had my work clothes, I had my wallet, screw it, I was going to wing it. I asked a co-worker for a ride to the edge of town and was able to catch Connor as he and his buddy were coming through from Colorado. With only my skis and backpack in tow I was informed that we'd be hitting up Brighton Resort for some nightskiing and didn't really have time to stop. Rolling with the punches I suited up for my second resort of the day, and found out that we could just walk on the lifts without being checked for lift tickets.
I was pretty psyched at my good fortune and figured that it must have been a late night exception. When we rolled up the next day and did the same thing I was kind of shocked. Three days of free skiing at Brighton with great snow! Now I'm not particularly proud of 'cheating the system', but for a college kid on an even more college budget, it was pretty awesome and it was great to ski with my cousin again. Connor and I grew up skiing in Maine together so it was pretty cool to meet up and take on some Utah powder. After skiing backcountry, using an avalanche beacon for the first time and hiking some of the wildest peaks I've challenged out here in the Wasatch Range I said goodbye to Connor and his friends as they headed West to Tahoe and the epic powder kingdom. Without a ride back I got dropped off at the airport, where after an hour of trying to bum a ride to Park City I finally settled on a taxi just in time to get to my work on time Sunday evening.
But you know that's what you get for not planning ahead..an epic weekend and a $40 cab ride. So to all of you "planners" out there, let go and just live a little, you might learn something...
PS to anyone who doubted that good looks and great moves didn't run in my gene pool, check out my cousin Connor killing it on the dancefloor...
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