Jinxed Up, Screwed Up, All Messed Up

So I guess bragging about being a non-planner was a bad call because I overlooked one important thing:

Non-planners relying on fate are prone to being easily jinxed. And I guess that's what I done did by talking bout being a non-planner....because this weekend things got all sorts of screwed up.

It started off perfectly fine. On Friday I packed up stuff all rush rush and decided to head to my parents house and then take their car to the rehearsal dinner.  I called them to let them know I was heading out there and ask for the car-  but they weren't around. Hmmm.. That wasn't part of my last minute plan. I needed a ride home from the train station too. But boom, I bumped into a friend of mine on the train who was getting off at the same stop as me. She offered me a ride to my parent’s house. When I got there they were home and I could take the car. I felt the fortunate juices of the no-system starting to simmer.

I got to my parents house around 3 and the rehearsal dinner started at 6:30 . So I kicked back and relaxed. Watched some tennis. Screwed around. The restaurant was about 20 minutes away and at 5:15 or so I moseyed up to the shower to start to get ready. I was especially proud of myself for remembering to pack a razor and my toothbrush and all that. I had it together. I get out of the shower and the phone rings. It's the groom. He wanted to know where I was. I told him I was just getting ready. He told me that the 'rehearsal' started at 5. I looked at the clock. 5:35. I had forgotten there was a rehearsal before the 'rehearsal dinner'. Being a groomsman... I was expected to be there. Bad planning.

I apologized up and down and told him I'd get there as soon as possible. I hurried up like crazy getting dressed and scribbled down directions to the restaurant. Grabbed my parents car keys and sped off. I figured if I get there by 6,  maybe could get in like 20 minutes of rehearsal or whatever. I felt like a dick. Heading down 287 toward the place I immediately got screwed up. Got off at the wrong exit and got lost. Then back on the highway to get off at the right exit. Then promptly got totally lost altogether. Zooming around in the middle of nowhere I finally pulled over and asked some lady if she knew how to get to the restaurant. Not only did she not know how to get to the place but I got the feeling she didn't know what city she was in. And she started to talk crazy talk to me. Of course, I picked a crazy for directions. I didn't want to just peel out and splatter her with pebbles so I talked the crazy into a crazy circle then said my goodbyes.

It took me over an hour and twenty minutes to get to the rehearsal dinner place. (for you locals. new rochelle to tarrytown) So no rehearsal for me. Of course as soon as I arrived everyone jumped all over me (in a joking way) about my missing the rehearsal. I apologized to the bride-to-be and the groom and the groom's parents etc... It sucked. No one made a big deal out of it but I was mad at me. Because I'm nervously uncomfortable enough at social stuff to begin with. So being branded a dunce was no help in my socializational skills. But luckily this provided some good talkee for my toast speech I made later that night. So that went well.

The next day (the day of the wedding) a fellow groomsman picked me up at my parents house to take me to the groom's house. It was a little out of the way for him and I felt bad about that- but I needed a ride. The groomsmen were all running around with the groom doing whatever. And I hadn't picked up my tux yet. We all rented them from the same place so we'd match and I had to fax in my measurements (which I of course did late). Unfortunately for whatever reason I hadn't filled in all the measurements and faxed in an incomplete form. So my tux wasn't ready. It would take a couple hours. Everyone sort of cringed a little because there was still alot to do and her I was tuxless.

During the afternoon the groomsmen one by one started heading back to the hotel which was like 25 minutes away and I stayed with the groom to run errands and wait for my tux. Before I knew it, it was just me and the groom and it fell on him to arrange how I was going to get the tux and get to the wedding. Uncomfortably I headed back to his parent's house with him and hung around with members of the immediate family to figure it out. Standing there having everyone talk about my 'plan' to get the tux and get to the wedding. I felt like such a dick and totally an in-the-way inconvenience.

It turned out I ended up borrowing the groom's father's car to get my tux by myself. So here I was driving down the road an hour or so before I was supposed to be at the wedding in the friggin groom's father's car. I prayed I wouldn't crash it up. That would have been hugely terrible. I drove like 10MPH the whole way.  I had to wait a bit to finally get the tux then headed back to their house instead of the hotel (where all the other groomsmen were- having a good time btw) and rush showered and got ready in their house then got a ride to the wedding with the groom's father. I felt like a total dick for sticking myself in the way. Also I was nervous because I had missed the rehearsal and didn't know how it was going to all go down.

It was a series of errors that would have been easily avoided by having a plan and being responsible for me.

Anyway, of course, when all was said and done everything turned out fine. The wedding was beautiful and everything was coolio. I walked down the aisle fine. I got a bed to sleep in. But I really cursed myself for writing about not planning on Friday because it jinxed me out so bad. I was punished for my arrogance and this is the last time you'll hear me speak of not planning again. Because I know in my heart that I'm not really going to change my ways and when you rely on no-system -it’s a fragile infrastructure.

...And the slightest jinx can cause a complete collapse.

ok bye!

tOdd