I can't remember ever being called an organizational master. In fact, I can't remember anyone telling me I have an organizational bone in my body. I like things to be neat and organized and once in a blue moon I motivate but it's almost always short lived. In the end, I’ve never had too much of a problem being unorganized. Things always seem to work themselves out and they probably will but over the last couple months my disorganization really caught up to me. IN A BIG BIG WAY.
I went to Los Angeles for Thanksgiving. It was a great time. Side note: I don't know why I feel obligated to say it was "great." In all honesty it was just pretty good. It was average. Nothing special but no big blow ups with the parents. Anyways, back to the story. The trip to LA was fine. The flight back to Denver was fine. The moment things weren't fine was when I reached into my briefcase and didn't find my keys. "Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic...PANIC!!!!" The keys were gone. I tore through my suitcase, fully knowing that they weren't going to be there. I remembered back to a trip I took with Matt and Alexa. Matt thought he left the keys in Alta but I assured him he would find them. I was right....I knew he would find them because he is responsible and organized. This is how I knew that I was not going to find them. I am often a mess and this was a classic example. My car is now stuck at the airport and I’m in a taxi on my way to Denver. A light bulb went off (a more accurate description of the light bulb is my Dad sending me a text) and I decided to rent a car. What's the most a car can cost for 2 days? $100, $150? NOPE, $300 dollores! I looked at the guy like he was crazy. He started explaining the charges to me. 100 dollars a day for the car, 50 dollars a day for an airport surcharge. I told him my sob story and asked if there was anything he could do. He looked at me with a huge smile and said, "Well, I can upgrade your car to a larger size!" I wanted to jump across the counter and strangle him. Sure, a bigger, nicer car is better than the alternative but it certainly doesn't make it any less expensive. I took a deep breath, bowed in submission and handed him my credit card.
The next 2 days were our company kick off meeting for the year at a local hotel. The second day culminated with cake and brownies. I was thrilled! I love cake and cookies...oh wait, no I don't. I don't really have a sweet tooth so it's easy for me to ignore the goodies. The moral of the story is that my boss heard that I was going to stop by the office on my way home. She asked if I would mind dropping off the cake on my way home. I told her no one was going to eat the cake and that we should just throw it away. But NOOOOO, she insisted. I reluctantly agreed. I had a new coat in one hand and the cake in the other. I somehow managed to open the car door. I leaned over to put the cake on the floor when the paper plate it was sitting on broke in half. Now I’m pissed. Really pissed. A favor for the boss has quickly turned into a nightmare. I have frosting on my hands, new jacket AND rental car. I took a deep breath, cleaned it up, threw away the rest of the cake, drove Back to the airport and dropped off the overly priced rental car.
Next came the Christmas incident. I was looking forward to going to Sun Valley, Idaho to catch up with some family friends and family. I was going to be there for 10 days skiing, drinking and relaxing. It was going to be perfect...that was until I decided to attend a close friends holiday party the night before. One thing lead to another and it was 3:00 AM. I wasn't packed and started to stress. And let me tell you, a stressed, drunk person trying to pack is a nightmare. In the end I gave up and decided to finish in the morning.
The morning came...I woke up. It was light outside. I’m blind in the morning without my glasses but new sunlight shouldn't be coming into my room. My head was hurting. No, it was killing me. During the night a MAC truck plowed right into the frontal lobe AND the right side. I grabbed the clock and pulled it toward my face. PANIC, sheer panic. How could I be such an idiot? 10:45 AM!!! How am I going to explain this to my parents? I'm so screwed, this is the biggest travel week of the year, and there are no flights! I spent the next 6 hours being jerked around by the airlines. I must have talked to half a dozen people before I was able to rebook on another flight. This was after they told there wasn't a seat available until December 27th which isn't very helpful if you are trying to get somewhere for Christmas. In the end, I made it and had a wonderful time. Sure, I was berated for sleeping through my flight but I deserved it.
During the months leading up to this moment I had been studying for the GMAT. It's a stressful experience. No matter how hard or how much I studied I still found questions that were just mind boggling. I came to terms with the situation and wasn't too stressed. The day had arrived. It was January 8th. It was a Wednesday. I was prepared, at least as prepared as I was going to get. I scheduled a day off of work. I ate a healthy, nutritious meal the night before. I went to sleep early. I did everything right....at least I thought I did everything right. I showed up to the testing center which is like fort nox. They take your picture and they scan your fingerprint. I walked up to the sign in desk and proclaimed in confidence, "I am Douglas Greenspan and I'm here to take the GMAT." I was ready to go. She looked at her list. She scanned it again. I realized that it was taking longer than normal (whatever normal is seeing that this was the first time taking the test). She looked up and said, "John?" I said no. My heart sank like an anchor. She flipped to another page, looked up at me and said very matter of factly, "Oh, you were scheduled for yesterday at this time. We have you marked down as a no show." A NO SHOW! Really! But I’m here now, isn't there something we can do! 10 minutes of trying to persuade her got me nowhere. I left, I was demoralized. How am I going to explain this one to anyone! An hour went by and the text messages started coming in. "How did the test go" read one of them, "let's get a drink and celebrate" read another. All I wanted to do was curl up into a ball and forget that it ever happened. I get back to my apartment. I'm standing at my apartment door, number 807. It's time for some quick thinking. It's a little embarrassing to admit but I even said to myself, "Doug, get it together, this is when you shine. When shit hits the fan you usually figure something out." I reach into my pocket. I grab my key chain. I pull it out and look to grab my apartment key...it's not there. I reach into my pocket...nothing. I look in my wallet just praying that it somehow, miraculously might be in there, my blood pressure is starting to rise. NOTHING. I slouch into the corner and put my head into my hands. I DON"T HAVE THE KEY! I'm internalizing everything that has happened over the last couple months, leaving my keys in LA, missing my flight to Sun Valley, all of the studying for the GMAT and missing the test AND NOW THIS!
I couldn't find a single available test date in all of Colorado for the rest of the month. I needed to take the test (I didn't want to forget everything I had learned). I ended up booking a flight to LA leaving the next morning. I took the test and had a blast in LA for the rest of the weekend. In the end, everything ended up working itself out. Let's hope I learned something from all of this.
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