It's never been more clear to me that if you want to make God laugh, plan something.
In the Before Times, my weeks were forged in cement. My commutes and coffee breaks and paychecks were down to the digit. I woke up before the sun three days per week to wrestle at the gym. I went thrifting on Thursdays.
It's hard to ignore that routines keep us sane, especially now. And if you want to get better at something, you need to put the reps in.
But in the midst of shattered plans, I've realized that's not all there is. Life has a plenty of luck, if you can keep your eyes open.
I suppose I finally thought to write about all this because John Conway died. I have no idea who he was but Wikipedia tells me he was a British mathematician and the creator of Game of Life. He was infected by this nightmare virus at the age of 82. But I'm writing about John Conway because xkcd made an animated gif to commemorate his life, and that's what I really want to share.
XKCD is a webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language. I don't follow it every day but one particular strip left me thinking about it ever since I read it years ago. The title is Choices. A young stick-figure man is seduced into the celestial world to reflect on his life with another version of himself. His other self drops some hot knowledge on the rigidity of their shared experience, and says:
"You're curious and smart and bored, and all you see is the choice between working hard and slacking off. There are so many adventures that you miss because you're waiting to think of a plan. To find them, look for tiny interesting choices. And remember that you are always making up the future as you go."
I was probably primed even earlier to think these thoughts while watching Dave Chappelle receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. Netflix released a documentary of the Kennedy Center ceremony. And Chappelle's friends were there to publicly marvel at his genius, his spontaneity and his heart. Comedian Aziz Ansari shared a quintessential example of Chappelle's tiny, interesting choices. Aziz remembered that the two had performed together somewhere in Austin years earlier. When they were done, Aziz said he was ready to turn in. Chappelle had other plans. He said he had some psychedelic mushrooms and he invited Aziz to join in on the fun. When Aziz wavered, Chappelle pushed back with the sound, once-in-a-lifetime logic - "What are you gonna tells your kids twenty years from now, Aziz?"
It was an invitation to make a memory. An opportunity of a tiny, interesting choice. It makes me think about how many times I left the party and went home early. It might often be the responsible thing to do, but it's not always the "right" thing to do.
As author/essayist Tim Kreider wrote in an essay titled "If You're Not Worried, You're Dead": "Life is an adventure, not a test. There are no correct answers in the back of the book; we don’t get to find out what was behind door number two; we never even know whether we won. If you want some guarantee that everything will turn out all right and you’ll have no regrets, it’s not an adventure you want; it’s a theme park."
The reality is you can't know. You can learn from your past, but you can't know how every decision will unfold. You just need to take the magic carpet ride.
What are you waiting for?
With that being said, let's check some other great stuff from the past week:
Need more from Tim Kreider? I'll answer - yes, you do. Please, take the time and read The Busy Trap.
Need some new Netflix? Stand-up Chris D'elia came out with a new silly special called No Pain. And I finally sat down to watch Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse and it was worth the hype.
Watch Whitney Cummings go off the rails on this older clip of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon
If you're not ready for the work week or you just need a breather, throw on this video of cherry wine by hozier playing from a distant church in a forest.
Until next time...