I walked into the party and didn’t know anyone.  This is an incredibly uncomfortable feeling for me but I force myself to do it and I fake it.  I walked around but everyone was talking to someone else, I always feel strange jumping in mid-conversation with people that I’ve never met, so I just kept walking around.  Aha!  A women sitting by herself, I go over and introduce myself.  We started talking and we had a great conversation, she was like a friend that I had known forever.  Some time goes by and we go to sit with her colleagues.  I’m having fun.  There was some talk of a local bar that has goldfish racing on Tuesday nights… it was Tuesday night.  I thought, this was meant to be.  I rounded up (harassed) people to join us.  The introvert (me) was organizing the social event with people I didn’t know!

There were 10 of us that ended up going to the bar.  There was in fact goldfish racing.  There are 2 thin troughs filled with water.  You get a goldfish in a glass and a water gun.  There is a starter and you race against someone else by dumping the fish in the trough and shooting it with the water gun to get it to the end.  It’s not as easy (or as cruel) as it sounds.  My fish got half way and turned around and went back to the start line!  This very interesting bar had a life size Connect 4 game (that we challenged some locals to and won), a child’s train ride (that I got in) and a picture cut-out of Gilligan and the Skipper (which I also got my picture taken in).  The highlight of this outing though was taking the golf cart taxi home, equipped with neon lights around the roof.

Needless to say I didn’t make it out for my run but I wouldn’t change this spontaneous event for anything.  Some of the people who I tried to recruit to go out said “I will go tomorrow”.  I told them that you can’t plan for a spontaneous event.  Tonight is the night that it’s happening… and also the goldfish only race on Tuesdays!

Plans are good, I love plans and 95% of the time I follow them. But don’t be afraid to jump at an opportunity when it appears.

Because I didn’t stick with my original plan I had one of most fun and entertaining nights I’ve had in a long time.  I got to know these new friends and I am still laughing when I think about the night.

The next time someone asks you to do something spontaneous, just do it. You can catch up on your sleep later. (I arrived home late Friday night and slept for 9 hours straight) 🙂