What Time is It?

As I clocked out of work tonight, about an hour ago (1), I read how many hours I had worked... like I do every time I leave. On this occasion, the time slip read 12.12 hours. Some people might think that's slightly crazy for a sixteen year old, but like anything else, conditioning makes you used to it. Some might say how much I work is as impossible as how impossible I think it would be to run as much as Molly does. (2)

Today, though, was Jimmy Buffet Night at the pool of the Stafford CC... The second annual. Let me explain. Jimmy Buffet Night is code for a big Hawaiian themed party at the pool, at which a lot of people drink Margaritas and get wasted off their sophisticated, rich asses. Everybody drinks on Jimmy Buffet Night. Even I, the underage kid that was there longer than anyone else today got slightly buzzed off of some beer and strawberry daiquiri and cheap rum today.

At some point tonight, though, I realized that Jimmy Buffet was actually more than just an excuse to drink Tequila and Mexican beer. Jimmy Buffet is an extremely accomplished person that I knew next to nothing about. As a bit of a renaissance man, Buffet received his bachelors degree in the field of History, was a Frat boy in college, worked at a magazine, produced countless albums, wrote 3 #1 Best Sellers, has made appearances on television shows, has a chain of restaurants and is involved in other business, and still had time to create a charity in 1981, the Save the Manatee Club.

Thinking about doing that many different things in one lifetime makes my head hurt. It really makes you realize how long we actually have here and how long we're going to be doing all of this. Growing up, I've always thought that I'd go to college for something I loved, get my degree and then work in that field for the rest of my life. Have kids with my beautiful wife, retire and watch my kids grow up. However, it suddenly dawns on me that I have a lot of time to change my mind countless times on what I want to do for my whole life. More importantly, that's a decision that I don't really ever need to make, because I don't need to decide on one thing to do with my life. In fact, I think life's way too short to only experience one thing. (3)

The mood that is constantly associated with Jimmy Buffet is one of relaxing. Chill. Most probably assume that Jimmy Buffet and chilling go hand in hand because of his music. (4) But I don't think so. I think that connection actually comes from his entire life as a whole, and is rather expressed through his music. You see, JB cruised through life by playing the cards that were dealt to him at the time. By letting things come to him, he experienced a ton of things that most of us can only dream about. But the important part is, I don't think he ever forced one aspect of his life. He must have understood that things would work out for him one way or another.

Wouldn't it be cool if we took this mindset into our daily living? I am not trying to tell anybody to sit on their ass and wait for a record deal to come their way. That's simply not going to happen. But maybe when making important decisions, like what school to go to, or what to major in, or what sport to play in high school, we could all remember that we have a lot of time to do everything. I think that when we're making these decisions, we need to go with what we feel in our hearts at the time and cruise through life by the seat of our pants.

And, of course, never be afraid to let a Margarita or two take the edge off of a stressful decision or situation... because it's definitely 5 O'clock Somewhere. Always.

1. O.A.R. Song! Tomorrow night is going to kick ass!
2. Although, after preseason, I might understand that running ability a bit more.
3. Maybe I'll be an archaeologist... Although being a Communication major would be pretty interesting...
4. Wasted away again in Margaritaville...