Dodgeball

When it comes to winning things (particularly through online contests), I am pretty damn lucky.  Usually, it's something tangible like a book, dvd, or accessory; however, the tricky part is when it is something like a concert or trip that actually involves another person.  Since I have cut back on my non-essential associates and keep to a pretty strict close-friend lifestyle, it makes its exceptionally difficult to select a companion.  For example, today I won a trip to California (and i'm not sure if you've ever won a trip, but they don't exactly give you a lot of time to find a guest) and I needed to have one that could fill out the guest release form by tonight.  Naturally, there are a lot of things to consider when choosing a travel partner; but how do you choose between friends that are all pretty fairly matched by friend standards?  Since my best friend lives across the country, I don't have an automatic partner in crime like some people might have - making this a simple choice for them, congratulations. 

Basically, the list is narrowed down to approx. 10 people that I consider my closest friends in/close-enough to my geographic location.  From there, it's important to consider how equally my friends have benefited from my past winnings and who is obviously unavailable (well-known obligations).  From there it went to who could really use this trip - I chose my friend that recently endured a hard break-up and has yet to feel the fruits of my addiction to contest-entering.  This seems like a long process, but don't be confused, it took all of 20 seconds.

The part where things got a little sticky was when I realized that the name of my friend was needed earlier than anticipated, I contacted a 2nd friend (the one that went to L.A. with me in June - and is a proven most awesomest travel buddy) for a back-up.  This is not to say that she was any less of an equal option, I just like to be fair with all my friends (I think that's what makes the difference between an ok friend and a good friend).  I made the mistake of mentioning that I had already invited our other friend and had not yet received a firm yes - but in the interest of time [and my lack of patience] I HAD to determine the likelihood that a had an actual other option.  Of course, she respectably called me out on it, to which I felt horrible - because last time even though she went, I had a different tactic to finding a guest - I simply called my good friends in the order that they had last texted me.

All in all, I feel like this is a perfect example of how I struggle with my foot-in-mouth syndrome on a constant basis - and also, why I will never be a good public speaker ::tear::