First-year Rutgers University students were not allowed to have a car on campus. Even second-year students had to buy a permit to park their cars on another campus, and then they had to take a bus back to their dorms. However, with some finesse and possibly a decent bribe, my dad was able to score me an authentic “Staff Permit” so I, as a first-year student, could park my 1987 Nissan Sentra in the lot adjacent to my freshman dorm. Obviously this made me pretty popular as I could cart us all to the mall, or Taco Bell, or home for Sunday breakfasts – wherever we felt like going. There was never a problem going anywhere, because my car was parked right downstairs.
The only issue that ever arose was when we would return from our excursions after the housing offices had closed for the evening and they chained the entrance into said parking lot. This happened on more than one occasion. With this dilemma at hand, I had one of two choices. I could either A) drive to another campus, park there, and take a bus back to my dorm or B) say fuck it, drive up the curb, up the lawn, over the bushes that outlined the parking lot, park and walk right upstairs.
Let’s just say I never parked on a different campus and took a bus back.
As insignificant as this story may seem, it is illustrative my decision-making life in general. I constantly take the easy way out. I am an immediate gratification kind of girl. I have no patience for waiting or inconvenience. I make decisions based on which one is going to bring me the most pleasure the fastest. I know that sometimes the decisions I make may not be the right ones or the smartest ones, but they are always the easiest and the ones met with the least resistance. I’ve been trying to learn to make decisions based on what’s going to be best for me over the longer term, but even deciding to make those decisions is difficult because I know they won’t be easy either. It’s just hard for me to decide to do something that might bring me happiness or satisfaction sometime in the future, because what if I get hit by a bus or some shit like that? I’ve always preferred to live in the now and enjoy it to the fullest. I guess that living life to the fullest doesn’t necessarily mean making rash decisions all of the time, but like I said – instant gratification. Which sometimes, maybe most times, means rash decisions. And with rash decisions, come consequences.
Karma caught up with me that freshman year about halfway through, when my roommate woke me in the morning with the most curious look on her face. She asked me “Where did you park your car?” and I said “Where I always park it silly.” By the look on her face I could tell that my car was not in it’s comfortable spot downstairs. I looked out the window to find a bulldozer digging up the concrete and no cars at all in the parking lot. It just so happened that they towed my cute little car and wrote me a decent amount of parking tickets. And someone stole my precious parking pass. After that my car sat in the driveway of my house until my second year when I could purchase a permit to park on that other campus and take the damn bus back.
At least I’m aware of this aspect of my personality, because now I know that sometimes I’d rather put off the instant gratification to avoid the consequences of those decisions. It may not always be the easy way, but hopefully in the long run it will be the best way. If, of course, I don’t get hit by a bus. Or some shit.
