January 11, 2010

Monica and Me

If I were a character on Friends, I would be Monica. We all want to be Rachel, but I have to be realistic. I’m clean (although not quite to the extent that Monica is), organized, competitive and borderline OCD. The OCD may not be borderline depending on who you ask.

I was reminded of this, after a weekend of watching Friends episodes on DVD, when my friend Jake asked me a favor. In my group of friends, I am the planner. If we want to do something or go somewhere, I am the person who makes sure it happens and we have a place to sleep (with the exception of Beaver football).

One of the guys in our group is getting married and the other two are the best men. They are attempting to plan the bachelor party, and by attempting I mean trying to talk me into doing all the work for them. As I’m not invited to any of the BPPC (Bachelor Party Planning Committee) events or the actual bachelor party, I’m not sure why they think I’d have any desire to be the organizer. My organizing is strictly self-serving. I plan and organize because if I want to do something, the only way to make that happen is if I do it. I’ve gotten pretty good at it along the way.

Apparently the BPPC met over the weekend and decided that a) they want to head to the Phoenix area and b) I would happily plan everything for them. B is where they seem to be running into some trouble. After fee negotiations broke down, I informed Jake nicely, that as I have no stake in this, I have no desire to plan and coordinate.

At which point he tried to Monica me. Remember the Thanksgiving episode, I think season 10, where Monica says she isn’t going to cook turkey dinner that year? Phoebe responds by tricking Monica into thinking that it’s best since she probably couldn’t outdo previous year’s effort. Monica of course takes the bait and ends up thinking “It’s my favorite kind of competition. It’s me . . . versus me!”

Jake tried the same kind of psychology, telling me how he thought I was a legend and my planning and organizational powers were world renowned but how my not stepping up to this challenge of planning the bachelor party obviously proves all those theories wrong. And suddenly I found myself seriously considering planning this adventure!

I quickly restarted my brain however and didn’t get sucked in to the ridiculousness. Although most likely, if I find myself with a few bored minutes, I’ll end up perusing VRBO’s in the Phoenix area. Because just like Monica, I can’t help but want others to be organized. I guess the borderline in front of OCD can be removed after all.

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