Skip to main content

Reading is Important, Kids

In general, I really dislike the concept of tl;dr. If you care enough to read about something, just read the darn thing. Sure, there are cases where people are overly verbose, but those are the exception, rather than the rule. Instead, tl;dr gets used as an excuse for people to avoid reading. In its most common usage, it's a form of laziness.

The real world is full of nuances, and you miss out on all of that if you see the world through CliffsNotes glasses. In particular, I tend to think that you miss important details when you're constantly asking for the executive summary.

You want to know why I think this? Because I learned this the hard way.

My friend was in town a little while ago, and she wanted to get some people together for a meal. After a little negotiating on what would meet everyone's dietary restrictions, she settled on Samovar. Now, if you either know San Francisco or if you clicked on the link, you will notice that there are several locations with that exact name. Knowing this, she made sure to specify at which of the three possible Samovar's we were supposed to meet.

I remember seeing the invitation, and I also checked the location to make sure. I saw the word "Mission," so I made plans to get myself to the downtown location. That one is in Yerba Buena gardens, which happen to be on 3rd St and Mission St. It was a fairly straight shot on the bus, so I figured I'd just take public transportation to get there.

I planned out my arrival fairly well, since I arrived a few minutes past the appointed time. Not seeing anyone, I called my friend to verify where they were, if they had made a reservation, and how many people were in our party.

My friend was a little confused, since she was sitting inside the venue and did not see me anywhere. In a moment of realization, she asked where I was. With a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, I told her where I was. Her response:

"Oh, no, it's not that one. We're at the one in the Mission, on Sanchez St."

After apologizing for my idiocy, I flashed back to the invitation and realized that the location had actually said "the Mission" instead of "3rd and Mission." Like I said, you miss important details when you don't read. The worst part of it all was that the actual location was closer to my house than the incorrect one. I could have actually had a shorter bus ride had I actually, you know, read the invitation properly.

Fortunately for me, I caught a bus fairly quickly, so it only took me about 20 minutes to get there. Combining this with the fact that everyone else was also running late, I was able to sit down at the table before anyone had ordered their food. All in all, it worked out all right, other than some mild embarrassment on my part. Still, all of the laughter at my expense could have been avoided.

Learn from my mistake, people. Don't whine about reading. It's good for your social life.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All Good Things ...

August 8, 2009. Over twelve years ago, I started blogging with this simple post . I didn't really have a great reason for starting the blog, other than I wanted to try it out. I wanted to try writing and putting it where others could read it. I don't know, it just seemed like a new adventure to try. Along the way, there have been all sorts of posts and all sorts of life events, but through it all, I kept writing. It just became a part of what I do at some point. It wasn't a matter of whether I was going to write a blog post, it was a matter of when. The Mild Wife has described it as a "writing practice," and it was one of the reasons why I kept writing. Honestly, it's good practice, and it gives me an opportunity to hone my craft. I'm no professional author, but we all have to write stuff in our everyday lives. Why not give yourself reps to get better at it? However, I think it's time for that practice to change. My weekly anecdotes sure kept me amused...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dreams

Normally, I don't eat very many sweets. I tend to eat pretty generous portions, but I generally prefer savory food over sweet. In fact, I usually prefer things half as sweet when possible. My preference doesn't have anything to do with health reasons, it's just one of those things that I've always liked better. That said, I do inevitably eat dessert, particularly if I'm out with other people. My stance towards dessert is roughly equivalent to those who are social drinkers . If other people want to munch on something for dessert, I'm not about to cross my arms and refuse. That'd be just a tad gauche. So, I do eat some dessert. I even have a few standby favorites that I'll usually order when presented with them (brownies, creme brulee, and apple pie). But left to my own devices, I'm not about to go hunting for dessert. Apparently, this means that the sugar can really mess with my system under the right circumstances. As I've discovered, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

New York City Trip (Day 1)

After my crappy flight , I was now in Newark, New Jersey at 7AM on a Friday morning. I had done a little bit of reading up, so I knew which bus I needed to take and where I was going to get off. All in all, getting into the city was surprisingly easy. I suppose speaking the language does make things simpler. Through no real planning of mine (a theme of the trip, at least on my part), I picked one of the later bus stops at which to get off, Grand Central. I actually just figured that getting off at Grand Central would give me options, and heck, it's called Grand Central. That just screamed "decent place to disembark that might be close to some stuff" to me, so that's where I got off. However, it also meant that we drove down 42 nd St to get to my bus stop. That just happens to be a big street, and it gave me a glimpse of Times Square as we drove by. My bus stop choice had accidentally given me a rough layout of the city. Go me. I had about 6 hours to kill...
1 comment
Read more