Timing really is everything. We live from situation to situation, minute to minute -- that makes timing one of the most important factors in our experiences. The girl's basketball coach at my high school always said, "If you're not 10 minutes early, you're late." But really, what if that 10-minute difference changed your life? Being late might be the best thing that ever happened to you.
More to the point: Do things really happen for a reason? If there's a cosmic force out there that caused me to oversleep last Tuesday, what is that cosmic force trying to say to me? It could either be, "set your alarm louder" or "you won't get hit by a bus if you leave five minutes later."
Those messages pack two different punches, not to mention that this theory has some conflicts with the "free will" belief I've been taught since I went to Catholic School in second grade. I can't help but think that someone, somewhere has their eye on me and causes these little situations that make up my life. It's a lot more reassuring than just assuming I'm cosmically screwed.
Take my cousin. The girl loves the 80s. Not like, she watches the VH1 show and sometimes wears her hair to the side -- no, she is full-out obsessed and goes to every 80s night Miami University's social life can provide. This means at a minimum, once a week. Could it be that her cosmic timing was wrong? Was she supposed to be born 10 years earlier so she could experience scrunchies and tube socks and Molly Ringwald firsthand? Or is it only in retrospect that she can enjoy the era, and somehow this fascination will shape her life in an unforeseeable way?
I know this is a lot of speculation, but when the timing is wrong, speculation turns into quite the real quandary. And there's only one situation in which the wrong timing can really mess with our heads -- with relationships.
Okay, and with careers, friends and families and many other important things, but boys are the easiest subject matter for me to get worked up about.
We all know the stories: You could meet someone while you already have a boyfriend, while you want to be single or when you're about to graduate. The timing is off. Great guy, bad timing.
This presents a bad situation for everyone. No one likes to hear "it's not you, it's just..." but that damn ellipsis gets you every time. They turn perfectly nice people into heart-stomping, evil-minded, deserve-to-be-banished meanies. And the worst part is that no one really likes to hear the truth. We do in theory, but in theory communism works.
So here I feel as if I should offer some sort of advice, some sort of wisdom from my almost two decades worth of experience in this society. The best I can do is offer a catch phrase that a friend of mine likes to use: "Maybe in 2005."
He says it in reference to when I'm going to sink my beer pong shot, or when he's going to think I'm cool... (Get it? I'll sink it... maybe in 2005). Soon enough, he'll have to change it to 2006, but he's got a point.
When are things going to work out? All we can hope for is that maybe they will in 2005. Not that the cosmic force will do everything for us, but if we try our best, maybe in 2005 a couple more things will go our way.
We can't give up hope that just because one relationship didn't work out, or two or three, that's why we have all this time here. I have a friend who when coaching me through some timing issues said, "Well not to sound bitchy but you're just gonna have to deal and get through it. Because that's just how life goes." Bad timing happens, but how we deal with it is the way we move on and find some better timing.
This doesn't make it any easier when the timing's off, but it should make us more aware of when the timing is right on target. Appreciating the good timing is just as important as dealing with the bad. In a "Mean Girls" scene, the Plastics all focus on what's wrong with them, despite the worship they receive from the rest of the student body -- much like how we only focus on bad timing. Just another example of how "Mean Girls" can teach us about life.
So while we're busy grumbling about how if only this and what if that, maybe we should look at how lucky we are to have Survivor hour at precisely 8 o'clock. What great timing! How awesome it is that the semester's almost over, woohoo!
Think about it, if the Cindy Lou Hoo hadn't happened to wake up at that particular moment to catch the Grinch, maybe his heart would have never grown three sizes that day. What excellent timing Cindy!
We can only hope that the force that runs the universe isn't like TV audiences and doesn't find sadistic and ironically bad timing hilarious. That would suck. If that cosmic being is making sure that everything happens for a reason, then all we can hope for is that we discover part of that reason soon.
If not in 2005, there's always 2006.
Clare Ondrey can be reached at ondrey@cavalierdaily.com.
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