The Planner

Did The Leader tell you that she is the most important person in the group? I bet she did. But don't listen to her! The most important person in the group is actually me. Without me making all these plans and arrangements, she would have nothing to decide on.

Hi, I’m the Planner.

Speaking of The Leader, we really don’t get along. Well, I tried. But she always has to crush what I would call “the perfect plan” because she dislikes it. She is so picky. I always have to come up with something else on the spot.

I don’t own a diploma in Event Planning! The only reason why I do these things is because someone in the group has to do it. The purpose of having a group of friends is to hang out and do things together. While the rest of the group is too lazy to arrange something, I need to do it if I want to go out.

My responsibilities are to come up with plans and activities for the group. I’m not sure how well I've been doing it but people tend to assume that I have a million brilliant ideas in my head. They think I know all the cool places to hang out and all the fun activities. They expect me to come up with the most epic party or the unforgettable road trip. Let me tell you, it’s not easy to please everyone in the group. They have a billion of opinions and then some.

Planning is a skill. You can’t imagine how much research I have to do to find all of these fun activities and places for the group. I read tons of magazines and subscribe to different travel websites. And I’m constantly on the hunt for the cheapest hotels or airplane tickets.

I’m also the one who has to figure where and when to meet up. This is another annoying thing that I deal with all the time: we all have different schedules. Picking a right time to meet that accommodates everybody’s schedule is like solving a calculus problem. And, of course, whatever I come up with has to go through The Leader.

You know, they say that the best part of going on the trip is the planning and preparation. But if you have to do it over and over and over again, it is exhausting. When we go on a vacation, I am the one who will book the hotel, plan out carpool situation (another thing that I hate so much) and collect the money. And the most important thing is making sure people get there on time. Why do I have to stress out so much when I’m supposed to relax and enjoy? While I volunteer to do it, it can get very frustrating.

P.S: Dear friends, can I be the one who get invited once in a while? I want to have the luxury of not having to worry about x, y and z whenever we hang out. Yeah?!