I'm a big fan of under-planning when the risks are low and the outcome doesn't matter. Under-planning is a unique decision-making approach that I usually do not support because it gives you less control over what's about to happen to you. I say "unique" because this approach is best suited to those occasions when you know it's all going to be okay, no matter what. Otherwise, when you're airborne between the grassy cliff above and the bubbling miasma at the foot of the waterfall without having estimated, in advance, all possible or probable outcomes, you probably realize you are taking a risk. I don't always want to be a passenger on Fate's night bus. On that bus, the seatbelts don't work, the turns in the road are hairpin, and the driver is popping ephedrine tabs and singing prayers to stay awake.
My current situation reminds me of how it all went down: basically, without as much as a second thought. I neglected to think my decisions through, and now here I am, living in a small city I don't care for and doing work I'd rather not. I didn't plan to be single and living in a basement, but I didn't not plan for these conditions, either. Four dinner plates are stacked in my cupboard, but I once owned a dozen place settings from an antique collection which included a gravy boat…again, the product of under-planning since I didn't choose any of that!
Now, I choose. I'm lousy as hell at it, I mean I really suck, but the outcome is of less importance than the practice, and I reassure myself that it will grow easier in time - and I really think it will. Making good decisions requires planning and commitment, which consistently remind me why I neglected making decisions before; they are "serious" activities and not much fun. Planning squeezes all the fun out of spontaneity and adventure.
And so it came to be that my under-planned (some might say ill-chosen) menu selection, fragrantly steaming and carried to our table by the beaming chef himself, was freakin wicked:
Yup. You can't plan everything. Why would you want to?
