Every year I take a trip with my dad.
And we typically choose a place that is very weird.
Like, if you could choose to take a trip somewhere, it would probably be one of the last places that you would choose.
No - not even dangerous places like Afghanistan… because at least that would be interesting.
No, we choose places that nobody would ever even think to take a trip to because they are just completely random and odd.
My dad is obsessed with finding beauty in the places no one else sees…
Okay, update. Interruption.
This is about an hour after I started writing prior…
I missed my freaking flight.
Basically, what happened was I was writing that earlier piece in the Amex lounge at LAX.
I left to go to my gate about 40 minutes before boarding, and when I was looking for my gate, I realized it was one of those where you have to get on a shuttle to get to the gate.
Which by the way, I think they should always alert you about.
I didn't think it was a big deal because when I got in line to get on the shuttle, the man manning the line walkie-talked over to the gate and said that there was a passenger for 52A to El Paso waiting for the flight.
So I thought that I would be covered.
But I waited in that line for about 10 minutes.
And then I got the notification that my plane was boarding before I'd even gotten on the bus.
And I was like, okay… well - it can't be that far.
The bus ride was 15 minutes long!!
So by the time I got to the gate, I'm literally walking up to it, and I see them closing the doors.
They literally closed the door in my face.
And as I plead to them to let me on, they say, "There's no way."
And I'm like, "The plane doesn't leave for 15 minutes."
And they're like, "Once we close the door, we can't reopen it."
And I'm like, "Can I talk to a manager?"
They phone a manager. The manager's in absolutely no rush, walks over, tells me the same exact thing.
And then they proceed to tell me about other options to rebook.
So - here I am waiting for my next flight, which is now in three hours, in an LAX terminal.
Feel like a dork Lmao.
And it's just one of those moments where you have to surrender and look for any positive as to the reason why this actually might be God’s plan.
It's really moments like this where your spiritual path shines.
Can you spiritually handle missing a flight and having to stay in an airport for 6 more hours?
So yeah. Working through that. Lol.
Anyway, back to what I was saying originally about the places my dad chooses to pick for our annual father-son trips.
Well, as I already said, we're going to El Paso, Texas.
And even further out, we're renting a car and going to a town called “Truth or Consequences”.
Which is the actual name of the town.
And I didn't even know that there were towns that were named things like this.
And I think one of the biggest lessons that my dad has taught me about art and design and philosophy is that you can actually find extreme amounts of beauty in the most mundane places.
And so that's a lot of the reason we book these types of areas. And they're also typically near deserts.
I'm sure there's going to be a lot of interesting things we find along the path.
But again, it's just not the first place you would think to go on a trip to.
Which I think makes it pretty interesting.
Growing up, my dad always told me he was dyslexic.
And I think this is why he's such a good artist and designer… because he looks at things backwards.
He looks at areas and at the world in a way that you're conventionally not supposed to.
And there's a lot of beauty in that.
I think about it a lot in entrepreneurship.
Like, as I'm growing my business, what would happen if I did everything wrong for the next 48 hours?
What if I intentionally did everything backwards and the exact way you're not supposed to?
And this often creates a lot of really interesting insights.
But anyway, I'm going to just maybe try to meditate or something and get to work.
That's it for this morning's drama.
And I will see you later.
By the way, I'll probably have a lot of very interesting stories in the coming emails, just because of all the stuff that we're going to be doing.
Talk soon.
- Arlin
PS - note to self - ALWAYS get to gate before the lounge.
