Feral Children, Thinking Ahead, and Couches On Truck Beds

This past weekend, Red Bull hosted their Red Bull Showrun in SF. They brought out their F1 cars, GT3 cars, and some other fun things. The event had a very interesting setup. There was a barricade-lined course on Marina Boulevard, where, if you got there early, you could get a front-row seat to the cars flying by. The problem was that unless you got there early, you would most likely not be able to see anything. Faced with this dilemma, it was interesting to see how people approached the situation differently. Some people just stood back and hoped they could find a space to see, some brought step stools, others stood where they could see the giant screens that Red Bull had setup, however, the most interesting group were those who chose to break into peoples homes, climb on top of street signs and trees, and generally disregard what normal people would consider acceptable behavior. It was really sad to see just how many people make bad decisions. How many people disregard other people’s property, and how many parents have let their kids down by letting them get to this point. It made me realize how irresponsible so many people are. It seemed like the people who don’t think ahead are the same ones who make bad decisions.

I took a different route, knowing that this event was coming, I parked my truck on the corner of Marina Boulevard a week in advance, with the goal of having a mini tailgate. With my apartment being less than 200ft away, my friends and I also rolled my couch down the street and set it up on top of the bed of the truck. This gave us a perfect view, and what felt like our own VIP viewing deck only rivaled by the $5,000,000+ houses that I was parked next to. It was really cool to see how a little thinking in advance transformed this event for my friends and I from something that would’ve been annoying to attend, into one of the most memorable experiences we’ve had in San Francisco. In a way, I think there is a lesson in this that the gap between mediocre and memorable isn’t as wide as you may think. Taking something from boring to fun can require less than 5 minutes of thinking, and many times be totally free. The world has the capacity to be more fun if you make it more fun; you just have to care.