Need for speed

Even though I'm living the laid-back life, I'm haunted by a need for speed.

Efficiency is my main goal in life: time, resources, money, etc. Finding a better way to do something or a more productive pattern always satisfies me. Roadtrips become a race against the clock; shopping only takes place on the sales racks; my lotion is not truly empty until I've cut the tube in half and used up every last bit.

My ski bum dance is founded on efficiency as well. Wednesday is my day on the mountain, which features a race for locals (definite need for speed here) followed by a quick celebratory cheers with teammates before I haul myself to bio class. And today I added in a stats exam before bio, just for fun.

At work we are scanning, uploading, stickering, stacking, sneezing (the dust bunny attacks are harsher than the scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail), and repeating as fast as we can before another customer comes in to throw off our momentum. There are 30,000 (let that sink in for a moment) books in the store.

I rush through class assignments in hopes of connecting with friends online, fulfilling nonprofit free labor offers, or winning some scholarship money.

The need for speed continues post-San Francisco. And since I miss the announcement of the race results every week due to my bio class, I'm wondering how fast I was able to speed through today's course. (A stranger encouraged me to move up a place so that I would be the fifth woman across the line, entitling me to a fifth of tequila. She had received the "gift" the past two weeks.) Fast enough to lose a basket off my ski pole, but hopefully not fast enough for the infamous reward. Thursday's efficiency would definitely take a hit.