lesson #3
Follow your intuition.
Looking back on it now, some people may not agree with my choice to lurk around The Parker Palm Springs in complete darkness, texting my terrified friends instructions to follow in order to save their abducted bestie ‘Whitney’. I assumed they knew it was me playing with them, but the fun was in the fact that I was pretending to be that freak from SAW that addresses his victims with the bone chilling phrase “I want to play a game”.
So, there I was, literally crouching in the darkness of the palms and ferns, heavily shadowed by the shrubbery and thickets around me, ‘muahaha-ing’ inside at how creepy this actually was. I am a creep. I realise that now. Moving forward, I was one with nature that night, moving steadily with bare feet across the land possessing as much stealth and agility as a leopard hunting its prey. Just like a leopard, or any other wild beast at the top of the food chain, I am an opportunist. I see a window and I POUNCE. This is what happened on that fateful night at The Parker Palm Springs.
Thanks to the intricate landscape design, The Parker Palm Springs provided the perfect environment for stalking. Out of sight, but absolutely not out of mind, I was able to watch Tash and Devin from my den with an uninterrupted view of where they were heading, what they were doing, and apparently that they were sharing the whole experience on SnapChat.
My orders became more specific, involving certain areas of the resort they should look for their friend. I ordered them to head to the giant chess board and commence a game. Well that fell through because the pieces had been packed away. This was a real spanner in the works because I was counting on their chess game to provide me with the time I needed to get back into our room and hide or just lock them out. Which ever I decided at the time. Anyway, I had to think fast because at this stage I realised there was a whole other audience on SnapChat waiting to see what happened to them. I decided to work with the time I had and I ran as fast as my little legs could take me. I got back to the room, opened every cupboard and door I could see and turned all the lights off. It was amazing. I was very impressed. It was at this point that I had really worked myself into a sweaty anxious mess from all the excitement and I made the decision to call it a night. I sent a text suggesting they head back to the room, which they did. I was waiting for them when they got there of course to scare the absolute be-jesus out of them, which was a success, then we all laughed and pretty much were in bed asleep within the hour.
The most important part of this story, however, is the lead up to that terrifying night at The Parker Palm Springs.
I had never planned for any of this to take place. To be honest with you, I took a break from the post dinner, mid red wine banter during the breaks from some strange reality tv show that followed the lives of a family that had far too much money than they knew what to do with and so spent it on horrible furniture and Brazilian Butt Lifts, and went outside for a good old Skype Sessions with my Mum. It was only when I was already sitting in the darkness outside our hotel room after my Mum decided she didn't feel like answering the phone, that I overheard Tash and Devin wondering where I had disappeared to. THIS was the moment I decided to scare the shit out of them.
The moral of this story is to follow you’re intuition. Sometimes in life you hit a road block and you really just have to work with it. The girls didn’t realise it at the time, but they really needed some distracting and I provided that to them. It was such a fun night, and I would do it all over again in a heart beat. Not that I’m in to that kind of thing... Although it is very entertaining seeing those two running through a resort in their pyjamas in the middle of the night narrating their nightmare to their new loyal fans on SnapChat.
