Friday evening I took my daughter to ice-skating from 8 – 10 PM. Every time I take her there, I always see groups of teenagers, in three or four or even more, standing outside the rink, chatting, joking, laughing roaringly, and of course eating. On the other hand, my daughter is on the rink almost all the time until the session ends. She started Basic 1 figure-skating on 2/7/2009, the 6-week session ending this weekend. Her coach told me she was doing so well that she could skip 2 and 3 and move to Basic 4 in next session.

On the way home I mentioned those playful teenagers to my daughter, she said, “Oh yeah, what are they here for? They don’t skate even inside the rink at all. They stand there chatting, taking up the space, and just getting in the way. They are SO annoying.” I guess they were standing in her way when she tried to skate. Indeed, didn’t they pay these sessions to skate instead of anything else? And they are expensive. When I asked her if she could make such big progress if she were here with her friends, she said, “I guess not. I would probably spend a lot of time chatting like them. I might have some fun but not much progress.”

Which is better — travel with friends at your leisurably speed or travel by yourself and reaching your goal sooner? I wouldn’t mind if time were an unlimited free resource. Am I getting too serious again on this lovely Saturday?