Getting together with a group of friends is always a good time. But the planning of doing that is not. Planning is difficult, especially the finer details. Sometimes it is like pulling teeth, other times it has been described as similar to trying to solve a Rubik’s cube. What can make planning that much harder? Trying to plan it over a group message, like Messenger via Facebook. It is not the easiest of tasks.

1. Timing is always off.

Half the time, not everyone is available at the same time. In a big group especially, you always have that one person who is always late to the conversation and have no idea what is going on. That brings questions since they don’t even want to bother to read the other messages. It is always fun to sum it all up and repeat everything, right? Or there’s always the lurker who sees but says nothing. They have the art of observation mastered.

2. The euphoria of confusion.

When you finally do “check-out” for the night, you slightly have the idea in mind that others would too. The morning definitely shows you how crazy that idea was, and you wake up and realize you missed a whole conversation…at 4 o’clock in the morning. While you were comfy and warm sleeping in bed, others were giving pictorial tours of their dorms or talking video games. The many things one can learn at 4 in the morning.

3. The aftermath of the dead battery.

When your phone is dead and has been for awhile, all seems quiet. Perhaps a little homework was done or maybe you did a bit of light reading. Everything is at peace and harmony. Well, at least, it was. That changes when the battery is finally charged and the phone is turned back on. Immediately, it starts lighting up like a Christmas tree and going off like a buzzer showing all the missed notifications. There might be a bit of a jolt and a scare. Occasionally, the phone might find its way onto the floor, off of the table where just a moment before it sat so calmly.

4. The ole’ subject switcheroo.

It is extremely easy for someone to change the subject. It’s like the first five messages are about what is trying to be planned and then all of a sudden one comment changes the whole scheme of things. Usually, once that happens, it is like taming a wild animal to get it back on course. Half the time, it is deemed unsalvageable. A sinking ship.

5. 1500 messages later, and only 8 are about planning.

Yep, you usually don’t end up making a solid plan. On the other hand, though, you were able to share life stories, dreams, advice, gifs, memes, dorm tours and gaming 101. But no plan was set in stone, which means a whole other attempt is needed, which most likely will see the same result. But nothing’s wrong with some friendly conversation, right?

Although it may take awhile, just being able to talk to your friends and see how they are doing is worth it.