The launch of Choco Q
Thursday, January 19, 2012 at 4:05PM I was born a planner. I don’t mean the advertising kind, although I was that for a few years too, I mean the general life kind. I organise. It’s not something I like to do so much as something I have to do — I cant function without a plan. The very atoms of my being must have a plan. At night before I go to bed I plot out my following day, down to the half hour. Upon waking, I check-in with said plan and only then can I get out of bed. I use iCal on my MacBook which syncs with my iPhone so I have a calendar of events wherever I go, and the very handy teuxdeux.com plots my actionable items by day, week and even “Someday”. These digital plans are supplemented with hand-written shopping lists, city maps, and addresses just to keep my day, and therefore my sanity, on track.
My two greatest fears are being cold and being hungry, and my third by a narrow margin is existing without a plan. My whole body trembles imagining the horror of lost productivity, missed deadlines, chaos, mayhem and an all-encompassing black void, where instead there could be the immense satisfaction of crossing something off a to-do list!
I hear you loyal reader, you’re asking, “Q, if you absolutely must organise your life this way, why-oh-why did you move to Colombia?”
Yes, well, that wasn’t part of the plan. And for deviating from the plan I am being punished, harshly. So far from the plan is this outcome, that I find my worst fears have been realised: I am incapable of planning!
Despite rigorous organisation and to-do-list-ing, I'm unable to schedule even a coffee date in Bogotá. Not only does this city simply refuse to be planned, it actively thwarts all attempts at organisation. “Think you’re getting to the hardware store AND the market today?” it jeers. "Think again." Then it throws a lake of rain on the city just as I’m trying to find a cab. “You dare imagine you will get your delivery of couverture on time?” it bellows. Then it seizes the city in gridlock so tight, my chocolate delivery guy moves a mere three metres in three days.
Bogotanos know this of course, which is why they never plan anything. They decide at any given moment, based on traffic conditions, weather, road closures, their location, the location of the friend/colleague/office/restaurant/store/government department, the "minutes" left on their pre-paid mobile SIM and the probability of getting a taxi, whether or not to celebrate a birthday, arrange a business meeting, catch up for drinks or go into labour. Elaborate parties come together in mere moments, complete with band, caterers, wait staff and decorators, who are all available at a minute’s notice, because nobody else dared to book them any earlier.
Businesses, I discovered, emerge under the same principles. In late November I was a student of Ecole Chocolat, about to graduate from their Professional Chocolatier course. By December 9, the day before Latino Man and I left for Australia, I was the owner of a chocolate business, complete with logo, website, packaging and delivered Christmas orders. Amidst the December rain, holiday craziness, collapsing roads and Latino Man’s ridiculous workload, Bogotá let me start Choco Q.
Now, if I could just figure out a way to schedule those last-minutes…




