Wednesday, April 21, 2004

Writing's on the wall I am, by nature, superstitious. I don't know why. I wasn't raised to do this, but I never spill salt without quickly throwing some over my left shoulder. (When I do this with my favorite, Maldon sea salt, which costs several dollars per box, I get an exasperated yet resigned look from Husband.) One grain will do, but something has to go. I also tend to look for patterns of threes. This is what has happened to me this week. Mnd you, other things have happened, too, but these are the things that stand out. I went out to lunch with my mother, on an errand to downtown L.A. Somewhere between our delicious Mandarin Deli experience (go, if you've never been, for the best Mandarin dumplings and noodles ever, at least, that I've ever had) and our trip to the jewelry supply so she could load up on supplies for her metalsmithing class, my purse was picked of my brand-new, just-arrived-to-replace-my-last-stolen-cellphone cellphone. Although outwardly just a humble Motorola, this phone actually possessed the secret magic chip that 1. justified its enormous price tag because 2. it (the chip) allowed the phone to work with the hands-free, voice-dialed, fancy-schmancy ridiculous system in my car. Between the costs of the phone, and the calls that ATT Wireless feels I should pay for to weird international clearinghouse exchanges, this has been an expensive lesson--in something. Still trying to work out what, exactly. That was Monday. Today, I went out to the ATT Wireless store nearest my home to try to replace the uber-phone with a cheap one. I'll deal with getting another integrated one, if I have to, when my lease (yes, the car's a lease) expires. As I pull into the parking lot, something--nothing--distracts me--until I hear a loud scratching sound--the unmistakable sound of car assaulting car. I have scraped someone's Toyota, and they're nowhere to be seen. I left my info, took pictures with my disposable camera, blah blah blah--fifteen minutes later, after I got tired of not being helped at the ATT store, the victim of my lameness still hadn't returned. I left, marvelling at the mystical powers of the universe to screw up my day by allowing me to be distracted by strangers getting into their cars in parking lots. Personally, I think it's because I've been feeling a little smug of late about actually getting my act together. To quote Julia Sweeney, "God said: 'Ha!'". So, the big question is--were these the two bad things to pay off the intial stolen cell phone in February? Or is there some bigger, badder experience lurking around the corner? This is the curse of being superstitious. comment []4:22:36 PM   trackback []