There is a common quote out there that goes: "Bad luck always happens in threes." Just keep this in mind.
On Monday, we had a paper due. Of course, being the procrastinator I am, I finished it early Monday morning. So I was planning to print it out later in the morning. I get to the Redifer computer lab around 8:40. Login. Open up Google Docs. Download file. Print. And a window pops up, telling me I'm out of paper. *expletive* *expletive* I follow the instructions on the pop up and attempt to buy more paper with LionCash. Turns out, I'm out of LionCash. *expletive* I attempt to buy more paper with my Discover card. Turns out, Penn State doesn't take Discover. *expletive* I email professor Kramer and send it in that way.
But wait, there's more. I get to Willard by 8:55, 10 minutes to spare. I hit the button to the elevator and ... nothing. I don't know who to call, what to say. So I wait there pathetically, hoping for some miracle. And what do I know, 20 minutes later, a little late for a miracle, two men show up and fix the elevator. I make it to class, albeit late.
If you're one of the next five callers... I leave english and go to physics. Everything is good. Here is where it gets interesting. I go to math, in the Nursing Sciences Building, home to Penn State's school of nursing. They're doing construction and the only handicapped entrance is blocked off. I end up ramming through a door and getting inside. Not to mention the irony of a nursing building not having an accessible handicapped entrance. 10 minutes into class my left foot plate drops at least 6 inches. Now my left leg is dangling, its uncomfortable. But, I'm still able to pay attention during class. Class is over. I start backing out of the aisle. And the foot plate hits the ground. *clank* I wait for about five minutes and some kind person lent me a hand and picked it up for me. I find the main School of Nursing office and see if they have a set of allen wrenches. Luckily for me there was a guy doing construction in that building and he had a set in his truck and kindly reattached it for me.
The moral of this story is "luck" always accompanies "unluck." There is some luck surrounding unlucky events. Like when the elevator didn't work for me (I'll get back to that in another blog). It was an unfortunate event but it was solved by the fortunate event of the people coming to fix it. Same holds true for the foot plate. The unluck of my foot plate falling to the ground was met by the luck of someone being kind enough to pick it up and eventually fix it. Its kind of like Newton's third law:
"For every action [of unluck] there is an equal and opposite reaction [of luck]."
We get so focused on something "unlucky" happening that we continue to look for more unfortunate things. But my theory is that once we reach 3-4 unfortunate things, we think things can't get worse, and then we start looking for the positives.
Yo. Jus' be positive.
Dude, let me just start off, I'm sorry for your tough week hahaha. But you do a really good job of finding silver linings and providing a convincing argument that there is, in fact, usually some kind of corresponding lucky event to make up for your most recent unlucky experience. Really good job telling the story of your week; you're a talented story teller and writer. Good post!
ReplyDeleteEverything you said in this blog is witty, informational, engaging, and relatable. Your style is genuine and your topics are always full of substance and life lessons. I also really liked your physics analogy between luck and unluck. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI keep thinking your posts can't possibly get funnier and it just did! I was empathizing with you about the printer pages. Doesn't it figure that nothing works when we need it to? All in all, I'm glad you're able to keep a positive attitude throughout all the unlucky events. Keep the funny posts coming!
ReplyDeleteThis was so funny! I really liked how you used the sequence of events that happened to you to prove your point. Also, your connection to physics was well thought out and interesting. Good post; it was very engaging to read about your theory that luck always accompanies unluck.
ReplyDeleteYou really did get your bad luck in threes, like threes to the third times. I like how you could be so positive and funny about your bad luck, and how you said about there was still good things going on, like people helping you. I really liked your post.
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