Superstitions

I am a very superstitious person. I don't like Friday the 13th. I throw salt over my shoulder if I spill it. If I get a bad feeling about something, I don't do it. Full moons just invite trouble. Don't even get me started on bridges. There are about a million other weird quirks that I care not to mention. You get the idea.

This extreme paranoia stems from my father of who I am a carbon copy. As a Guinea, it is in his genetic make up to be panicky about anything even slightly ominous. Since I am one generation removed, my phobias are not as great as his. However they have been put to the test in the past day.

I came home yesterday after a rather uneventful day. As I walked up to my front door, there was a black cat sitting in the pavement right in my path. My cat loving side overtook my superstition at that moment (it was only sign #1) so I bent down to pet it. It promptly hissed at me, tried to scratch me and ran away. Not a good start.

Then I stopped at my mailbox. Normally it is filled with bills and "Dear Resident" mail. Today there was only one thing. A notice about buying cemetery plots. No joke. I turned it over and sure enough it was not a "Resident" message. It was addressed to me.

Now I was freaked. I walked in the house trying to avoid any potential pitfalls such as falling rocks, a stray patch of quicksand or the ax wielding bogeyman in my closet. I tried to be a rational person and not let these trivial things bother me but you can only fight so hard against your upbringing.

I managed to make it throughout the night alive. However, this morning the bad luck began.

I woke up after my alarm which made me run late all morning. Once I finally got my shit together and was ready to leave, I couldn't find my car keys. I looked for a good 20 minutes before I located them. Now I was really going to be late for work.

I got in my car and was all ready to leave when I realized that I had left my sunglasses in the house. Not normally a big deal, but since I was going to be working outside most of the day, I needed them. So back to house, looked for the sunglasses and then back to the car. At this point, it was time to be at work and I had not even left yet.

Then comes the ride. Missing the 1st light on the Berlin Turnpike causes you to miss the next 756 lights. And of course that is what happened.

I needed some chapstick (I am an addict for those of you who don't know) Guess what, I am out.

I can tell that this is a start to what is going to be a bad day. I am spending the rest of it VERY close to a bridge, which again, I won't get into.

I can only hope that some of my lucky Irish side comes out or I may not be here tomorrow.

Godspeed.