Believe it or Else

Born Under A Bad Sign
by Booker T. Jones / William Bell

Born under a bad sign
I been down since I begin to crawl
If it wasn't for bad luck,
I wouldn't have no luck at all

Hard luck and trouble is my only friend
I been on my own ever since I was ten
Born under a bad sign
I been down since I begin to crawl
If it wasn't for bad luck,
I wouldn't have no luck at all

I can't read, haven't learned how to write
My whole life has been one big fight
Born under a bad sign
I been down since I begin to crawl
If it wasn't for bad luck,
I wouldn't have no luck at all

I ain't lyin'
If it wasn't for bad luck
I wouldn't have no kind-a luck
If it wasn't for real bad luck,
I wouldn't have no luck at all

Wine and women is all I crave
A big legged woman is
gonna carry me to my grave
Born under a bad sign
I been down since I begin to crawl
If it wasn't for bad luck,
I wouldn't have no luck at all

Take me to the river, baby, and wash me down...

Superstitions are absurd and childish!  Only a fool would practice them!  What a waste of energy!

Okay, now that we're alone:  Don't let me catch you mentioning the name of "the Scottish play" or I will make you go outside and turn around three times to dispel the curse.  Don't wish me good luck when you could say "break a leg".  For god's sake, don't whistle in a dressing room!!!  And, personally, I prefer to step over the cracks in the sidewalk.

DPR:  For The Bard's Play:  ..."Angels and ministers of grace defend us".  Works everytime...if you throw salt over your right shoulder and knock on wood and wear your lucky socks.....

Olivia - you are such an intuitive wonder! The verses you shared were some of my late husband's favorite and he sang them often! 

I went into the guest bedroom this evening and lo! one of my unthinking, uncaring offspring had put not one - but five hats on the bed!  My sainted grandmother must be turning over in her grave.  (From a practical standpoint, someone reminded me that her beliefs in no hats on the bed and no shoes on the table were probably so that no one got lice from the hats nor barnyard duff from the shoes!)  I moved the hats elsewhere.

Olivia,

I think Booker T Jones' problem was one of definition or perspective.  Women and wine is most of what I crave, too, but I see nothing particularly wrong with having them carry me    (eventually) to my grave. Somebody has to.  Better W&W than too much work, I figure.

I like to say "touch wood" or "knock on wood"  just so people won't accuse me of being too coldly rational (or on my way to my grave, being toted there by those I crave) and I have to admit I count crows several times a week. Like Belleball, I can overlay some rationality:

Most of the time we see crows ( magpies' local cousins) in ones or twos. Nothing is more common than sorrow, but joy is close behind, especially if you look for it.

I am sure it is only a slight variant from the original, but for those who don't know it, I give you the version popularized by Counting Crows:

1 for sorrow, 2 for joy, 3 for girls and 4 for boys

5 for silver, 6 for gold

7 for a secret, never to be told. 

May all of your corvids be in couples.

wt

belle-Thank you, dear! That was one of my favorite tunes from my chanteuse period, and I always think of it when luck is discussed. There are lots of blues associated with bad luck, but that one just stands out. It was great fun to wear a hot dress and sing torch songs with a small nightclub combo. Sometimes I miss that.

I agree that superstitions have some basis in fact. Walking under a ladder certainly increases the chances of something falling upon one's head. Break a mirror and one might get injured clearing away the glass. Some of them are just inexplicable, however-the salt thingy comes to mind.

My grandfather, Pappy the pragmatist, never believed in luck. He worked too hard. He always said you make your own luck. He also noted that some people's luck came out of a bottle, and it was usually bad...

"Black cats creep across my path until I'm almost mad...I must have roused the Devil's wrath 'cause all my luck is bad." I make a date for golf and you can bet your life it rains, I try to give a party, but the guy upstairs complains...guess I'll go through life catching colds and missing trains...everything happens to me. Thanks for the Sinatra link, JP. An added treat.

I never play backgammon with fools or drunks.  Lady Luck always sits on their shoulders.

"Luck is the residue of design"

I find the Japanese fascinating when it comes to issues of superstition, luck, religion, and pragmatism.  The Japanese are right up there with the Swedes in terms of 'secularism' as conventionally measured (sociological and anthropological studies).  The Japanese see no problem with being both Shinto (when young) and Buddhist (as they prepare to die).  And their common reaction to other religions -- including Christianity and Islam -- is 'kawai' (scary!).  I think this is because non-Japanese religions demand (1) exclusivity, and (2) orthodoxy.  (Try being both a Muslim and a Christian at the same time... ain't possible, right?)

All this said, the Japanese are INCREDIBLY superstitious.  Go visit a Shinto temple and you will find trees covered with small pieces of paper with supplications to departed ancestors.  A large percentage are schoolkids asking for assistance with exams.  (They study, too!  They REALLY study!)  My son explains the general attitude as 'Well, I don't know that spirits exist.  Maybe they do; maybe they don't.'  And then the pragmatism kicks in: 'If they don't it doesn't hurt to ask for help.  BUT if  they DO exist, it's better to ask for help than to simply ignore them... I can use all the help I can get!'

If this all sounds vaguely familiar, it's because I'm convinced a lot of Americans relationship with their own religions (Protestantism, Catholicism, Mormonism, Judaism, etc) is essentially superstitious, too.... Most folks are (implicitly) proponents (IMHO) of 'Pascal's Wager': "a suggestion posed by the French philosopher Blaise Pascal that even though the existence of God cannot be determined through reason, a person should "wager" as though God exists, because so living has potentially everything to gain, and certainly nothing to lose." ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal%27s_Wager )

I hope nobody 'of faith' takes my comments too badly.  My mom went to her grave a firm believer and we were always best friends.  In my personal view, if a person is TRULY convinced of their religious belief, it's totally irrelevant if so much as one other person in the world believes as one does... Faith conquers all.  Please indulge my total lack of what I consider superstition and what many very nice people consider faith... 

If it's any consolation, I find gambling INCREDIBLY boring, since I always assume that the longer I gamble, the more certain that I will lose money -- rendering it an absurd waste of time.  I think some folks are born superstitious, hopeful, and credulous.  Others are condemned to see things cynically, without hope, and without the 'consolations of belief'.  I count myself in Tribe #2.  At least I have the consolation of WONDER.  I find it an excellent substitute.... (Hope this whole post is not too far off topic...)

While living in Hawaii, I learned of a legend that says Madam Pele, the
Hawaiian goddess of fire and volcanoes, doesn't like to have lava rocks or sand
taken away from the Islands. Anyone doing so will incur her wrath and bad luck is certain to follow.

Visitors who have taken these rocks have actually returned them, in person and by mail, in hopes of ending alarming streaks of misfortune. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the Kilauea Military Camp and many hotels are inundated with packages containing rocks from guilt-ridden vacationers who are intent upon reversing their sudden spates of bad luck.

Fortunately, a horseshoe, hung above my doorway, turned upward so none of the luck will run out, has worked well as a counteraction.

P.S. My mom used to say, 'We named you after Thomas Aquinas, but there must have been a mixup; you're more like Thomas the Apostle'.  (If you were not raised as a Catholic, Thomas Aquinas was the premier philosopher and medieval Scholastic 'Father of the Church'; Thomas the Apostle is famous for purported saying: ''Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.' (Jesus was very patient with 'Doubting Thomas', reportedly commenting: 'Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.'  (One more example of where Jesus and I would have parted ways....)

I've really got to work on nesting my parentheses better.  If my sentences were computer code, I'd have 'syntax error' messages flashing all over the place!

Perhaps just one more quick quip from Mark Twain, about today's topic... 

"The proverb says, "Born lucky, always lucky," and I am very superstitious. As a small boy I was notoriously lucky. It was usual for one or two of our lads (per annum) to get drowned in the Mississippi or in Bear Creek, but I was pulled out in a 2/3 drowned condition 9 times before I learned to swim, and was considered to be a cat in disguise."

My mom has a friend who always carries a potato in her purse on Friday the 13th. It suppose to ward off bad luck. Not so sure if it ever has worked or not.

Kindlee ~ I'd be owrried that my plane would crash as a result of tempting the Goddess by taking the Lava Rock, Can't imagine those who test that one out & make it back to the mainland.  Too much of the tempting fate for me to ever even consider it, IF I ever go there. Thanks for the tip.

DPR ~ Post Script to yesterdays Topic ~ I read North Hanger Abbey this year after seeing the PBS Master Piece Theater Version of it. LUFFED both the film adaptation & the original Novelette. 

"Did you ever observe to whom the accidents happen? Chance favors only the prepared mind."

~Louis Pasteur

Today, I am a black cat.

Some have luck, some have faith, and some have Wyrd. And as my favorite hero of all time says, "Wyrd is strongest".

My husband must be the only non-superstitious Marine ever.  He's the only one I've ever met that will actually eat the Charms that come in MREs, instead of throwing them away.  All the Marines I've ever met think they are bad luck.

I'm lucky...UNlucky is still a type of lucky, right? Oh wait, the drawing for the J. Peterman sweepstakes is today, I'm changing...I'm lucky, I'm Lucky, I'm LUCKY!!!  **crossing fingers and toes and visualizing winning**

drdgscott,
I wasn't able to "hold on" and my youngest was born on a Friday the 13th. He has twisted the unlucky notion around and believes, and tells all that poke fun, that if you were born on the 13th then that is your lucky day...everyone else beware! So far, so good, knock wood.

Olivia,

The "salt thingy" seems like it could be particularly un-lucky for any pet or person happening to find themselves behind the superstitious.

My mother had a friend who, having been a nice, sunny woman lapsed into weirdness after the death of her youngest daughter, taking mostly to her bed.

We would often stop by after picking up something at the bakery and creamery mom reimbursing herself from a bowl of money in the kitchen.

It was not hard to sense discomfort in my mom, a true believer, at the increasingly odd and superstitious behavior of her friend: The teaspoons had all to be facing, not pointing east; the throw rugs and there must have been thirty, had all to be angled a certain same way according to something she had read in her horoscope.

She mocked and derided the other ladies who had been in for misaligning footwear in her closet or at her bedside, for bringing in more dust than they cleaned up and for their contemptuous flouting of all that was, to her, serious and important.

"Betcha she talks about us too," I suggested as we walked home.

"Well, mister, that wouldn't be any business of yours- would it?" I was told.

Over time, that woman was obliged to resort to second and third tier medical practitioners as real doctors stopped coming around.

At the table one day, mom wondered how someone with so much bad luck, The woman's husband and children had all died, could remain a believer in irrational folklore and superstition.

My dad, looking up from the newspaper he was using as a placemat, quietly offered: "My dear, with all due respect, we can't really know exactly what that nutty old bat has been wishing for."

The kind of penetrating cynical observation that could be counted on to get her blubbering; this one just made her a little misty.

Not much later, the woman's dad, a retired teacher/farmer or farmer/teacher stopped by to explain that he and a friend had lured her out of her house using a mention of the Mayo Clinic as bait, taken her back to the family place, installed her in a little cottage with all of the basic amenities and left.

He no longer lived on the farm but had made arrangements for someone to look in once a week, set up a trust and credit at nearby merchants and washed his hands of her.

He left with my mother a huge heavy silver serving spoon that the woman, ostensibly, had wanted her to have. It was never used and years later, when it was admired by a guest at our house, I sent it along home with her.

Interestingly, eight or nine years later but before my mom died, the neighborhood was abuzz with the news that the woman had been seen on the television having been a witness to, I think it was, a tornado.

Tough love.

rings90,

I'm so glad I could pass along that tip and I have many more, if you want them. My mother has ingrained a plethora of superstitions into my mind...Yes, I'm blaming my mother, here. But, being the radical daughter that I am, I tempt fate constantly, much to mom's chagrin.

"It is bad luck to kill a ladybug." - Every year I vacuum them off the window sill in our two-story foyer (but I will admit to scooping them outside if they are down low enough for me to reach).

"Unless you were born in October, it's unlucky to wear opals." - Three guesses what I bought in Australia.

"It's bad luck to pick up a coin if it's tails side up. Good luck comes if it's heads up." - They are in my pocket, no matter how I find them.

My poor mother; all the gray hairs I've given her, which she will not pull out because, as everyone knows: "Pulling out a gray or white hair will cause ten more to grow in its place." I simply dye them ;)

Ring:I kept my gray hair. I earned everyone of them and I am proud of them and my age.

As for good luck v. bad luck.  Sometimes, its being at the right place at the right time, recognizing opportunity when it gently knocks on your door, being observant, aware, being prepared,having the knowledge,rights of birth,instinct,genes,faith,and/or part or all of the above.  If that doesn't work, throw in an object that gives or takes away special powers for a feeling of being with the right universal rhythms or the God in everything, it will make you feel a little less anxious.

Kindlee, Opals are made from Silica...guess women who weren't born in October shouldn't have fake breasts either.  I don't think its bad luck to kill a ladybug, but it if foolish.  Ladybugs eat garden pests, particularly avids.  They are a wonderful form of organic pest control especially on Rose bushes.

nachista,

LOL! I won't fool with fate there.

You are so right, ladybugs are great for the garden and I do try to save them, when I can reach them. The others are so high up, by the 2nd-story ceiling, that sadly I'm afraid it's vacuum time, with a very long extension hose.

Kindlee...vacuuming is overrated.  Just keep the blinds closed and then nobody can tell that you haven't vacuumed or dusted!  Martha Stewart, I ain't.

YvonneEloise,

It seems to me that I keep rubbing you the wrong way. I can be a bit flippant at times but truly I intend no offense, ever. It's just my poor attempt at adding a little levity to the day.

I got out on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I'll be back later after a long nap and I reverse the curse.

nachista,

I love your house-cleaning philosophy! Time to make friends with the dust bunnies - surely there isn't a superstition against that?!

Kindlee ~ About the Grey Hair  My mom also believes that ~ So she found herself a EXCELLENT colorist.  My father on the other hand earned all of his & tells me so EVERY chance he gets.

Am going to be taking a Satellite Feed tomorrow that has failed to come in 3 times in the past 2 weeks. Asked the Tech Guru if we could tie a Rabbits Foot on the Satellite Dish, for good luck. Have not heard back, am thinking he's finally telling TPTB that I have gone off the deep end... It's my own fault I always try to take Mr. P's daily topics & use them on that day. It tends to keep things interesting....although I still haven't convinced my father or anyone else to go Scotch or Salt tasting with me......  

I don't know whether it's bad luck to kill a ladybug.  But I do know it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.

I've been very lucky in life!  I have alter egos, however, who died in a drunk driving accident, were stabbed to death during robberies, and contracted a variety of fatal diseases... I can tell you all the reaons I've had such good luck; they never explain why their luck sucked.... Maybe I should take a poll in the world's cemeteries to find what it takes to bring on bad luck?

I guess most of my good luck is simply I wasn't born to be someone who died in a drunk driving accident, was stabbed to death during a robbery, or contracted a fatal disease.... Duh.

DPR

And: "To tell a lie."

rings90,

Thanks! Given the chance, I'd go tasting with you in a heartbeat. By the way, when was the Scotch topic? I must go back and give that one a read. The Eye hasn't done wine, tea, chocolate or coffee, yet, has it? Not that I have any vices, mind you. If we accidentally spill one of the really expensive salts, at a tasting, is it proper to throw more of it over your shoulder? I wouldn't want to get into any trouble. 

Hope the rabbit's foot idea works.

Boy its really hard to get anything done while I'm sitting here with toes and fingers crossed for good luck...I tried crossing my eyes but that just gave me a headache.  They better draw and announce the winner of the sweepstakes soon. 

A timely plug for the sale going on in the shop today. Since winter's coming on, HOW HELPFUL of Mssr. Peterman to let me buy two nightshirts for me and my sweetie at such a genteel price. And a J. Peterman shirt, too. Mercy buckets!

I can't afford to shop, but I can afford to look!  I've told everyone in my office and several of them are contemplating purchases as I type.  Wonder what the third day of Christmas will bring?

Heck, yeah, Kindlee. Pitch that salt right over your shoulder. Give me a little heads up first, though, so I can be there with something needing salting. Margarita. Slab of roast beast. A radish. A lately, a Starbucks Signature Hot Chocolate (with a pinch of salt, they're so perky).

I just checked with the Official Mages of Christmas (Sts. Robert and Douglas).

THREE FRENCH TOASTS.

poor rabbit, not so lucky

This rabbit does not approve and is hiding his feet from luck-seekers.

http://www.disapprovingrabbits.com/2008/11/sunday-cinnamon_16.html

If a rabbit's foot is lucky...what is the whole rabbit?

Not so funny addenda:

In visiting with one of my older brothers about the aforementioned loony, he reminded me that he had once been sent over with a hot dish and arrived just as the ouija board guy was leaving in a huff.

The woman had my brother tape butcher paper on her west windows because the afternoon sun through the blinds had cast a crucifix across her body causing physical pain and temporary blindness.

But that paled in comparison to a bizarre request that she had made of one of our other brothers that sent him shrieking out the door and all the way home.

"Oh yeah, how come I don't know the particulars," I wondered.

"You were too young," he explained.

"How about now?" I asked standing fifty-odd years up the pike.

"You still are and be grateful"

I am.

Even if luck doesn't exist, it's fun to pretend that it does. Mixes things up, lends a little comfort, gives us that feeling that we have some intrinsic ability to be acted upon good or bad. I'd rather believe that I was lucky or unlucky than think that everything's up to chance.

As for superstitions, I see some meaning to everything. If I was wearing the same shirt on two separate final exams and did well on both, the Devil take me if I don't wear that shirt for the entire rest of the term.

Incidentally, evidence is emerging which suggests that J Peterman clothing is inherently lucky. Good things happen when I wear J Peterman vintage t-shirts. More to come.

Jonathan Isles,

I promise to tell you before I start pitching salt - cross my heart, hope to die, stick a needle in my eye. 

MissIve,

Those red Austrian Slipper-Boots, that previously graced your avatar, are now on sale!

I'd love the red silk Dupioni dress; alas, it is still beyond my budget. I would cross my fingers and toes, too, but nachista was in line before me and I don't believe in queue jumping. It's too late in the year to find a dandelion that's gone to seed, and it's cloudy, so I won't be able to wish upon a star. I suppose I'll have to do a Google search for the closest wishing well.

All,

Remember what Agent said earlier today (actually was stupid Pasteur said years ago)? Not true. Very prepared and still had horrible luck getting the trailer for our short film online. But it's up.

If you click on my profile, it's the only video posted. Just the trailer. The rest will follow. Thanks for all your support, friends.

Kindlee,

Thanks. Will check 'em out. Way to keep an eye out!

M.I.

The One at the Desk,

Thank you for your post. I know I've been poking fun at this topic all day but you reminded me that I did indeed wear my "lucky" earrings for an upcoming meeting today. I also confess to going out of my way to pass on the same side of a light pole as my son, while we were walking together just the other day, so the pole did not come between us. I therefore had to honestly vote "Non-believer but hedging your bets".

Superstitions have always been part of Sports, as well. I remember reading that Michael Jordan used to wear his blue North Carolina shorts under his Bulls uniform for good luck.

Best of luck to you as this semester comes to a close.

MissIve,

Loved the trailer. How nice! I'm looking forward to seeing the entire film.

Kindlee,

Thanks. And I do have one superstitious confession that your post about the sweater slippers prompted.

I have a pair of purple, wool knee socks that I bought for cross country skiing, but became my lucky sports socks. Which is unfortunate for all warm-weather sports.

I wore them to state finals for tennis. Short (ridiculously short due to extreme lechery of tennis coach) black skirt, and very tall purple socks. Sexy. Didn't smell great, either.

But I made it to third round. So maybe there's something to it. I still wear them in races. But only the cold ones. 

I was wondering about the origin of the "touch wood". I though this was interesting from Michael Quinlan

The origin is unknown, though some writers have pointed to pre-Christian rituals involving the spirits of sacred trees such as the oak, ash, holly or hawthorn. There is, I'm told, an old Irish belief that you should knock on wood to let the little people know that you are thanking them for a bit of good luck. There's also a belief that the knocking sound prevents the Devil from hearing your unwise comments. Others have sought a meaning in which the wood symbolises the timber of the cross, but this may be a Christianisation of an older ritual. It wasn't always wood that was lucky: in older days, iron was also thought to have magical properties, and to touch iron was an equivalent preventative against ill-fortune.

I just don't care for luck as a term or a concept. And yet, I expect at all times that something good is coming our way. It has in part because I was on the lookout.

It has always fallen to me to recall the good that came out of the bad:
If we hadn't got two simultaneous flats on the way to the big summer wing-ding and picnic, one of my brothers probably would never have met the girl he married.

If we hadn't been one of about four cars absolutely trapped on a highway bridge because of a jack-kifed semi, we would not have missed our flight and not have been home to be asked to a party at which we met life long friends we wouldn't care to try getting along without.

It's gotten so if something goes awfully awry, I'm rubbing mental palms together wondering what better thing is in the pipeline.

You could call it rationalization; I like to think of it as realization but that's just me.

following along with lowcountrypen, I have heard that the number 13 gained a bad rap because in those "olden days" it was known as a powerful number for women - so of course men of the opposite sex would have spoken against anything that would embolden and empower women...

Works for me - I have boldly done a number of things on the 13th and I'm not sure if all went well as a result or not - who's to know?  Maybe that was what I should have done on that particular day anyway...

Stoney,

Agreed! The degree to which one thinks that something is fortunate or not is the degree to which one generates alternatives that are better or worse. We make our own luck.

But I do think there's a difference between luck and chance. Chance events are like winning the lottery or the J. Peterman contest...they are events over which we have no control.

Lucky people, I believe, create good fortune in their lives whenever possible by maximizing chance opportunities, expecting good things to happen, listening to their hunches, and turning bad luck into good. Lemonade is fine libation.

Kindlee,

As the comic whose name I have forgotten, said:
"If life has given you lemons, try to find someone whose life has given him vodka."

As my husband is preparing to go work in Kazakhstan, we had to attend orientation meetings today with fellow ex-pats and nationals.  The Kazakh shared with us about a superstition they have concerning the "evil eye".  It is so strong in some families that they wash the doorway to rid their house of the "evil eye". 

And, by the way, my sister and I were both born on Friday the 13th so my mom claims it as her luckiest day! 

So is it fair to say most of us also believe in Karma  ~ but are also hedging our bets?

Stoney, that would be Ron "Tater" White who said...

"When life gives ya lemons, make lemonade.  Then find someone who's life has given them vodka...and have a party."

Nachista ~ I LOVE that Schitck ~ They call me Tater Salad the first tiem I heard it was on the Bob & Tom show inthe AM & I fell off the bed with laughter...Also love the Drunk in Public part..... Although it does lead me to wonder if I have the party will my luck improve?

Just when I thought I was beyond most of my superstition driven behaviors from childhood, one of them "drew me back in again" today.

I had to go to the body shop, the auto body shop that is (re: yesterdays Zombie detour I sent you all on), to remove all of my personal effects from my car, who gave her life whilst protecting us from the murderous, uninsured F150 that rear ended me last week. It was just a very slight concussions and a mere bimps on the head for us, but fatal for my dearest '97 Acura with over 190,000 miles on her.

As I was driving away from my completed task and without even thinking why, I drove back to the car and placed a penny under the driver seat. I don't know where this originated but whenever I bought a new car and traded in an old car, I always put a "lucky" penny under the seat of both vehicles.

I was totally compelled to do this; I didn't at any time question this action. Resistance would have been futile.

I'd share some of my childhood superstitious behaviors except I think some things should remain unspoken lest they once again awaken and consume me. Boogie-boogie.....

Peter Lake,

I understand completely and subscribe but tend to go with french fries or M&M's.

Peter Lake, Do you sound more like Pachino or Sil Dante?

(dey pulled me back in)

Somebody once said "I'd rather be lucky than smart" and, judging from the circumstances in which we find ourselves ( as opposed to say, life in other times and places,) we are a lucky bunch indeed. 

I still believe being prepared is a good idea. The person whose spare is flat will be in a lot more trouble when he runs over a nail. Many preparations ( change that earl, don't let the tank go but so low, always carry a little cash ) have the effect of so completely neutralizing bad luck or mischance that we barely remember  or recognize how close to the edge we might have been.  Even setting out with enough time to do what we need to eliminates stress, hurry, inattention, etc.

Returning to Doc Nolan's observation on gambling, I drive a stretch of Federal highway about  150 times a year.  Every time I set the cruise control at or below the speed limit is one more time in which the "bad luck" of an encounter with John Law is neutralized. By having insurance, a license, and not ten pounds of  dope in the trunk, I  enhance the process even further.

The kid with no license who is high, speeding, and holding is pretty unlucky indeed. Why he has to make things worse by driving a red 'stang or Corvette, I can't imagine, can you?

Hey, Tone himself said he couldn't tell the difference. Sometime soon, we may have to drop the whole Eye off the back of a truck and discuss Waste Management Consulting all day.

Trask, did you write The Shack?

Mr Trask - the problem is, we can never be prepared enough. There's too many eventualities or what have you that can crop up at any time. By being prepared, we may eliminate stress, but that stress is just reduplicated by worrying about what we might not be prepared for.

I guess part of this stems from my deterministic viewpoint on life, but being prepared or not, I figure we're pretty much subject to the buffetings of the future, fate, etc. And when we are fortunate, we can call it luck, ascribe it to luck. Like Alexander Pope said, "All Nature is but art, unknown to thee; all chance, direction, which thou canst not see."

Oh, and for future reference, The One at the Desk has evolved into Shibbolethian - we are indeed one and the same person; and yet - infinitely differing characters.

MissIve,

Write it? I've never even met it... I just googled and am flattered by your question, but nyet. No shackage from WT.  I have a friend who writes guides on eBay under the name of Wentworth Tradd. You may enjoy some of them ( see what he has to say about Fame) but nein, ixnay on the ackshay.  Most of my mention of The Almighty comes when I miss, or when I hit my thumb, I suppose.

Shibbolethian at the Desk, I have met people who are always thinking of more things people could worry about. They make very good event planners and lawyers of a certain kind. For my scant money, though, we must return to the Golden Mean- calculate the risks and shoot for the middle. Yes, carry one spare tire. No, don't carry two in most of North America. A candy bar in the glove box  might come in handy- no need to pack a suitcase every time you leave the house...

    If you really believe others direct your path, why not give in to their direction that you carry an umbrella?

And, as Jack Nicholson observes in The Bucket List, NEVER pass up a chance to visit the small room.

DreadPirateRoberts,

Thinking back, there was an unintentional snottiness in the suggestion:
"It's a sin to tell a lie," at least without crediting Fats Waller.

Willie Trask,

An old teacher of mine takes the trouble to turn off both water supplies to the washer before leaving the house.

And speaking of water, Jack was right; last thing before leaving, first thing on arrival with luck.

WT,

Maybe yous could get Pauley to post some of da snapshots he took on last year's trip to da muthaland?  Nah, prob'ly a bad idea, let's fuhghetabout dat one.  Tone might take'm out fishin' too.   Capiche?

And of course we here at the "eYe" all know that as long as you have your towel at hand, you are prepared for any circumstances and good fortune shall be yours.  Never stray far from your towel!

Miss Ive,

I've already got popcorn ready for the rest of the movie.

My dear Missive,

I had seriously considered finding a way to get out to Detroit for your film festival.  I very much wanted to be there to support your artistic efforts and the idea of meeting you in person was truly appealing.  Sadly, it has become clear that it simply can't be done.  Work situations and such are keeping me in New York but I will certainly catch your film when it is posted on your site.

Your trailer has enhanced my curiosity to no end.  I loved the opening scene with your family in particular.  When and if we ever do meet in person, I would certainly hope to get our kids together.  Very best wishes in this cinematic endeavor.  I will be thinking of you on the 6th.

I reck me not of luck, for I am Mistress of gramarye...

On another note, a well-known caution in the world of Pogo: skoosh a bug and it'll rain.

Kindlee states: "

YvonneEloise,

It seems to me that I keep rubbing you the wrong way. I can be a bit flippant at times but truly I intend no offense, ever. It's just my poor attempt at adding a little levity to the day."

In all honesty, I have no idea to what you are referring  or talking about? Enlighten me where I am suppose to be offended. I must be dense.  My gray hair post is what I tell everyone all the time not only on this board, but in my life.  I have chosen to keep my silver threads among the gold... I am not offended and don't understand why I came across as offended ~~~~~OIC I thought Ring made the gray hair statement.. I misread the author only..no.. I am not offended in the least... At my age, many are deciding to either dye or go gray... its simply my choice.   I am also choosing never to have a facelift. In fact as a portrait artist, I do not take comissions from patrons who have facelifts.  We often have our sitters take off their makeup as well.  IT hides the muscle structure of the face.  My main focus in life is my health.

Public Service Announcement.  Nothing I write on this blog is new. I just have a new audience ;)