Call it fate, call it karma, just don't call it late for dinner
I just wanted to say a little bit about fate. No big, long-winded philosophical rambling about the subject, enough’s been done on it by deeper thinkers than me, but just a simple observation while at the Safeway.
I was finishing paying for my food and the cashier went to grab me one of the game cards they hand out with every purchase. They seem to have these games going every other month and they’re all variations on the same theme. Anyway, this one was like the last game card, one of those pull-tab things. Match three of the same items on a line and win that item.
I don’t usually win anything with these games. Maybe a free 10 air miles or something like that but never the big screen TV.
So the cashier grabs the top game card in the pile and it slips from her fingers and drops to the floor. She paused for a moment and I could almost fill in the curse that was going through her mind, as she had to make the decision to either bend down and pick it up or just grab another. She ended up grabbing the next one on the pile and handing it to me. I gathered my stuff and started to head out. I popped open the game card and I saw three of the same things on one line. Did I actually win something? Yes indeed, a $10 gift card for Safeway. It still wasn’t a big screen TV but, as the old saying goes, it was better then a kick in the balls with a frozen ski boot.
So it got my mind a wondering. What if I got the card I was supposed to get? It probably wasn’t a winner but what if it was an even bigger prize winner? What if the cashier had held onto it just a little longer and it didn’t actually make it to the floor? She would have given it to me. Did I steal the prize from the lucky bastard behind me in the line and was that the start of his bad luck, leading to his life spiraling wildly out of control and forcing him to a life of misery? One can only hope so because he was bugging the shit out of me, the pushy bugger.
I digress, but these kinds of things are fascinating to me.
The other night when I was driving home I had the honour of sharing the road with some of Vancouver's more talented drivers. (No, they weren't in Toyota Corollas) You know the type, drive like a little old lady until someone tries to pass them and then it's the Indy 500. Well, I wasn't in the mood to be behind this one guy, let's call him moron number one, so I got in front of him (all the while strictly obeying the motor vehicle act) and I was also tired of moron number two in the van who was also doing the fast/slow thing and had been tailigating. I guess when I blew away moron number one and he failed to continue the challenge, moron number two took it upon himself to show his manliness. He blew by me as I cruised along. I didn't actually feel my ego being punctured because I was already slowing down for the red light that was coming up. Apparently he didn't see that same red light because he went right through the intersection and just about caused a major accident with a taxicab.
This goes back to the bit about fate and how things happen so randomly. He only missed by inches. What if the taxi had caught his tail end? That probably would have been a spectacular crash.
I guess that's why so many movies like to touch on the idea. It makes for some great "what if" scenarios.
I'm still wondering what if I won a big screen TV.
**Post Script***
So, a few days ago I'm working at the library and someone returns a stack of books. While sorting through them and checking them in, I spot a Safeway game card. I open it and it turns out to be a winner of 10 air miles. Hmmm, was this the one that dropped on the floor returning to me through an amazing chain of events? Was it someone else's minor misfortune? Was I going to bother trying to find the owner? Hey, it was only 10 air miles...
I was finishing paying for my food and the cashier went to grab me one of the game cards they hand out with every purchase. They seem to have these games going every other month and they’re all variations on the same theme. Anyway, this one was like the last game card, one of those pull-tab things. Match three of the same items on a line and win that item.
I don’t usually win anything with these games. Maybe a free 10 air miles or something like that but never the big screen TV.
So the cashier grabs the top game card in the pile and it slips from her fingers and drops to the floor. She paused for a moment and I could almost fill in the curse that was going through her mind, as she had to make the decision to either bend down and pick it up or just grab another. She ended up grabbing the next one on the pile and handing it to me. I gathered my stuff and started to head out. I popped open the game card and I saw three of the same things on one line. Did I actually win something? Yes indeed, a $10 gift card for Safeway. It still wasn’t a big screen TV but, as the old saying goes, it was better then a kick in the balls with a frozen ski boot.
So it got my mind a wondering. What if I got the card I was supposed to get? It probably wasn’t a winner but what if it was an even bigger prize winner? What if the cashier had held onto it just a little longer and it didn’t actually make it to the floor? She would have given it to me. Did I steal the prize from the lucky bastard behind me in the line and was that the start of his bad luck, leading to his life spiraling wildly out of control and forcing him to a life of misery? One can only hope so because he was bugging the shit out of me, the pushy bugger.
I digress, but these kinds of things are fascinating to me.
The other night when I was driving home I had the honour of sharing the road with some of Vancouver's more talented drivers. (No, they weren't in Toyota Corollas) You know the type, drive like a little old lady until someone tries to pass them and then it's the Indy 500. Well, I wasn't in the mood to be behind this one guy, let's call him moron number one, so I got in front of him (all the while strictly obeying the motor vehicle act) and I was also tired of moron number two in the van who was also doing the fast/slow thing and had been tailigating. I guess when I blew away moron number one and he failed to continue the challenge, moron number two took it upon himself to show his manliness. He blew by me as I cruised along. I didn't actually feel my ego being punctured because I was already slowing down for the red light that was coming up. Apparently he didn't see that same red light because he went right through the intersection and just about caused a major accident with a taxicab.
This goes back to the bit about fate and how things happen so randomly. He only missed by inches. What if the taxi had caught his tail end? That probably would have been a spectacular crash.
I guess that's why so many movies like to touch on the idea. It makes for some great "what if" scenarios.
I'm still wondering what if I won a big screen TV.
**Post Script***
So, a few days ago I'm working at the library and someone returns a stack of books. While sorting through them and checking them in, I spot a Safeway game card. I open it and it turns out to be a winner of 10 air miles. Hmmm, was this the one that dropped on the floor returning to me through an amazing chain of events? Was it someone else's minor misfortune? Was I going to bother trying to find the owner? Hey, it was only 10 air miles...
posted by Biggles at 10:32 PM
1 Comments:
Your life is like a slowed down version of Run Lola Run. Next time you might come up with three variations of 'what if's'. Maybe the cashier bent down and retrieved your original prize coupon and in a stunning hand movement pocketed it for herself only to open it up later while walking across some crosswalk thus not paying attention to the hole in the road and catching her heel on the lower edge of said hole consequently tripping and accidentally throwing the prize ticket into oncoming traffic where it got sucked into an open window leaving her to forever wonder, 'what if?'
Stunning mind thoughts eh?
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