Sort of, kind of lucky maybe

There's nothing like a minor blackout to show you just how unprepared you are. The power cut out on me just as I was getting ready for a shower. Funny little fact about me: every time something amiss happens, my first instinct is that it's ghosts. Once I ascertained the outage was a run-of-the-mill inconvenience and not paranormal (This usually just requires me giving myself a reality check, because as it turns out I don't really think the way a normal person does) I hopped into the shower while I still had natural light and considered how I'd proceed if things stayed off.

I just bought four new books, and they would have been ample entertainment, if not for the fact I have no candles. I also own no flashlight and have no spare batteries anyway. The Dude is working late this evening on location out of town and so I'd essentially be sitting alone in the dark with nothing to do. I'd have about 2-3 hours of laptop battery life to occupy me in the evening and then... nothing. Probably I'd take a mild overdose of allergy meds so I could pass out for the night in the absence of anything to do, like a farm hand at the turn of the 19th century who had no reason to stay awake after dark. Only substitute hard work and a job well done, with some antihistamines in order to fall asleep at 9:00.

After my shower the power was back on and I didn't have to face the unpreparedness my years of Brownies and Guides had sought to cure in me when I was a child. A number of things tend to bite me in the ass in my life, but somehow a lack of attention to my personal security never seems to thwart me. Kind of like when I lose my purse, it's always where I left it in a store in the hands of someone who wanted to return it, or I get a call about it being found, complete with my wallet full of all my I.D. It's very lucky.

It's funny, though. In many ways I'm a remarkably unlucky person. One of the few times I ever won something was when I was in grade four and praying to the powers that be that I would not win. It was a school-wide draw in the gym and all 400 students were packed in, as names were chosen from a bucket. The more Christmas supplies you sold for fundraising, the more chances you had to win. You would go up and choose a prize and sit down.

I did not want to go first. I had no idea what was up there, I was shy and nervous and I didn't want anyone scrutinizing my selection as being a dumb choice. That was actually my primary concern. So of course I got called up first. I looked for the most expensive and least-likely thing to be made fun of, grabbed it and sat down. I chose a ghetto blaster. What a weird thing to type. Ghetto blaster? Well, anyway, that's what I picked.

I saw looks of envy and approval for my choice and felt a wave of calm that I wouldn't have to explain myself. Then after a handful more names, I got called again. The shock of having to go through another selection wasn't as bad as having to do it while the entire school booed me. I don't think it's really luck if you were desperate not to go first and all your peers drown you in boos. For the record, the second time I picked a stuffed animal, a dalmatian with a firefighter's hat. I didn't want to look greedy by choosing more electronics.

If there's ever somehow, for any reason, an inconvenient time to win the lottery, I should make sure I have a ticket. Yeah. I bet if I was on the lamb I could win.