It’s a rather wordy title, but I can’t think of any other alternatives. Nor is it normal for me to write something of this nature in my blog, although the purpose of a blog is for one to record and share one’s life and itinerary with friends and acquaintances. I’d normally consider social issues and other matters that interest me as something personal, hence worthy of getting the topics written and shared in my blog. However the string of events that happened lately provides me with some fresh directions of writing (whether I want to take it as a curse or a blessing).
Okay, that seems enough justification before I start to rant…
Many people had told me that they are being unfortunate, or ‘unlucky’ lately. Judged from what had happened to me lately, I may classify myself under this group, but I do want to say something about the word ‘luck’, for it is imprudent to use a word without knowing its literal meaning and connotation, and I risk myself of getting into some sort of vicious cycle, where I will end up with problems compounding and without solutions.
Before proceed to the ambitious task mentioned I wish to tell some stories first. As usual, I will use a third-person tone.
Someone went to HSSML, 60 minutes before the lectures commence, to print notes. But upon reaching the printer he was told by A that A was printing 90 sets of notes (yes, PRINTING and not xeroxing) and told him to f*ck off. He complied since he had learned, in a painful manner that nearly cost his life, that he would be late if he enters a quarrel. So he f*cked off for Central Library. Reaching the Library, he booked a computer and did everything again to print the notes. However, after paying 60 cents for the service, he discovered that what came out of the printer were some blank sheets, and no more. He proceeded, with some wild thoughts, to LT9, and in the end, he was five minutes late and with an empty stomach.
On a more joyful note, he picked up something useful during the lecture, and his sweat dried up. The lecture ended 45 minutes earlier than expected, and that allowed him enough time to have a lunch before heading for Bukit Timah Campus to attend a brown-bag lunch talk by the former Thai finance minister. After having lunch, he headed back to his room to pick up his jacket, and waited for the bus BTC1 at the PGPR ISB terminal. The time was 11:40am. He waited for some 20 minutes, yet no such buses arrived, although the timetable displayed clearly noted that there should be buses arriving at 1140 and 1142. Weighing the marginal benefits and marginal costs while taking sunk costs out of account, he decided to go to HSSML again to write this piece of crap.
Well, there are some sets of stories that are starkingly similar to this, happened for a few times prior to that, but it is obvious that I’m going to scare you off if I proceed to tell you the stories (that’s if you’ve made it here, congrats and thanks 
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(Actually I have something to add here. In the midst of typing all this suddenly the browser got into error and my session was abruptly ended. Luckily WordPress automatically saves my draft at some pre-determined intervals, and that prevents further damage from being done. I’m being thankful again 
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You can see that all those things that happened to me were not exactly benign in nature, and it did cause me to feel tired, though not really stressed. (Can you imagine on top of those things, I have to climb and descend a ridge a few times a day with a full bag and a tight schedule?) And all those things happened one after another.
I think it’s far from scientific to say so, but I can’t help but admit that the not-so-benign things are really statistically significant over these few days. (Hence the phrase ’statistically significant’ in the title.) But I’ve yet to concede that I am plagued by bad luck, because I have no concrete reason to tell whether it is really caused by this so-called luck, or just mere coincidence.
An analogy would be in the measurement of economic activity. Can you say that the economy grows just because GDP goes up over a certain period? On the aggregate level, yes; but on the personal level, not quite. Sometimes the economic ‘fortune’ of the people may just follow a random walk, and yet on the aggregate level, the figure increases. So it is really imprudent to assume that economy inevitably grows in the long run.
The same applies to my case. Bad things and good things happen, but for the moment, the bads exceeds the goods. And it may just be the result of some ‘random walk’, or some other pre-determined variables, of which I have no way to ascertain which one is the source. And I don’t think now is a good time to find it out because bad things had happened anyway, and there are problems that remain to be solved.
However, I shall be grateful that at least, I still have the chance to sit here and type at my will, and that’s something I could not ask for more…
(Well, I wonder who ever read this sentence… Anyone made it?)
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