You ever have one of those periods where bad things happen? A lot of them, I mean. And they happen repeatedly, and in rapid succession so that for a while you feel as though if there were Powers That Be that you sure seem to have them pretty pissed off. Ever have that?
Ever have it in a very specific way? Like say... involving cars?
I had a couple months like that. Noel and I were plowed by an intoxicated girl who ran a red light. Days later Meg's Dad was slammed into by a guy who was just not paying attention. Incidentally, Meg's Dad was driving the rental we received to replace the car totalled by the drunk girl. It too was totalled. Then a day or two later, another drunk girl expertly guided her car over a speed hump at 60 miles per hour in a residential zone straight into the rear end of Meg's aunt's giant SUV.
After a while I got cocky apparently. I felt as though those Powers That Be guys were easing up a little. Meg's mom's car is a wonderful temporary replacement, and I'm even more alert than before, behind the wheel. Not to mention that my new show started rehearsing, and I got offered another gig for the summer. Things seemed to be leveling out.
This past weekend Meg's sister's car died, and Meg's mom was in town, and they needed her car back, so we were left carless for a couple days. I had to take the bus, which I don't really mind, but to catch the bus that got me to theatre on time I had to get up at 6:30 am. BLECH! And for the rest of the week we're stuck with Liz's ancient little white car, because she drove her mom's car back home to Tucson. Damn.
Then, this morning I found out my boss's car was stolen, driven out into the desert and torched. We're talking doused with something flammable and burned to hell. A brand new 2006 Audi A3, (a $30,000 machine) is now a twisted and black heap of ash. Less than 2500 miles on it too. I wouldn't spend that much on a car, but it's a damn shame anyway.
And finally, just now I found out that my good friend Julia was in a wreck on the freeway. According to Meg, she's fine, but her car is totalled. Thank god she's fine, but there goes ANOTHER car of someone I'm close to.
Oh, Great Powers That Be how many cars will be enough? How many cars must fall before your might before you will be satisfied? Oh, by the way, thanks for making sure all the people were okay when calling the cars home to your breast. We really appreciate that. And we're all very very impressed down here. Very.
God I wish this town had a subway.
Comments:
Rule of threes.
jess 03.09.06 - 7:08 pm
...threes?
1 Me
2 Meg's Dad
3 Meg's aunt
4 Liz
5 My new boss
6 Julia Vega
It's a multiple of 3, i guess.
Joey 03.09.06 - 8:38 pm
I thought the rule of threes had to do with anything you do to someone else coming back against you, except increased by a factor of three.
Edward Carter 03.09.06 - 9:18 pm
I heard factor of 10 for karmic retribution.
Josh 03.09.06 - 10:18 pm
Ed, you are correct according to most Pagan religions... or so Meg tells me. But what Jess meant was major events seem to take place in groups of threes. Like celebrity deaths. You've never heard that?
Josh, I've heard that ten thing before too, but not sure what origin it actually has.
Joey 03.10.06 - 3:35 am
The context I always heard that in was from high school girls who claimed to be Wiccan because they liked the fashion, i.e., it's full of crap. Probably a bastardization of what Ed was talking about.
"You know, it's like if you do something bad, you're going to totally get it back like ten times worse or something."
Josh 03.10.06 - 4:44 pm
Yes Joey, that is what I'm referring to, and the first three and the second three had a bit of time between.
See you tonight , and that's not a dirty wink you whore.
jess 03.10.06 - 5:03 pm
Josh, that would definitely be a bastardization of the 3 thing that Ed is referring to. As far as I know that is a common thread among most of the traditions like wiccan that fall under the category of pagan.
Jess, sorry to say, you won't see me tonight. I liked the dirty wink though.
Joey 03.10.06 - 7:33 pm
I think the thing Jess is talking about is an example of what I've heard mathematicians refer to as the "law of small numbers."
The law goes something like this: there are various phenomena that are inherently associated to small integers. For instance, the number of car wrecks a person gets into over a period of a few months has to be a small integer, because half a car wreck doesn't make sense, and the probability of one person being involved in hundreds of separate car wrecks over a short period of time is just too small. There are plenty of other examples, some of which are even purely mathematical. Once you have things that are associated to small integers, different phenomena will be associated to the same small integer. Sometimes, especially in the case of purely mathematical phenonema, this leads people to search for some significance to this fact. However, the only significance tends to be that there just aren't enough small integers to go around, so it's just a coincidence.
That's what this rule of threes sounds like.
Edward Carter 03.11.06 - 12:16 pm
What he said.
jess 03.11.06 - 3:21 pm
wow, Ed. I kind of think it's really just one of those wacky things that people say, you know? Saying that "these things always happen in threes" is like saying that cracking your knuckles leads to arthritis, or something like that. Or like saying that sacrificing a rabbit on the night of a full moon will bring a great bounty of grapefruit to your great uncle's condo in Florida.
Er... scratch that last one. That one may just be me.
Joey 03.12.06 - 6:47 pm
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