Yesterday, at work

Thursday the 13th.

So if today, which is Thursday, is my 'Friday' because it's my last day of work for the week, then it would make sense that my Thursday the 13th would be as unlucky as another's Friday the 13th. 

However, I am not unlucky because it is Thursday the 13th. I am unlucky because I am ALWAYS unlucky in the morning. Any date or day.

I try really hard to avoid unlucky things happening by being prepared and cautious. For some reason, though, it doesn't work.

Over a week ago, there was a new lock on the door at my work. I didn't have the new key to said new lock, so I called around to my bosses, they said to wait around for the owner to come with his key and they'd make a copy for me in the future. In the meantime, just sitting there I thought, "maybe I can just unlock the door to the stairs and there'll be a way in from there!" 

No. The moment I opened the door a deafening fire alarm began to blare. And it went on for about 20 minutes. So, there was no access through the stairs and I had set off the alarm. I called a boss again and let him know about the alarm, he said ok and that the fire dept. shouldn't show up but if they do, just let them know what happened and it'll be fine. Oi.  The neighbors across the alley were taking out their trash or something unalarming like that, and looked at me a little curiously. I gave them the ol' apologetic shrug and smiled. I'm sure the whole neighborhood was wondering what kind of drama was going down at the Beverly Hills Self Storage. Little did they know they would only find me, sitting anxiously on the ledge with my frappuccino and overpacked* book bag with the alarm blaring behind me. Or should I say all around me. Thankfully, the alarm fell silent all on it's own, and I began to relax. 

(*See paragraph, well, bellow)

Not long thereafter, I began to hear sirens and then to panic, imagining a fully loaded fire truck or three racing down the streets of L.A. and then squeezing through our little one way alley, maybe even going the opposite direction just for dramatic emergency effect. Then they would pull up, ready to go, and see me just sitting there with a book or something and ask, "Where's the fire?" 

"Whoops! Sorry guys, that was just me! False alarm!"

The sirens got louder and closer, louder and closer, until to my great relief, they passed somewhere on the street behind me and began to get softer and further. 

I couldn't fully relax about the whole brigade-of-emergency-personnel-coming-to-nobody's-rescue-thing until  my uncle/boss called me and said the alarm people had called him before alerting the fire department, so there were no worries. Fewf.

That may have been the worst of my morning events, but I just want you to see that I was there and trying, and just happened to unluckily alert the whole city that I had blundered. 

Last Wednesday morning I was working at the office in Carson, which thankfully is a bit closer than B.H.  I woke up with an extra hour of sleep under my belt and packed my lunch with a pb&j with extra jelly, and some supplies to make some instant coffee there, because ONE of my sisters, I won't name names, coincidentally broke both our coffee pot and french press on the same day! I don't know how she manages. I had some leftovers in there too, and who knows what else because I knew I'd have to scarf it all by one because I was going to Liturgy that night for the Transfiguration. (Yay!) This lunch-bag was to supply my breakfast, lunch, and, most importantly, coffee for the day. As I was pulling in I was just thinking how badly I needed coffee to make it, no matter how bad the coffee. After doing all the struggling required to get in to the office, I made it in, and went back out to the car to get my breakfast-lunch-and-coffee bag where I supposed I'd left it. no.. I rushed back in to see if it had in fact made it in already in the bustle. No. nononnono NOoo! Oh my, I was upset. 

You see, there is a lot of pressure on me in the mornings to gather anything I may need for the whole day. Thus the overpacked backpack. Imagine if you will going on a 12 hour flight where they don't feed you or offer any in-flight entertainment. You would probably pack 4 books, a bible, your laptop (even though you know you won't have access to the internet), several magazines, a journal, a sketchbook, a DVD set of the Gummi Bears, and craft supplies, too, wouldn't you? Oh, and don't forget food and drink. So. You can see how I may get panicky in the mornings. 

Needless to say, I was quite frustrated because after having gone through all the trouble to pack the lunch and drive a half hour away, I was without. Boo. I called my mom and cried a little bit. "I tried so hard!"  "Maybe your sister could bring it out there." "Yeah. Right." But secretly, deep down, I thought "maybe, just maybe." Not long thereafter I got a call from my beloved sister. She called me! Good sign. I told her my story, and guess what! She came! And not only did she bring my bag with the goods, but she brought me a cup of real coffee from the 'Bucks! What a gal! Then she stayed for a bit and we giggled and loved and chatted, and it was glorious. I was giddy, and so relieved. Thanks, Em! So, I got to drink my coffee and eat my food, all before one. Life: saved. 

On monday I brought my second half of sunday's Subway, Veggie Delight. (And there was nothing too delightful about it because they were out of avocados after I'd already ordered it. I had to go to the store and buy my own and put them on because lets face it, without avocado it's just a footlong Veggie Bore on wheat). I added the six-inch to the bag of my other goodies, including instant coffee fixins, and was so proud to put that bag in the mini fridge at Carson. I received a text message from my ever-vigilant sister saying "I think you got the wrong sandwich!"   I went to the mini-fridge and checked. Wrong sandwich? Affirmative. Most unfortunate. I also knew that eating said sandwich would be totally out of the question. Not only was it not mine, and had contents on it that I did not wish to eat (though I was approaching Hungry), it was EMILY's sandwhich. This girl is serious about sandwiches. Here are the following text messages I received from her, in their original format: "Please bring my sandwich home! what time do you ge home?" I replied something. "Aw! im sorry! you should pick me up from work and bring me my sandwich!" I said something else, probably asking when she was off. "im getting off atw 3 so can u make sure that u or mom can pick me up at that time with my sub in hand?" Luckily I get off early when I work at Carson, so I was ok to not eat her sandwich. Got home, ate my own, and then took hers with to pick her up from work, and she proceeded to eat it in the car on the way home. Cute, Em. :)

This is also the day when I made the world's ghettoest mocha. You know how adding hot chocolate to your coffee is a Ghetto Mocha? Well. This is how the World's Ghettoest Mocha is made: Instant coffee in a paper cup with hot water from the water cooler that has a Hot spout. Add instant hot chocolate and non-dairy creamer. Drink some, put down, realize later that a gnat has landed in your drink (this is at the peak of it's ghetto-ness), dump, get new cup, and repeat (minus the gnat). Enjoy. 

It was actually decent, esp. with the creamer, and extra hot chocolate. And I was very pleased to have it because it curbed any hunger the lack of sandwich left. 

On a lucky note, this is also the day that I made my first rental! Yay! I rented out a unit in Carson all by myself. I have also noticed that Alamo Self Storage, which is what this location is called, could be, but probably isn't, abbreviated A.S.S. I'm just sayin. 

Tuesday I forgot my keys to Beverly Hills. It's not like you can drive out an hour and a half and turn around for keys. Had to wait for the owner again. No bueno.

Yesterday I brought my laptop as usual. I had even packed it up the night before because I am uber prepared. Got it out, went to plug it in and realized that I had not brought the power cord. Ok, not so uber-prepared. Luckily, It had a couple hours of battery left. Unluckily, that's not a lot during a 9 hour day. No music that whole time. Also, carrying around a dead computer in an overpacked bookbag just adds a lot of dead weight. 

That brings us to today. I slept in. I've been very tired, doing all this waking up early for work business, and plus I think I'm getting sick. Additionally, because I went to church last night, I turned my phone on silent and never remembered to turn it back on. My phone is my alarm. So chances of me waking up on my own at 6:30am are about zero. Luckily, due to the odd wonders of commuting in LA traffic, I slept in an hour, but only arrived 12 minutes late. Sheesh. Unluckily, there was absolutely no time for making a sandwich or grabbing anything, let alone coffee, let alone time to buy any on the way. However, luckily enough, the owner's business behind us has a little kitchenette and, get this, instant coffee. Not the best, but luckily yesterday at seven eleven I grabbed a couple extra mini creamers. 

So, that is a few of my many unlucky adventures. So, I don't think it's just todays spooky date. I think it's my life. Despite my efforts to be otherwise, I'm clumsy, forgetful, uncoordinated, and just plain unlucky. Still, I am blessed and I am given a LOT of grace. And luckily, when this craziness is going down at least I can say in my mind "Lord have mercy!"