Very Superstitious... (epic music)

Writing on the wall...

Often we have little superstitions, things we do or don't do because we feel it'll have some impact on our luck. Even if there's no logical reason why it would affect things, we still stare really hard at the thrown pokeball, willing the lugia to stay inside the capsule with all our might. We avoid going anywhere or doing anything on a certain day, because things never go right then. Today's blog post is about those personal superstitions we have.

 

Wishful Aching

My dad worked night shifts with a long commute to and from work, and I sometimes wished he could have more time off. On occasion, he would take time off, but sometimes that was because of some ill or injury. And at times, it made me feel guilty, like perhaps I had caused him to get a stomach bug or a gout flareup by simply wishing he didn't have to go to work. I wanted him to be home, but not like this.

 

Unlucky Shirt

 

In elementary school, they had t-shirts which featured the school's name and emblem. At some point, my parents bought one of those shirts for me to wear. It seemed like a good idea in theory. I could wear it to school. I could wear it for school events, show school spirit.

The only trouble was, it seemed like every time I wore that particular shirt, I would have a bad day. After a while, I became convinced that the shirt was bad luck, and didn't want to wear it. Every once in a while, I would think, "Oh, it's probably not true. It couldn't be bad luck. I should wear it." I'd put on the shirt, go to school... and things would go wrong.

  

"Why don't you wear your school t-shirt?" my parents would ask me. And it's difficult to explain that you're convinced that piece of maroon fabric is cursed, and the only way to avoid misfortune is to leave it on the hanger in your closet forever.

My Mother the Shop Killer

So, you know how some stores offer reward cards? My mother once got a reward card for Shopko, since she often shopped there. Shortly afterwards, Shopko closed. Since then, many an employee in many a store has asked her about reward cards, and she's always declined.
"Nope. Last time I bought a rewards card, the store closed soon after."
"No, you don't want me to close down your store."

Finally, after many years of declining cards, she relented and decided to get a card for Big Lots. Why not? It's a place she shops at sometimes, and surely the same misfortune can't happen twice.

 

Needless to say, the Big Lots in our area soon had a 'going out of business' sale. And now it's just a big empty building. The curse lives on.

 

The Sound of Despair

 

There's a song that Mom hates to hear. Multiple times in her life, she's received bad news around the time she heard the song, so she has negative associations with it. Whenever that song comes on the radio, she'll change the station to avoid hearing it.