View from MY space-time continuum

Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.

Albert Einstein


Ad eundum quo nemo ante iit

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

At what point does a Day become a Disaster?

Disaster:

n: a state of extreme (usually irremediable) ruin and misfortune

This question occurred to me today as I stood at the side on my car with jumper cables in my hands, hoping some (merciful) person would be kind enough to stop and give me a jump start. This occurred at the end of a series of small mishaps. I had just finished a meeting with a head hunter, attended in the classic blazer, white shirt and gray pants. This because earlier in the day my first choice of attire, a 'power suit', was drenched with coffee. No problem, back up classic attire is OK by me and my confidence in myself is enough to come across even in attire that does not make quite the statement I would prefer. Of course the classic statement the attire made was somewhat offset by the metal trappings add by the safety pins running part way down the left leg seam. These pins needed as a passerby had earlier caught my pantleg and torn the seam. And so the day had gone. A disconnected series of mishaps. So as I stood there dealing with the latest of these misadventures I at least had something to contemplate to pass the time (far to much time) : at some point does a number of misfortunes adds up to a disaster? Is there a certain number? Or do these slipups have to cause a given amount of damage to cross the threshold of disaster? Well, as I said, at least I had something to occupy my mind while attempting to get underway to the next calamity..........

Or perhaps it is that Shakespeare was wrong and the fault lies in our stars as suggested by an older, supposedly obsolete definition of disaster:

An evil influence of a star or planet.

Then again it may just be the Universe amusing itself toying with me. Behaviour which would explain my having backup attire and jumper cables handy.