Day 293: Friday the 13th

I’m not really superstitious. Black cats, walking under ladders, opening umbrellas indoors, standing under mistletoe...these things don’t really cause me much anxiety. As far as Friday the 13th is concerned, I associate this more with some scary dude with a mask terrorizing the neighborhood than I do with a day that might bring me bad luck (is it the guy with the mask or is it a guy with knives for fingers...obviously I have never seen the movie). The bottom line is when it comes to days like today, I don’t believe that it is more or less lucky than any other day of the year.

However, since I am deployed to a war zone, I figured now would be a good opportunity to do a little scientific experiment. If anything bad were going to happen around here, today would be a good day for it. So I decided to make a mental note of everything that happened today and look for signs that the curse of Friday the 13th was upon us. Here is a summary of what happened and my impression of whether the event represented good luck or bad luck.

1) I woke up at 6:30 this morning not having woken even one time to get up and go to the bathroom...GOOD LUCK.
2) I had a nice phone call with my parents and then with Sue to start the day off. In fact I even talked to Sue twice before 8AM...GREAT LUCK.
3) I ran four miles in 29 minutes and 15 seconds--my second fastest time this year...tiring but GOOD LUCK.
4) My Afghan counterpart who is the regional medical director called me and wanted to meet with me today. When he arrived he listed four or five projects he was starting, on his own initiative, and explained how he planned to carry them out...AMAZING, UNHEARD OF, IT MUST HAVE BEEN A DREAM.
5) It was Mexican food day at the dining facility...always GOOD LUCK when this happens.
6) I had a nice Sacrament meeting with my fellow LDS colleague Roberto...GOOD LUCK.
7) I played a good hour of basketball leading my team to victory with several key shots and plays...Some would call this GOOD LUCK but I prefer to call it SKILL.
8) I was asked to go see the intubated, head trauma, ICU patient that is over at the ANA hospital while the usual physician mentor is away. The patient is still alive...GOOD LUCK.
9) The ice cream available at dinner was only vanilla and strawberry instead of mint chocolate chip or Oreo. This made it easy to resist and allowed my “No Treat Tracker” to go up to 25...painful, but still GOOD LUCK.
10) The only time I spent in the bunker today was to take a quick picture to show you all what it looks like...GOOD LUCK.


So there you have it, this scientific data can now be added to the growing evidence that Friday the 13th is no different than any other day.

**Ironic addendum--just as I was finishing up this post, 4-5 incredibly loud blasts rocked the Camp. I thought for sure that we were under attack...something I have never experienced before. We ran to the bunkers really fast while smoke filled the air. My heart was pumping pretty good. I have to admit it was scary. When I finally made it to the bunker all I could think was, “wow I guess Friday the 13th really is a cursed day...I never should have written that post”. It turned out however, that the explosions were only a part of a carefully orchestrated drill. So I will stick to my original observation that Friday the 13th truly isn’t a lucky day!