Your “Paraskevidekatriaphobia” Friday Evening Open Thread

I don’t believe in luck, good or bad.  I do believe in chance and random occurrences, however.  I also believe that our actions, or in some cases our REactions, will determine, or at least influence, certain outcomes.  Life happens.

Example #1 (bad):

When I was a kid, a friend of mine’s brother suffered a severe and crippling injury on a Friday the 13th.  He was a quadriplegic after this injury.  It obviously altered his life in ways I can’t even begin to imagine.  And even now, decades later, I still feel a great deal of compassion and sorrow for him and what happened.

However…..

It didn’t happen because it was Friday the 13th.  It happened because my friend’s brother was a dumbass and dove into murky water in a rock quarry without first knowing the depth of that water.  He made a mistake.  In this case, a big one.  But after that, every Friday the 13th that came up, his entire family (aside from him, that is) lived in fear that their family curse was to return that day.

It never did.

But they (mostly his parents) had so convinced themselves that it was bad luck and it was because of the day/date, that after that they wouldn’t even leave the house anytime Friday the 13th occurred.  I find that very sad.

From Wikipedia:

According to the Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in Asheville, North Carolina, an estimated 17 to 21 million people in the United States are affected by a fear of [Friday the 13th], making it the most feared day and date in history. Some people are so paralyzed by fear that they avoid their normal routines in doing business, taking flights or even getting out of bed. “It’s been estimated that [US]$800 or $900 million is lost in business on this day”.^[7]

Example #2 (good):

I do believe in timing, both good and bad.  But again, this is something we don’t necessarily control.

A little over two months ago, I innocently walked into a legal weed store in California.  The young lady there who waited on me, as it turns out, was/is a pretty awesome chick.  We hit it off immediately.  Long story, short…we now have an ongoing relationship.  Do I feel  lucky for this?  Yes, of course I do.  I’ll be seeing her again very soon, in fact.

But that wasn’t luck.  It was timing.  If I walked into that store five minutes earlier, or five minutes later and she isn’t the one who waits on me?  Or I choose to take my business to another weed store altogether? (which I almost did, btw)….

Well, that meeting never happens.

Usually my timing sucks.  So I’ll take this one as a win.  But I don’t attribute the initial meeting to anything but chance.

Having said that, however…

Since then, she and I have both worked, some days harder than others (phrasing), at making a go of it.  Or at least trying to.  Time will tell.

My point is, in spite of the random and very slim chance, including the unlikely timing, of us meeting, we did meet.  Now we care about one another.  So in spite of all of that, and also in spite of the current distance and inherent difficulties, we’re trying to make our own “luck” going forward.  We’re communicating and working hard toward it, one might say.

Will it work out?  I don’t know.  But I do know neither of us is OK just leaving it to chance.

Which means there’s a chance.

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DFO This Week

It was a slow week, folks.  Quality over quantity, however.

As always, BeerGuyRob anchored the week with his untiring open thread output.  That guy is a saint.  But I’m still gonna steal his dogs.  Eventually….when the authorities give me my passport back.

BallsofSteelandFury kicked off the week (get it? kicked?) with his rundown of last weekend’s AFL results.  It was an especially sweet round because our Geelong Cats took down Sydney, even if it wasn’t pretty.  One might even say the Cats got “lucky”.

(we won’t talk about this week’s round just yet…fuck you Adelaide).

The Maestro kept everyone up to date on north of the border footy, just as he always does.  As an aside, I think the NFL should go to 20 yard endzones, btw.  It just seems more fun.

We also got another update of all things mechanical and murdery from Senor Weaselo, too!!!!  Seriously, that’s a fun read and Battlebots  is a fun show to watch.  You should do both!!!!!

But this week’s Employee of the Week Award goes to Rikki-Tikki-Deadly.

Not only did he keep our toes tapping with DFO Radio on Tuesday, and then again earlier today with a whole new DFO Request Line (and with a topic I think we can all relate to in one way or another) … But he also continued his saga Dak Prescott Summer of Maturity.  That’s some funny stuff.  If you haven’t already begun reading it, then you suck.

And of course, some of you guys talked about The World Cup too.  Get yer head out of the oven, King Hippo.

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Tonight’s Sports

CFL

• Toronto at Edmonton – 9:00pmEDT – TV: ESPN2

MLB

• NYY at Cleveland – 7:00pmEDT – TV: MLBN (regional split)
• Toronto at Boston – 7:00pmEDT – TV: MLBN (regional split)

Full Schedule

NBA Summer League

Somebody is playing somebody pretty much all night tonight on ESPNU…6pm, 8pm and 10pm EDT.  I could probably dig around and give you the matchups.  But I’d have to care about the NBA Summer League to do that.  I don’t.  So, like the onscreen guide one mah teevee box says…. “Teams TBA”.

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The World Cup

(and also some VERY brief sexy…but don’t get used to it)

It’s all over this weekend, gang.   Saturday morning, we get what many folks thought would be the Champeeeeeenship match.  It’s not.

Tomorrow at 10am EDT, Belgium faces England for 3rd place…

VS

Then on Sunday at 11am EDT, it’s for all the marbles between France and Croatia…

VS

Ummmmmm….Go Croatia?

GO CROATIA!!!!!!!

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Best of Luck

Go grab life by the balls and go make your own “luck”.  It’s really not difficult.  Be true to yourself and the results will follow.

And it sure as hell doesn’t matter what day it is.  Today is as good a day as any to start.  You’ll be glad you did.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Love ya’s.

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