For Some Reason, I Am A Lucky Bastard (or, My Life Is A Fluke)

Things just seem to come to me. Don't know why, don't know how, but they do. The best things, or the most fortunate (best and fortunate can be different) tend to happen to me by complete accident, often times as a result of something stupid I did.

For example, I met Shewara almost entirely because I chose to wear a very specific shirt on a very specific day. She saw me wearing it, noted that she had seen ones like it elsewhere, and we started up a conversation. If I had been wearing any other t-shirt out of the fifty I have, I would probably still be single, and rather bored.

Or when I was flying to Jacksonville to meet my Dad for some golf, back in 1999. I went to the gate without my boarding pass, just like my mother told me to do. I had a ticket stub, which apparently I was supposed to turn in to get my boarding pass, and my Mom said that was all I needed (apparently she, like I, was not familiar with the whole "boarding pass" thing.) So when I tried to get on the plane, they stopped me for not having a boarding pass. Asked me where it was. I had no idea; I was 15 and inexperienced with air travel. I was traveling alone, so no parents to help. And the plane was full - since I hadn't gotten a pass, they gave away my seat. Just as they were about to send me away, a man in a business suit left the plane, saying he had an urgent matter and had to leave. So they gave me his seat. In First Class. Even though I paid for a coach ticket. Even better,it was the first row window seat. Even got my very own individual salt and pepper shakers for my lemon and herb chicken. Plus a wide selection of movies for my viewing pleasure, and ice cream toppings for my mint chocolate chip.

So it should come as no surprise that I got a job today, basically because I chose to check my email at the exact time one of my friends was checking hers. I was wandering toward my lunch date at U of I when I decided to stop in the anthropology computer lab, just to check some things. Just as I was getting up to leave, my friend stopped in and sat down next to me. I hadn't seen her in six months, so I asked her where she was going then, since I had an hour to kill. She had to make a quick stop at a small baby shower for a department professor, and then go to class. So I decided to go as her date, just for shits. While I am at the party, I run into one of my old department secretary friends, who also happens to run the scheduling and hiring for the public archaeology program the department runs. She sees me, and immediately says:

"Matt! Do you need a job?"

I think about it.

"Why yes, as a matter of fact I do."

So she hired me right there. Doing survery archaeology work across the state, for excellent pay, and I actually MAKE money on my commute, rather than lose it. The scheduling is infinitely flexible, so I can take time off for trips whenever I want. I even get to work with a bunch of old friends. It was almost too perfect.

Like I said, one big fluke.