sometimes I am amazed by the series of accidents that is my life

I've been reading a lot of kurt vonnegut lately, which is why I don't say that I have good luck. I'm inclined to subscribe to The Church of God the Utterly Indifferent, a major institution in his book "the sirens of titan." the main character malachi/unk returns to earth after a stay on the planet mercury, and when the people who found him asked what happened to him, he says "I was a victim of a series of accidents. as are we all." the idea is that people only get ahead by accident, not by luck, which would imply that there is someone out there, watching us all and choosing his/her favorites to be "lucky" and those he/she doesn't like to be "unlucky". the society in his book sees a spate of self-imposed handicaps which attempt to make everyone equal, so that the accidents that befall people (such as being attractive or strong, etc.) are evened out. makes for a level playing field.
I won't say that I would like to live in a society where everyone does their best to be average, but people sure would be a lot more polite and generous than they are now.

anyways, that doesn't really have much to do with my past few days. after spending a couple days in california - one day in san pedro with brenda and danny, then one day in lake forest taking kevin and logan to see the "incredibles" - we went back to l.a. to catch our flights. I didn't get to see adam again because he was sick (that christmas pudding must have had an adverse reaction in his kosher stomach). I got onto my america west flight (with real tickets: I got to wear jeans!) to phoenix, which was an hour late and forced me to run across the terminal to get to my flight to flagstaff, which took off about 10 minutes after I got there. karen was at the airport in flagstaff waiting for me, and her dad drove us to their house in the suv, since the weather wasn't very nice. they live about a quarter of a mile from the famous "route 66", pretty much in the middle of nowhere. over the next couple days we went into flagstaff and visited a bunch of yuppie/touristy stores, spent time in a couple excellent bookstores, went ice skating (I didn't fall down!), and watched lots of father ted. we had a quiet new year's eve, but that was fine because I had to be at the train station at 7.15 the next morning.
the roads weren't too bad, so karen decided that she would be able to drive me down there (rather than call a cab). her dad and brother had gone on a road trip with the suv, which left only karen's 1969 viper green vw bug named mozart. after we gave him a good long chance to warm up, we took mozart into town where there was next to no one on the roads. as we were pulling away from a random traffic light that had turned red despite no one else being near it, we all of a sudden here sirens and see flashing lights - we got pulled over! apparently we were going 45 in a 40 zone (dumb) and her right tail light was out. she got away with just a warning (has anyone ever gotten a written warning? I've never heard of that being done before). we got to the train station plenty early anyway, and soon I was in the shuttle on its way from flagstaff to phoenix airport. I was supposed to be meeting mike there around 10.30, but we got in half an hour early and mike, of course was not awake. as I waited for him to get his butt in gear I had the brilliant idea of checking in then, since it was a shuttle by united flight which gives out seats according to check in time, rather than seniority. my flight wasn't until 4.55, and they wouldn't let me check in until 6 hours before the flight. so I was checked in by 10.56. eventually mike came to pick me up and took me back to his house where we ate (his mom offerred to make me a STEAK! I declined, but did have lots of veggies and chips - karen's mom had also packed me some of her fresh baked bread) and watched football games and father ted. mike and his brother james drove me back to the airport where I got the very last seat on the flight to los angeles (wrong direction, I know). I had gotten my stand by ticket for the flight to chicago as well, but again, a late airplane meant that I was cutting it pretty close. when I got to the gate they were just starting boarding, and things were looking very full (rose parade marching bands take up a lot of space). I double checked that I was on the list for stand by, but was not reassured when they started calling revenue-standbys. I heard what I thought sounded like "peck", but I couldn't be sure, so I waited until they announced it again, this time saying "peck" very clearly. and wouldn't you know, I got the very last seat on the flight. I imagine that there are some people somewhere who are none to happy with me. but I got to fly first class, sit next to a very chatty pilot, and have a steak dinner and ice cream sundae (seperately, obviously). I got home late, slept in late, and today helped take out the christmas tree. that's about it.
going back to ireland on the fifth. but before that "GO TROJANS!!! BEAT THE SOONERS!!!"