No need to panic, it's just my luck

I'm not quite ready to write about my trip to China, so I wanted to post this story in the mean time.

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The other day I had one of those days that only I can seem to manage to have.  There is just something about me, an aurora of luck that strikes randomly but spectacularly.  "That could only happen to you" is a phrase thrown at me quite frequently when the stories my misadventure are shared amongst family and friends.

Not to mention that these kinds of days happen far more frequently then you might think.

So, from the beginning:
Left work at 5pm and proceeded to the bus stop to head home.  Waited around for 10 minutes, then just as I was about to jump on the bus I did my usual 'phone-keys-wallet' pat down where I tap my pockets to check that I am still carrying them... only to realize I don't have my keys!

Freaked out!

Managed to calm down after realizing that I must have simply left them in the office... phew!  Call the office, no one answers, everyone must of gone home already.  No problem, call my boss' mobile... no answer.  Damn... in a bit of a bind now. Those keys contain both my house and car keys.  As my luck would have it, today just happened to be an out of the ordinary day. On a usual day losing my keys for a day or so wouldn't be much of an issue as I hardly drive my car, my house mates would be home to let me in, and I could simply take the bus to work the next day like I normally do.

This night however I just happened to have the need to travel back to my parents house as the following day I had taken the day off work to spend it with my mates to help with the filming of a video clip for their new song (they are in a band).  Sigh, ok, relax and adapt.  My New York City trip immediately sprang to mind as I like to think of these mishaps (such as losing keys at the most inconvenient moment) as good practice for adapting to whatever troubles I might run into on my trip where I won't have anyone but myself to rely on.

A plan was devised: Take bus to home, get house mate to let me in, grab clothes and stuff, bus back to town, take a train to my parents house, burrow my sisters car to get to filming location the following day.  Too easy! I was pretty pleased at how fast and efficiently a plausible plan came to mind =)

Next moment my phone rings, it's a friend, he wants to know if I want to go to the pub for dinner...

New plan: Take bus to home, get house mate to let me in, grab clothes and stuff, wait for friend to swing by and pick me up, eat and drink at the pub, take a train to my parents house, burrow my sisters car to get to filming location the following day.  Boom! Improvised!

Jump on the next bus and arrive home... yeah... my house mate wasn't home. This is were luck likes to kick me when I'm already down as usually my house mate is obviously home, but if not it still isn't much of a problem as I can usually find a way to break in.  However, because of all the times we have had to break into our own house in the past, over time the house has become more secure as we close any flaws in the house's security.  Last time I tried to break it was too secure to go at it alone and I only managed to get inside due to the very lucky coincidence where Jerry, a door to door salesman, happened to arrive at my front door at the perfect time, who then helped me climb through my tiny, high up bathroom window haha!

Alas, there was no Jerry this time =(

Resorted to siting on my front porch to read Harry Potter, waiting for my friend to arrive. Had a nice realization that if I ever were locked out of home I would still have quite a few different friends who would gladly take me in for the night =)

Friend got caught up at University and arrived two hours later... it was dark and the mosquito's were biting by this time... not happy.  Figured I could still have some dinner and get to the train station in time for the 9.15pm train.  I ate and drank quickly, friend drove me to the station, I'm running late, run inside, buy ticket, run to platform... there's no train.  Don't tell me I've missed it!  "What time does the train leave?" "9.45pm dear" the lady at the counter replies.  Ah... I see...so... I've arrived 30 minutes early it would appear.  Nice...

Sat around bored. Hot girl sitting across from me, contemplated saying hi... decided to sit there quietly instead.  Started daydreaming about NYC.  Eventually boarded train.  Read Harry Potter.  Watched the lightning storm outside.  Train goes for 50 minutes... ughhh.  Reached station where I have to change to another train line.  As I get off the my train however I can already see a train sitting at another platform, and for some reason I immediately thought to myself "You know what, with my luck, I bet that train is the one I need".  Reacting on pure instincts I ran for the train, opened the doors and jumped inside just as it was taking off.  Immediately looked around frantically for a sign to identify the train, and would you believe it, it was indeed the one I needed... win!

Finally arrive in my home suburb, it's now 11pm, I call up for a taxi.  Eventually it arrives but another guy hails it down and is trying to take it instead.  I run over to protest, ready to fight for my right to get home before midnight.  Negotiations go surprisingly well, turns out the guy is going same way as me. We end up sharing the cab and he gives me money for his share, thus making the ride cheaper for me, win again!

I'm hyperactive from excitement over the crazy series of events over the last 6 hours, my dad greets me at the door and I spend a while recounting the day.

I didn't panic, I kept my cool.  All good practice for NYC in the end =)