Today is Friday, April 13th.
Today is Friday the 13th.
Today is Good Friday.
Today is also my birthday.
My 20th birthday.
Today, the forces of good and the forces of evil lock in mortal combat over my soul. Who will win? Which side shall emerge victorious?
This is a question I have long pondered. Each year, around my birthday, something has always gone wrong. I received a speeding ticket the day before my 18th birthday. I got a traffic violation, for making a left turn where an official sign designated right turn only, 10 days before my 17th birthday. My birthday is also 2 days prior to Tax Day, so every year, I am screwed. This year, to the tune of 286 dollars. Not much, granted, but more than I wanted to pay, and this was money I was going to use for a nice, bright, shiny and new AMD K7 1.333 Ghz processor.
This year, I am going away. I will be gone the entire weekend. Literally, gone. I will be completely disconnected from the world I know. My computer will remain on, but I will not touch a keyboard while I am gone. I am leaving my cell phone at home. If, for some reason, my car breaks down… I will work it out the old fashioned way, instead of being lazy, and sitting on my ass, in my car, waiting for the AAA guy to hurry up and get himself there. No one knows the number to the house I will be sleeping in, so contacting me is useless. I may watch a movie, but only if I make it to a drive-in. The TV shall remain silent the entire weekend. I am "exiting" the matrix, disconnecting my brain from its hardline to my life.
I am hoping this will work. Perhaps I will die in a tragic accident on the way there or maybe on the way home. Maybe I'll get run over by a train. Maybe I won’t even wake up tomorrow. Maybe a giant trout, let loose for the first day of trout season will jump out of a nearby stream and swallow me whole. Anything is possible. Maybe this year is the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning or just somewhere between the two. Maybe I'll take along my bike as well, and completely give up the use of my car, and then peddle my way home, join one of the Amish sects, and marry that beautiful girl I pray to see whenever I'm on her ice route. Or, maybe, this weekend will pass like any other - completely uneventful. I surely hope so.
I will let you know.