luck

Ok so it's been a while since I wrote anything, and to all three of my readers, I apologize. These entries take forever to write, and since I can be a lazy bum, it shouldn't be surprising anyone that I took a two month sebatical. I realize how much I actually liked writing in this thing, and I'm kicking myself for not keeping up with it. When I started this blog, I thought I'd just write in it a few times and forget about it. Well that's exactly what happened. But no more! I will continue to write in this thing for years to come, expanding on it from just about my time in Australia. On to it!

My campus can sometimes have a problem with the local population. Every once in a while there will be a random attack on a Curtin student by someone from the area. Sometimes it's a beating, sometimes it's a robbery, sometimes it's both. The key is to not take unnecessary risks, such as walking at night, traveling in a group, and not walking alone at night while waving a bunch of cash shouting that you are helpless to defend yourself. Just basic stuff. One night, about a month and a half ago, a few of my friends and I were barbequeing in the central area of my housing complex. I forgot the honey mustard in my flat so I walked back to get it, because everyone knows that everything goes better with honey mustard. That's just a fact, and there's nothing you can do about it. Anyway, as I was walking back, I saw three teenagers with golf clubs walking around. Figuring they were either campus golfers, or night-time golf enthusiasts, I waved to them. One of them nodded back to me and we went our seperate ways. I returned to the grill with the honey mustard, and no less than two minutes later, I spotted campus security and Perth police running around the area. I later learned those teenagers were not avid midnight golfers. They actually use the clubs to break windows and steal computers, or just to jump people, which they did to somebody soon after I saw them. And to think, they got a head-nod from me. 

I like to joke that I'm cool with the local organized crime (they did have a plan after all) of suburbian Perth, but this got me thinking about how lucky I am. I'm 6-1, 220 pounds (probably a little bigger than that now). My parents have stopped worrying about me getting kidnapped for a while now. The thing is with me, I don't know the first thing about fighting. But even still, I tend to win the benefit of the doubt. That's where I'm lucky. How many times on Law and Order have you seen a guy as big as me get kidnapped? Never. A kidnapper, a mugger, what-have-you wants to deal with someone they think can be easily overpowered. Sure someone my size in the show might die from a brutal revenge plot from a bar spat, but I don't need to worry about that, since I'm a happy drinker. Seriously though, if, say, three guys with golf clubs have to pick between me and the next guy they see to mug, more often than not they'll choose the next guy. I guess that's  what we call luck.