Luck strikes again

Well, I had a lucky day today. Perhaps I should have bought a lottery ticket. Though considering the movie I just saw tonight, perhaps part of my luck is that I didn’t buy one.

My lucky strikes?

• Received mail from VISA saying that they would indeed pay for me to replace the camera that I accidentally dropped on day 5 of ownership in Quebec City. I have no good excuse except that I am now acutely aware of the purpose of the “wrist strap”. Yes, mine did have one and no, I did not use it. I will now. I am now the happy-once-again owner of the same little snazzy red Sony DSCW150. yippee! Now I’ll just sit back and await those Kodak moments.
• Noticing that my yard was beyond my control (lacking a working lawnmower doesn’t help), I hired my very own lawnlady earlier this summer. She’s helped me make peace with neighbours that angrily eye my 1000’s of yellow flowers waving in the wind and spreading to their yards. And there’s nothing better than coming home to a surprise tidy yard that required no effort on my part except for a small outlay of cash. I’ve been chatting with Bonnie a few times (mostly profusely thanking her while feeling sheepish that I can’t seem to manage cutting a small yard on my own) and she’s super friendly. Yesterday I noticed that it had been a while since she’d been around and started to worry that she’d thought our arrangement was only for summer. So I fired off a curious (and complimentary) email this morning asking if she was up for continuing in perpetuity. After class today, I was thrilled to come home to a neat and tidy yard, devoid of any yellow. Then tonight, I got a friendly email reply saying she’d assumed I wanted her to continue until she heard otherwise and asking me about my holiday (and amusingly calling me “Doc” in her letter). Some people’s customer service is great.
• This afternoon I told one of my classmates that we’re going to be doing our smaller rotations (ER, dermatology, etc) together later in the year. He is a very genuine guy who’s naivety makes his authenticity that much more endearing. Anyway, he immediately perked right up and without really thinking said “REALLY? Oh! That’s great because I really like you.” I must say his enthusiasm made my day.
• Tonight to top it all off, I spent the evening with a good friend and went to see the movie Amal. It was a wonderful film that reinforces the importance of something that seems far too scarce these days – decency and kindness. I won’t go into the details (but I do recommend you see it), but it was a nice way to cap off a lovely day.

And while some of you will once again bristle at my use of the word “luck”, for some reason I prefer to think of it that way.

The next update will be back to the usual programming re medicine. Don’t worry, I think this year will squeeze some of the “feel-good” outta me, in case you’re thinking I’m getting too mushy in my middle age. Yikes, am I middle-aged already? Almost.