The Caprice of Chance

More complications cropped up with my South Seas application today. I sent it off almost a week ago now, but when the school director called two days ago to interview me by phone, confusion soon ensued. He kept alluding to how my application was a little "thin" and how he'd prefer something a bit more substantial to present to the selection commitee. Turns out my attached submissions never came through at their end. That considered, the director was being extraordinarily diplomatic. Thin would be an understatement. I re-sent them, then called today to make sure they got there. They had. But apparently no one realised that I still had to be interviewed. I finally got that confusion sorted out - they'll ring me back to confirm a time. I hung up, kneading my forehead in frustration. I don't expect a lot of life. But occasionally I have this fantasy that something will one day happen like it says in the manual. You know, just kind of normally. Needless to say, it has yet to become a reality. It seems (almost) like a universal law. Perhaps it has something to do with Chaos Theory. There are just too many variables to allow for good odds of getting what we want. We really are very self-centered at heart. Every time something becomes complicated or our goals are obstructed we conclude that we are being blocked or foiled. What we never consider is that the same set of circumstances could very well be giving someone else a leg up. We can't expect the odds to run in our favour every time. They don't do that - that's why they're called odds. If we could grasp this fact and embrace it it would give us greater peace of mind, if nothing else. We would also be more likely to watch out for others who are floundering when chance shines our way.