karma

Well, today certainly was strange. Considering that Chinese New Year is in 2 days, I thought maybe I should have a dota game with my friends to commemorate it. So when I invited one friend for a game, he didn't want to play. So I joined my second friend's game. For some reason, the game crashed when it loaded. Nobody wanted to restart, so I chose some random games to play on Bnet. When I alt-tabbed out, I found that my first friend had hosted a game and I was 9 minutes too late to play. Two games, no play.

Of course, right now, I'm a little pissed at how circumstance has played me. As luck (or lack of it) first dealt its hand, my game had to crash. And that led to me missing out on a second game. If I had joined the first game and ended it fast, I could have joined the second game later on. A small slip led to a disaster.

I guess this is how life is. Sometimes, we are dealt a cruel hand by karma, and circumstances play us badly. It seems unfair at times, when we want something so badly, but it is given to someone else who does not have the same passion as you have for it. But that is life. Was it unfair? No. It's just that we are unlucky, that's all. In the show "The Amazing Race", this is a major factor in the final winner. Sometimes, strong teams who have led from the start end up encountering a major obstacle that they simply cannot overcome. The flight was delayed, the cards were bad, they couldn't find the needle in a haystack. Whatever it is, they missed out on the $1 000 000 cash prize by no fault of theirs. Was it unfair? No.

In a sense, I believe that Icyfate was dealt a blow far greater than a measely dota game. He was due for a major award that was supposed to be the pinnacle of his hard work. Yet, because of a miscommunication by the judges, he didn't get it. Each judge thought that the other didn't want him to receive it, when both wanted him to. But that's life. At least Icyfate can take heart that he knows he's the real recipient of the award.

So compared to Icyfate, I think my circumstances were somewhat better. However, life is unpredictable. What happens to me tomorrow, I don't know. What I know is that some things in life are uncontrollable. We can't do a thing about them. All we can do is live life to its fullest and prepare for the worst but hope for the best.

"In this world full of ups and downs, it's nice to know that there are jackalopes around." - narrator from mini-movie in front of Finding Nemo