I wish I were superstitious

[crosscountry]

I wish I were superstitious because then I could live life without having to figure things out. I could follow 'signs' rather than make decisions. It would be beautiful; and when something went wrong I could blame fate rather than myself.

Things would be a whole lot simplier.



Anyone around here superstitious or have some superstitions?

I have one actually. When I have a fortune cookie from a Chinese restaurant I always eat the cookie and wash it down with water before reading what was inside. Too late to change that now. Well, there's another: if you are on an escalator with your significant other it is bad luck not to kiss. It must be done every time you get on and for extra good luck once more before you get off.

I've tried making up others, but it's really just silliness that discracts me.

[Melusine]

I don't have any superstitious beliefs, but there are some things I always do as a ritual, which make me feel better. I have a slight fear of airplanes crashing, but I've never experienced a truly scary flight (except some winter air-pocket jostling once) ,and most always the weather is good for my flights. I fly at least three times a year, sometimes more.

So, I have a ritual of always filling out my tags fully and on my carry-on bag too. I always check curbside, and always have two print-outs for my ticket, and always tip the baggage/ticketer $5.00. I also always dress in nice casual clothes. I don't believe it's these things that make my flights smooth and uneventful, but it's worked out that way.

[crosscountry]

yea, I guess that's more of a tradition like my fortune cookie thing

do you understand my point though? superstitious people can turn their brains off sometimes and just enjoy the ride. I'm always trying to figure the next step.

[Dragon Star]

Problem is where does superstition end and mild OCD begin?

[Fazor]

Back in the good 'ol days of the origonal Nintendo, I had one where you would blow the dust off of the cartrage, then blow into the recieving slot. then put the game in, but not *all* the way. then jiggle it up and down a few times. then push it all the way in, and press the power button on and off a few times....

sound's like OCD, but to those that owned said system, this was about the only way to get a game to boot up

Um...i guess my only real superstition i can think of is when I go fishing, I have one particular hat i just HAVE to wear, or else i know i'm not going to do good. (btw, it doesn't work, but I still swear by it. heh).

[edit] you poseted the OCD question while i was typing this but yeah, kinda what i was thinking.

[Argos]

Sometimes I wish I was stupid and did not nurture velleities as the seach for things like the ultimate truth. A superstitious life is full of truths, and that must be comforting.

[Serenitude]

Everyone has superstitions, rituals, and routines. Wisdom is in acknowledging it, instead of pretending they aren't there

[Melusine]

yea, I guess that's more of a tradition like my fortune cookie thing

do you understand my point though? superstitious people can turn their brains off sometimes and just enjoy the ride. I'm always trying to figure the next step.

I think I know what you mean, as far as "following signs"; some girls at work do that with the horoscopes and make decisions based on what they see as signs. Or something will happen and they read it into it more than its face value would display, and thus act accordingly.

I'm too pragmatic for that: if it's not something concrete - something I can sink my teeth into, so to speak - I may take notice and then discard it as delusion.

[crosscountry]

Sometimes I wish I was stupid and did not nurture velleities as the seach for things like the ultimate truth. A superstitious life is full of truths, and that must be comforting.

that's where I was going with this thread.

[Larry Jacks]

My wife is a Filipina. Like every Filipina I've ever met, she's pretty superstitious. It just seems to be part of their culture.

After 23 years of marriage, perhaps some of it has worn off on me. For example, I believe that what comes around tends to go around (AKA karma). While there's nothing scientific about the belief, I believe that treating others well and helping someone in need will be good for me should I need help one day.

I also share her belief that being greedy will come back to bite you. For example, a few years ago, my company lost the recompete on a contract I was working on. The winning contractor attempted to hire me away from my company and actually said the words "blank check", as in I could name my price. I turned them down. First of all, I really like my employer. They've treated me extremely well over the years and I have no complaints about my salary as it is. My company was very loyal to me, so I felt I owed them some loyalty in return. Also, in the contractor business, it isn't uncommon to hire someone at a high salary, milk them dry, and fire them. I've never regretted the decision.

[farmerjumperdon]

I think making wishes is superstitious.

The only time I engaged in that kind of behavor is when I was playing baseball/softball. Not in any other sport, but when on a streak playing ball I would do weird stuff. I wore black socks once, forgot the white ones at home. Went 5 for 5 or 6 for 6 and made a couple nice catches. Played in black socks the rest of the season. Ended up with my best year ever at the plate. For those unfamiliar with softball, high batting averages are not hard to come by (face it, it's T-ball for adults). But I finished the year at .790, with an OB percentage just under .900. I had never played a year in black socks, so that was definitely the reason.

Wore a joke of a hat to a game early in one season. We had started the season 2-3 after taking the league the previous year. We (and I) had a great game, so I wore the hat the rest of the year. We went 12-1 after that, finishing at 14-4 and winning the league with a comeback in the last inning in the last game.

I had set up the cutoff men by dancing around wildly off 3rd base twice during the game, nearly getting picked off once. 10th inning I lead off with a single. 2nd batter pops out, infield fly, dead ball. 3rd batter hits a shot down the 1st base line. I easily sprint to 3rd and get there just as the 2nd baseman takes the cut, but bobbles it because he's watching me do my little jig while I inch towards home. The ball is on the ground between his feet and he's giving me this "You ain't going anywhere" look. I had hoped he'd throw behind me, allowing me an easy trot home. But he's just glaring. Then he commits the cardinal sin of looking down at the ball while nonchalantly bending over to pick it up. I break for the plate, everybody on his team is screaming at him to look up; but his throw is late and I score. Game, Championship, Cold Beer. What memories.

And coincidence? I think not. This only happened once and it was while I was wearing my palm tree hat.

I think baseball is more prone to this kind of stuff because the game is so full of these kinds of stories, and the stories give confidence and confidence can help win games.

[sarongsong]

I wish I were superstitious...Anyone around here superstitious or have some superstitions?...

Nope; and neither was Willie, who does just happen to have a short list of things not to be superstitious about:

Well, I ain't superstitious, black cat just cross my trail...
Don't sweep me with no broom, I might get put in jail.
When my right hand itches, I gets money for sure...
But, when my left eye jumps, somebody's got to go
the dogs are howlin, all over the neighborhood...
That is true sign of death...that ain't no good...
---Willie Dixon

[crosscountry]

I hear it man.

[Gillianren]

I think all of my superstitions are a result of my OCD. (Which is very, very minor, but still there; it's just not worth medicating.) I have to go through every food aisle of grocery stores if I'm shopping for more than one thing. (Or picking up prescriptions.) I can skip the cleaning aisles, but not if I'm at Top Foods, where the cleaning aisle's the first one after produce. I can skip alcohol and hygeine, but if I need soap or cat food or something, I have to go down the entire aisle.

I think what distinguishes this from superstition is that I have no idea what would happen if I didn't, and I know it's possible not to, but I'm doing it anyway.

Oh, and Larry, you should've met some of the Filipina girls with whom I went to high school. It's not that they weren't superstitious, exactly, but that their level was the same as pretty much everyone else's.

[Larry Jacks]

The Filipinas I'm talking about are almost all first generation immigrants who came here as adults. Second generation Filipino kids or those who came to America as young children are more influenced by our culture than theirs. If you'd met their parents, you probably would've seen what I'm talking about. It just seems to be part of their culture.

[Gillianren]

I did meet several of their parents--moms, mostly--and didn't notice anything unusual.

[Michael Noonan]

It is good to have a sense of the ridiculous, aparently it is common for the majority of people to put the left sock on first, so I trained myself to put the sock on the right foot first. Then after a while and a quite a few reverses later can't recall which foot starts first anymore. Oh well I could toss a coin.

[Maksutov]

Personally, I'm substitious, so there's no problem, knock on wood.

[SMEaton]

I have a slight fear of airplanes crashing,

I have a huge fear of airplanes crashing.

[farmerjumperdon]

I think all of my superstitions are a result of my OCD. (Which is very, very minor, but still there; it's just not worth medicating.) I have to go through every food aisle of grocery stores if I'm shopping for more than one thing. (Or picking up prescriptions.) I can skip the cleaning aisles, but not if I'm at Top Foods, where the cleaning aisle's the first one after produce. I can skip alcohol and hygeine, but if I need soap or cat food or something, I have to go down the entire aisle.

Interesting. So is that kind of compulsion driven by anything at all? If you have no idea what would happen if you turn around halfway down an aisle, why not do it? There must be a fear of something that might happen if you do it, otherwise, why not do it? Maybe the fear is of some uncertain thing? You know, afraid something will happen, but don't know what it is.

[ToSeek]

Well, there's another: if you are on an escalator with your significant other it is bad luck not to kiss. It must be done every time you get on and for extra good luck once more before you get off.

That just sounds like an excuse to get some smooches to me.

[Melusine]

I have a huge fear of airplanes crashing.

I said "slight" because I get on airplanes. If it was a huge fear I probably wouldn't. Do you fly?

Some people at work are superstitious; I've mentioned in the past here the old wives tale about pregnant women wearing a safety pin inside their blouse during a solar eclipse lest their baby be born with a cleft lip. I'm amazed that idea still persists in these here parts. Why anyone would want to cling to that idea is nutty, imo.

[crosscountry]

That just sounds like an excuse to get some smooches to me.

It works let me tell ya!


Man, today I almost made up some more just to turn off my brain. Like I was getting on the train and it was full, no place to sit. Thought for a second to catch the next one - pretending I shouldn't get on that one. Stuff like that. Maybe I just need to sleep.

[Maksutov]

[edit]Maybe I just need to sleep.

Good idea! Guten Abend, gute Nacht!

[Gillianren]

Interesting. So is that kind of compulsion driven by anything at all? If you have no idea what would happen if you turn around halfway down an aisle, why not do it? There must be a fear of something that might happen if you do it, otherwise, why not do it? Maybe the fear is of some uncertain thing? You know, afraid something will happen, but don't know what it is.

It's driven by inappropriate chemical signals in my brain. I have to do certain things certain ways, because to do them another way is wrong.

[crosscountry]

Good idea! Guten Abend, gute Nacht!

guten Nacht

[Serenitude]

I do have one horrible superstition:

When my Houston Texans win back to back games, I won't wash my jersey again until they lose.

Unfortunately, over the years my jersey has remained remarkably clean...

[Maksutov]

guten Nacht

Better make some changes to Brahms' Wiegenlied then.

Of course the original version, its first stanza based on Des Knaben Wunderhorn, was even shorter re "good" thoughts. But then what did Arnim and Brentano know?

My quote's from the way my great-grandmother Kellner used to sing it.

[HenrikOlsen]

The only real ritual I have is that when I've eaten an apple outside, I throw the core in the dirt and say "apples should grow there."

[crosscountry]

So today I considered getting my hair cut. It's been a while and it getting long enough to fall in my eyes. Anyway I wasn't sure I wanted to but got on the train in the direction of a not so expensive barber.

Well, it's not a normal occurance for me to be stopped by the ticket control here. Some of my friends get stopped all the time, but I can only remember once before being stopped.

It's only 2 stops from the University to the hair cut place, but in that time I had to listen to some German women arguing with the ticket checker about how many zones and blah blah.

During that time I reconsidered my trip and at the stop got on the next train home. Why? That was a sign and I got to pretend it meant something. Fun actually. Being superstitious saved me from making a decision I was unsure about.