Today my bad luck continues. What is the probability of 2 bad days occurring in a row?

There are 3 types of days (Good Average Bad)

Probability of a bad day occuring (theoretically speaking) = 1/3

Probability of 2 bad days happening in a row = 1/3 x 1/3 = 1/9

Following this logic, chances of 3 bad days occurring in a row are? 1 in 27.


Ok. Stop grumbling. To make my bad day seem not so bad, perhaps listing out the day's events will put everything into perspective :D

Today I was late for work. Partly because I was genuinely late, but I could have rushed in 10min late instead and still pull it off as 'a few minutes' difference' if the train I was on had not had to stop in the middle of a tunnel. Apparently there was an oncoming train. Puh. Coincidentally, my being late for work had to be today, when I just asked for a 3 day leave yesterday. Not a very good impression maker.

Had an active bladder at work. I do not think anybody notices, but being a self-conscious person, I feel self-conscious making my loyal visits to the toilet. To make matters worse, my gastrointestinal system has been showing subtle signs of disagreement for the past week, and decided to protest more insistently today, making my visits twice as frequent.

Lunch was early. Feeling bored coz I currently have 1 supervisor less to give me work, I made an enthusisatic stab at socialising to da-pao something from Amoy with the rest. Of course, I had my sandwiches with me so I settled for a pack of dessert, which is on the 2nd floor, which means I had to climb stairs. Horror or horrors, as I daintily made my way down to meet the rest upon successfully securing my 2 packets of soup, I had my second spectacular fall of the month. To put it mildly, I fell down the stairs. However, since this entry is about my bad day and this is the highlight of my bad day, I ought to credit more detail to my fall.

I walked down 1/2 the flight of stairs holding 2 containers of hot dessert (I wear heels to work by the way) and slipped, in a most comical, I assume, given my history of not-very-pretty falls, way. My shocked brain could only register the many many many steps as I briefly counted them on the way down. Nope, instinct could only grant me a sprained foot, as my brain could not react fast enough to teach me how to regain my balance on heels halfway down a flight of steps carrying hot dessert. Well at least my neurones react more quickly than some others. Many passers-by only had sufficient capacity to stare and gasp in horror at my spectacular fall. A few could add 'Oh Dear'. I normally would prefer to camouflage into the background and slink away, unnoticed, but my leg, intestines and brain were all in a bad state [and I still had to pick up the desserts (which miraculously, unlike me, landed the right way up)]. The results of the incident were a sprained foot, grazed knee, queasy stomach, dazed mind, blackness and bruises on my foot, ankle, knee and pride. I think 'Ouch' hardly covers it.

Someone did help me, eventually, but my bodily functions were too messed up and I could only mumble 'Thank you. Sorry. I'm ok' in a vague slur as I tried not to vomit on my savior. Ungrateful, I know, but I was glad to be left alone to control the contents of my stomach. Then came another problem. After successfully hobbling my way to the banister without throwing up, I attempted to steady my condition. Leaning over the banister made my stomach feel worse, but made my leg feel better. Not leaning, however, meant that my bad leg shook visibly under the weight of me and 2 packets of dessert. I eventually did make my way to ground level and luckily I looked pale and pathetic enough to get 2 free plastic bags from the kway teow stall. Pathetic though I was I only needed several minutes for the embarrassment of the fall to overwhelm its physical effects and I chatted gaily about everything I could think of except the fall. Too bad my swollen foot was to much of a highlight to be ignored so my efforts of topic diversion failed.

The silver lining in my cloud, though, was that everyone had to go for a presentation somewhere else that day so I could go off early without feeling guilty. Made my way to Queenstown to meet Papa and mumbled randomly when he asked if I wanted to drive. We ended up going to the old turf club Giant where I then had no choice but to re-tell the story of another spectacular fall.

Surprisingly, Papa made me push the trolley. I did not show any reaction despite my surprise because I wanted to act brave. Then he said

'Hehe. So you can use that as a walker.'

I thought that was pretty smart. I had flailed my way around before I had had a walking aid. So unglamorous.

And that sums up my bad day. Still looks bad to me... but I guess it could have been worse.