Entering Life, Stage Right

“The man who said ‘I’d rather be lucky than good’ saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. It’s scary to think so much is out of one’s control. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second, it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck, it goes forward, and you win. Or maybe it doesn’t, and you lose.”
-Chris Wilton, Match Point

I am lucky. I don’t know when it began, and I don’t know why, but I know I’m not planning on tempting fate or asking any questions. I remember back a few years Apple ran some promotion where they gave out all sorts of free things from scratch off cards. My friend Matt dragged me out to the closest Apple store to meet with his friend Mike so we could all try to win some free swag. We all went in, and I walked out the proud owner of a new, first generation, iPod shuffle. It was a great night, and to be honest, I’m still a little shocked that Mike is such good friends with me after that. Fast forward a few summers. Many new iPods have come and gone, a few generations of the classic iPod and one generation of the iPod shuffle. I sell my then current iPod video off and purchase the new iPod shuffle, and head off to work, where in a span of just a few weeks I end up on the receiving end of a Christmas-bonus-esque iPod video and my name is called on the radio, and I win another new iPod shuffle.

Now, the younger guy I work with listens exclusively to KRock on the radio. A movie was being released in theaters earlier this summer, War, and they were doing some prize pack giveaway for it. I entered online, and promptly forgot about it. A few weeks later I’m sitting at Marist and my phone rings. I pick it up, and voila, they confirm my address and tell me that they’re shipping the prize pack to me, I’ve won (it’s sitting at my house right now, I haven’t opened it yet). I decide hey wow KRock you guys are great, I should enter some of your other contest online! So I sign up on their website and I enter a bunch of contests. A few days later, my phone rings again. I pick it up and it’s KRock – I won two tickets to a red-carpet screening of the movie Shoot ‘Em Up in NYC. I’m stifling my laughter on the phone so intensely I can barely breath. I go with my friend Matt to the City, we see the movie, walk out next to Paul Giamatti, it was fantastic.

Apparently, by winning these tickets I was automatically entered into a drawing for the grand prize, two spots in an official Shoot ‘Em Up Paintball competition. They call me, and voila, I’ve won that too. I don’t think I’ll even go, it’s on a very busy day for me. But that’s OK because just a few days later, my phone rings again. It’s getting to the point where every time my phone rings “Unknown” I start laughing; sure enough, it’s KRock again! I’ve won two tickets to the Interpol show at Madison Square Garden tomorrow night. I don’t even listen to Interpol, I’m not even going, but for those of you who are counting, that’s FOUR prizes in THREE weeks.

It’s getting ridiculous. Am I the only one entering? Is there a Man of the Year -esque glitch in the system that slips my name up to the top? I’m starting to just toss away my KRock luck, I’m not even collecting these last two prizes, it’s crazy.

Luckily (sorry) for me, KRock isn’t the only place I find myself becoming so very lucky. Right now, it’s my six month anniversary with my lovely girlfriend, Katie. And I couldn’t be happier.