Thursday, July 9th, 2009

[JonPorobil]

Last night I went to an open mic at a place owned by a guy named Ross and his son Steve. That was a little odd. I was also the only artist there who didn't write/play country songs. Shucks. I sold one copy of my EP.

Much later, after I'd gotten home and gone to sleep, my phone chirped at me to indicate its battery was dying. I could have plugged it in to shut it up (or I could have plugged it in at any point during the day), but instead I turned it off and crawled back into bed.

I remembered it about half an hour ago and discovered that, while it was off, someone had called and left a voice mail. It was a placement officer from a temp agency I'm registered with. She had an opening for me. In the time it took me to turn on my phone and call her back, the position had been filled.

This is why I pretty much never turn off my phone unless I'm in an airplane.

Question of the Day: Do you believe in fate, destiny, or some other force that prevents things that "aren't meant to be" from happening?

[roymond]

"Fate", "destiny", or some other force that prevents things that "aren't meant to be" from happening are labels we give to a situation after the fact.

[Caravan Ray]

Question of the Day: Do you believe in fate, destiny, or some other force that prevents things that "aren't meant to be" from happening?

Yes - as Roymond suggested - 'fate' and 'destiny' are just excuses people think up to cover the fact they have done something stupid like forgotten their phone messages.

Unless of course it was karma. If you want good karma you need to learn how to play country songs. And western. Then you'll be sorted.

[Märk]

qotd: Not in the way you describe it, but there are some pretty amazing coincidences... for instance, a couple weeks ago, I got an urge to learn a Paul McCartney song that I loved since childhood (Let Me Roll It). It's a pretty easy song to play actually, but I was at my favorite pub on Monday, and an acquaintance there whom I never even knew played guitar was talking about this Paul McCartney song he's trying to learn, and I said "No way- it's not 'Let Me Roll It', is it?" and, sure enough it was. He said he can't figure out the chorus. The owner of the place has a few acoustics laying about, so I asked if I could grab one, and I showed the guy how to play it. He was all "Whoah, we should jam!"
Point is, I've been trying to get a band going for a while now, and this dude knows everyone (it's a musician-oriented pub, with regular open mic nights, etc) so who knows? He'd be a good front man, he was singing along while I was playing it, and he's not a bad singer at all. Was that "fate", or just a coincidence?

[JonPorobil]

Question of the Day: Do you believe in fate, destiny, or some other force that prevents things that "aren't meant to be" from happening?

Yes - as Roymond suggested - 'fate' and 'destiny' are just excuses people think up to cover the fact they have done something stupid like forgotten their phone messages.

Unless of course it was karma. If you want good karma you need to learn how to play country songs. And western. Then you'll be sorted.

It's always harder to tell with things that didn't happen than it is with things that did. When my wife and I think about how we got together, it certainly feels like there was an element of destiny about it.

On the other hand, if there was a hand of fate guiding my career path, it would have done well to steer me away from my most recent two jobs.

Sure, it was all after the fact, but isn't every analysis of a situation? My phone was off for the first time in months, and I just happen to get an important phone call. Maybe there's significance there, or maybe I'm just an idiot. Guess which one I'd rather it be?

[Caravan Ray]

qotd: Not in the way you describe it, but there are some pretty amazing coincidences... for instance, a couple weeks ago, I got an urge to learn a Paul McCartney song that I loved since childhood (Let Me Roll It). It's a pretty easy song to play actually, but I was at my favorite pub on Monday, and an acquaintance there whom I never even knew played guitar was talking about this Paul McCartney song he's trying to learn, and I said "No way- it's not 'Let Me Roll It', is it?" and, sure enough it was. He said he can't figure out the chorus. The owner of the place has a few acoustics laying about, so I asked if I could grab one, and I showed the guy how to play it. He was all "Whoah, we should jam!"
Point is, I've been trying to get a band going for a while now, and this dude knows everyone (it's a musician-oriented pub, with regular open mic nights, etc) so who knows? He'd be a good front man, he was singing along while I was playing it, and he's not a bad singer at all. Was that "fate", or just a coincidence?

It's not "fate" or a "coincidence" - these people are messing with your head. Someone is watching your house. They are either secret government agents preparing a dossier on you or Nigerian criminals trying to get your PIN number. Or aliens.

[Sheail]

Have arrived in Portland from San Fran in my build up to sf live. Managed to get sunburnt on Tuesday when it was cloudy all day. Will now look for some beer to dull senses.

Qotd: Fate stops me having hair like zac efron

[Billy's Little Trip]

Ok, wtfbbq? You said, "Do you believe in fate, destiny, or some other force that prevents things that "aren't meant to be" from happening?"
If I believe in fate and destiny, then if things don't happen, it's for a reason....
Dude, I'm going to have to think about this after my morning coffee and a pastry of some sort.

QotD: I believe sh!t just happens.

[inevitableguy]

Qotd: Fate stops me having hair like zac efron

What a coincidence. Fate stops me from having hair. Then again, I don't actually believe in fate.

Wait a minute! If I don't believe in fate hard enough...will my hair grow back?

[Mantzfield]

qotd: No, the human mind is just fantastically adept at creating links between two completely seperate events, (partly to do with the way the brain stores information in a kind of logical association order), and is of course much more likely to make that link if the event is a standout event, such as winning a championship, lottery, etc, which leads to a plethora of ancient superstitions which are almost certainly based on nothing more then a complete chance event.
Personally I think in a very scientific/logical-ish kinda way so the very idea of fate or destiny makes no sense at all. But this doesn't stop me from avoiding touching three drain covers in a row because an ex-girlfriend once told it's bad luck...

[Reist]

I don't believe in fate, but some situations seem slanted towards specific results, and even if you try to correct the situation, the same result will be achieved regardless - the power of the situation sometimes seems too massive in respect to the power of the individual. However, I think many undesirable results can be avoided if the individual is cunning or powerful enough. So fate is kind of an excuse for us to avoid feeling like we might have been able to avoid an undesirable consequence.

I totally believe in karma though. It screws me every time.

[HeuristicsInc]

On the other hand, if there was a hand of fate guiding my career path, it would have done well to steer me away from my most recent two jobs.

that's just so you will REALLY appreciate it when you get a good job
QOTD: sometimes.
-bill

[fluffy]

drc: My wrists are getting better ever since getting a keyboard tray at work a few days ago. I'm not worried about playing at SFRR now. Yay! (It also helps that I haven't been doing as much of the things that are so hard on my wrists lately.)

drc2: Also as a silly project to fill in my creative void left by not being able to draw or play guitar so much, I've been making more remixes, specifically of the audio tracks of various YouTube videos. They're just silly little things, not intended to be polished works or whatever.

drc3: Also, a couple weeks ago I made music and sound effects for a friend's Flash game, which is going to finally be released in the next few days - he's in the final polishing stage. I will keep people posted.

qotd: No, but I do believe in confirmation bias.

[jast]

QotD: At the very least, I believe in a version of the Law of Attraction that has been stripped of all its supernatural elements.