It's Friday the 13th today, in fact it is the second of three this year. From what I understand this happens only once every 11 years. I have never really had any issues with this particular day, so I generally forget about it. This morning I had a fun little adventure on my way to work. I was driving to work on 2-15 minding my own business when all of the sudden my car starts slowing down, by a lot. I then realized that I forgot to put gas in my car last night and I was quickly running out of what was left. So I start getting over hoping that I can make it to the 3300 south exit (which by the way is less than a 1/2 a mile away) I'm sure as you can guess I did not make it. Thankfully I pulled over when I did because my car promptly died as soon as I put my foot on the brake. If I had gone even two feet more I would have stalled in the lane because there was no room to pull over... That would have been BAD! I called Mike to let him know that I needed him to come help me and he let me know that he was on his way.. Oh I forgot to mention that my cars registration is expired. Now all I have to do is wait and hope that a cop doesn't see me parked on the side of the road. I did see one cop and I thought for sure he was going to stop but he didn't. He actually pulled someone over a little further up the road.
Finally Mike gets there with some gas, he is nearly done putting the gas in when.. yea you know what happens.. a cop pulls up. I just know that I'm in deep shit. I was aware that my car was illegal and that I was driving it illegally, so I was prepared for the consequences. I got in my car grabbed my insurance, my licence and my expired registration and waited while he ran my plates. He gets out of his car and starts walking towards us and I flinched as he started to speak.. "Did you run out of gas?" me "yes sir" him "is everything ok?" me "yes sir" him " alright, well if you need any help go ahead and call." me " Um.. Thank you?"
He gets back in his car and drives away. I'm sure you can imagine me standing on the side of the road with paper in both of my hands and my mouth hanging open in shock and disbelief. I was sure that this was going to turn into a scene from Super Troopers and he was just messing with me. I was waiting for it, but it never happened.
Anyway, I make it to the gas station to fill the tank and try to get to work as fast as possible. I got to work nearly an hour late. But I was really happy to be off the road! If you really think about it I was actually pretty lucky. I was lucky that it was not Thursday because Mike would have been in class and unable to help me. If it had been Thursday My boss would have been in the office, but he was gone today. It was lucky that I pulled over when I did, so I wasn't still in a lane. It was lucky that I got paid today so we had the money to put gas in my car. Most of all it was almost weird how lucky it was that the cop didn't give me a ticket. I know that none of this really has anything to do with Friday the 13th. What it really has to do with is that I am a dumb ass for not filling my tank when I knew good and well that it was empty.. Well there you go.. my Friday the 13th.
Here are five of my favorite Friday-the-13th facts:
1. Fear of Friday the 13th — one of the most popular myths in science. It is called paraskavedekatriaphobia as well as friggatriskaidekaphobia. Triskaidekaphobia is fear of the number 13.
2. Many hospitals have no room 13, while some tall buildings skip the 13th floor and some airline terminals omit Gate 13.
3. President Franklin D. Roosevelt would not travel on the 13th day of any month and would never host 13 guests at a meal. Napoleon and President Herbert Hoover were also triskaidekaphobic, with an abnormal fear of the number 13.
4. Mark Twain once was the 13th guest at a dinner party. A friend warned him not to go. "It was bad luck," Twain later told the friend. "They only had food for 12." Superstitious diners in Paris can hire a quatorzieme, or professional 14th guest.
5. The number 13 suffers from its position after 12, according to numerologists who consider the latter to be a complete number — 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 apostles of Jesus, 12 days of Christmas and 12 eggs in a dozen.
LEGEND HAS IT: If 13 people sit down to dinner together, one will die within the year. The Turks so disliked the number 13 that it was practically expunged from their vocabulary (Brewer, 1894). Many cities do not have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue. Many buildings don't have a 13th floor. If you have 13 letters in your name, you will have the devil's luck (Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert De Salvo all have 13 letters in their names). There are 13 witches in a coven.
