ON JINXES

About a week or so ago, I realized that I had not had a building-wide fire alarm this academic year. As we've had many instances of vandalism and drunken tomfoolery, I consider this a minor miracle (the Vatican is investigating). No need to do rounds of the building to make sure everyone was out, no writeups from the illegal stuff we found in the rooms. No problems.

I foolishly mentioned this to another RA, then immediately searched for wood on which to knock. I wouldn't want to jinx the building with only a week or so to go - of course not! Then I laughed and said that I'm sure my mentioning it was a jinx - at this time, I was secretly hoping that by mentioning the jinx, I was jinxing the jinx, and we would continue on our no-fire-alarm path.

This morning, low water pressure in the sprinkler system caused a building-wide fire alarm. Frick.

I think we're prone to notice jinxes when they occur, but seldom when they don't. Seriously, if I counted the things I've mentioned that HAVEN'T happened, it would absolutely dwarf the number of things that have. For example, I've often thought about what it would be like if terrorists (for some reason) broke into my dorm. It hasn't happened. After reading all these zombie books, I've talked at length about those scenarios - and to my knowledge, the undead are not shuffling toward North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, intent on gnawing on delicious ol' me. So right there - two things that are clearly NOT jinxes.

Furthermore, why the focus on negative things when discussing jinxes? Why isn't it like "You know, I have never met a bikini model with an advanced degree in mathematics?" According to jinxology, a branch of science which doesn't exist but should, I would probably meet Dr. Boobies in the next week or so. But, to paraphrase my good friend Ice-T, we live in the real world, and unfortunately, "stuff" ain't like that. So is mentioning positive things and then jinxing it so they DON'T happen just typical cynicism, or do the things we think and say (on a micro scale) affect the outcome of events surrounding us? That would be a ridiculous way to live, right? There's absolutely NO WAY that's true.

But just in case...
The Blackhawks haven't won a Stanley Cup in a while...
You know, I've never found a winning lottery ticket on the ground...
What are the odds of the government outlawing "Meet the Spartans?"