it comes in threes

there is an old saying that luck, whether good or bad, always comes in threes.

i did not believe that it was all possible. until it happened to me.

my friends r and j brought me to the airport last night for my trip to washington, dc. we had dinner first since r has been craving for sukiyaki for weeks on end. so we headed to our favorite sukiyaki and shabu shabu place in little tokyo. this little joint's called zakuro. anyhow, after dinner, we went to my place to pick up my luggage and head to the airport.

since it was tad too early to go to the airport (i was taking the red eye), we decided to have coffee first. while sipping my french roast decaf, i had an uncanny feeling that i left something in the apartment. i checked my luggage and true enough, i left my orange pouch (freebie from shangri-la/st. francis) where i kept all my cords. and all my cords are important. my cellphone's battery was low. my digital camera's battery was drained. i am toast.

so we went back to my place to retrieve the cords. one.

we proceeded to the airport. since i had extra baggage because tptb wanted me to bring a video cam (we bought it this afternoon) and a gigantic tripod. i am really toast. so mentally, i was preparing everything that i need to bring. i told r and j to just drop me off at the curb so they can go home early. so check-in i did, went through the xray for my baggage, escalator up for another xray. it was here when i realized that i was missing something. my cellphone.

i called j and told him that i think i left my cell in the car. he checked, and indeed, it was there. they went back to the airport, needless to say. i am not liking it. strike two.

i chose an exit row for the flight from los angeles to atlanta. where we were to change planes en route to dc. i slept through both flights. finally, at around 11ish, we landed at the ronald reagan airport in washington dc. i was so paranoid thinking that i might lose the hi-tech tripod (with its own bag) or worse, the new video camera. i woke up mentally checking if the tripod or the camera is with me.

i went all the way to the baggage carousels and realized that i may have lost my wallet. since it was bulking from my back pocket, i put it in my jacket. it might have slipped while i was sleeping and changing positions. i have never lost a wallet in my lifetime and i was hoping i was not going to lose one now.

strike three.

and hassles of all hassles. i had to go through the entire process of checking in just so i can go back to the gate and hope that someone picked my wallet up and gave it to the airline peeps. my legs were shaking and i was sweating bullets.

in the end, i found a nice lady on the phone and the last words she said to the person on the other line was 'he is filipino' so i said, 'ma'am you have my wallet? i might have left it inside the plane.' she smiled, bade goodbye to the person on the other line and said, 'he's here.'

wow. and it's not even lunch time yet.