It was one of those weeks. Where everything feels off balance and/because everything that can go wrong does. Sometimes, more than once.
I made three fruitless trips to the Malaysian Open tennis tournament because every time I went, the matches either got rained out or cancelled due to injury. My SIM card died just as I was leaving the house for an interview… in Putrajaya. Then I couldn’t get it replaced immediately because I wasn’t the main account holder. Plans were foiled over and over, and try as I might, I could not shake the feeling of frustration and discontentment.
I had to do something about it, and usually relaxing in front of the television at the end of the day does wonders, but no, last week, even that didn’t work. I would try, think I was fine, go to bed, wake up the next day, and everything would go wrong again. It was like I was my own jinx or something. And probably, the Malaysian Open’s.
One of the evenings, I turned to Mile Markers, Kristin Armstrong’s blog. It’s one of those blogs that pick you up or remind you about the important things in life or leave you feeling a little warm and fuzzy. Like chicken soup. I was stuck at the tournament venue because it was absolutely pelting with rain and I couldn’t get to my car, but I’d forgotten my book (of course!) and I was getting really bored and annoyed at myself.
Even that didn’t help… much. At some point, I decided there was nothing left to do but hunker down and barrel through this chapter of misfortune, where everything was out to make my life miserable, as I dramatically declared on Saturday afternoon – after yet another cancelled match and a late lunch because my in-laws forgot about us!
Maybe that did the trick – acceptance instead of resistance. Right after that, things started taking a turn for the better. I realised that I had been PMS-ing. I rarely do, and I suppose it accounts for the unshakeable foul disposition (men, you have no idea). I wasn’t frustrated and annoyed anymore. And remarkably, things started going according to plan. For the first time all week, it didn’t rain the following day at the Malaysian Open, and I had a fantastic time.
