I Ain’t Superstitious
Happy (end of) November. This is the eleventh issue of Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit — it’s just like all those other email newsletters, except it needs to go lie down for a little while.
These newsletters are becoming more like my regular emails, where I mostly apologize for not emailing.
How it’s going
According to Wikipedia:
“Rabbit rabbit rabbit” is a superstition found in Britain and North America wherein a person says or repeats the words “rabbit”, “rabbits” and/or “white rabbits” aloud upon waking on the first day of a month, to ensure good luck for the rest of it.
When I missed my September 1 deadline for the newsletter, I ended up publishing at the end of the month instead of at the beginning, and I haven’t been able to flip things back around. If saying “rabbit rabbit rabbit” on the first day of the month is good luck, maybe saying it on the last day is bad.
And back in the January newsletter, I noted how, according to Chinese superstition, when it’s your zodiac sign’s year, that’s an unlucky year for you — or rather, for me, as I’m a rabbit, and this is the Year of the Rabbit.
But I amended that in the February newsletter:
Last month, I mentioned how it’s the Year of the Rabbit, and I’m a rabbit, and traditionally, that’s supposed to mean bad luck for me (according to my mom). But then my mom told me that this year is actually supposed to be a good one for me (according to my aunt). So who needs auspicious beginnings when I have two old Chinese ladies and 2,000 years of Chinese superstition on my side.
I suppose one of the reasons I started this newsletter project to begin with was to track how the year went for me, and to wish myself a little luck along the way. So has 2023 been lucky or unlucky?
Here are three pictures of my apartment from the weekend before Thanksgiving:
Well, that escalated quickly.
How do you know?
When I was a kid, my uncle, who is a Buddhist monk, gave me a book called the Te of Piglet as a present for my birthday or graduation or something. Written by an American named Benjamin Hoff, it was a fairly popular little book back in the 90s, and I think my uncle thought it could act as a gateway drug to a more serious exploration of Buddhist philosophy.
I’m not sure if I ever finished reading the whole thing, but there was a parable in it about fate and luck that has always stuck with me. It originally appeared in the Huainanzi, written sometime before 139 BC. The version that Hoff has in his book goes like this:
An old man and his son lived in an abandoned fortress on the side of a hill. Their only possession of value was a horse.
One day, the horse ran away. The neighbors came by to offer sympathy. “That’s really bad!” they said. “How do you know?” asked the old man.
The next day, the horse returned, bringing with it several wild horses. The old man and his son shut them all inside the gate. The neighbors hurried over. “That’s really good!” they said. “How do you know?” asked the old man.
The following day, the son tried riding one of the wild horses, fell off, and broke his leg. The neighbors came around as soon as they heard the news. “That’s really bad!” they said. “How do you know?” asked the old man.
The day after that, the army came through, forcing the local young men into service to fight a faraway battle against the northern barbarians. Many of them would never return. But the son couldn’t go, because he’d broken his leg.
The year is not over yet. So maybe there is time enough for things to turn around, one way or another. How do I know?
Other rabbit holes
David Letterman. How about some smiles? I could use some smiles. Great to see Dave back on a late-night TV set. What a guy.
Albert Brooks. Laughs? How about some laughs? Defending Your Life is one of my all-time favorite movies. Lost in America is another great one. I usually think of Brooks as a writer/director and an actor, so it was fun to learn more about his standup career in the new HBO documentary about him, directed by his friend Rob Reiner.
“Ceremony.” I’m not sold on the new remaster (has more detail, but lost some punch?), but this song never gets old.
And that’s it for this month. One more to go.🤞
jf