Curse of the Bad Luck Fortune Fortune

Alright. Here's the part where I admit that things haven't been going as perfectly smoothly as I may have made them out to be. It all started with those 12 hours at Pearson Airport (yes, it turned out to be 12 hours after all)—I should have known...

While making my way through Tokyo, I visited a lot of shrines in the Ueno and Asakusa areas. Though not a Japanese Buddhist (and a very novice Chinese one at that) I thought that I might donate to one of the shrines and have my fortune told for ¥100. So I inserted my coin into the donation slot and shook my fortune. At first I was faced with all Japanese characters so I flipped the sheet over and to my horror found myself faced with the following:

BAD LUCK FORTUNE

Travelling at this time is not recommended. You will only encounter problems along your way—it is best if you stay home and wait for time to pass until you attempt to go anywhere. While your intentions may be good, your actions will only bring about bad outcomes, and others may mistake your kindness for maliciousness.

OMG. Although I'm not very religious or extremely superstitious, some things will just strike the right chords for me and get me all freaked out. This fortune was one of those things.

As soon as I finished reading it (and I didn't even read it twice to giggle at bad grammar) I folded it up and tied it to the stands provided as you were supposed to with bad fortunes. I didn't want to have it in my possession any longer than I had to. I even tried to shake it off and act as though I wasn't superstitious enough to have even let it affect me at all—but the truth was that it had.

Shall I share what has convinced me that the little sheet was right, before and after I read it? I will.

• Pearson Airport: I spent twelve hours at the airport, four of them just sitting on a plane that didn't go anywhere
  
• Narita Airport: I landed, got my things, and found that none of the shuttles or subways were running anymore and I had to take a cab (expensive!) to my hotel
  
• I nearly fell down every staircase I got to, tripping over anything that I could possibly trip on (I nearly rolled my ankle twice!)
  


• I went to a quiet little shrine to burn incense at and had to turn their little incense lighter to do so. 15 minutes after having lit my incense on their little stove and walking away, I realized I forgot to turn the stove lighter off
  


• I lost my hardcopy of my itinerary
  
• I copied the phone number of my next hotel wrong and couldn't confirm their address, running the risk of losing my luggage
  
• My supposed converter cord for my laptop didn't convert anything after all
  
• I didn't meet a friend in Tokyo—twice
  
• I got 3 blisters on my feet in less than 20 minutes
  

• I was all proud of myself for getting a reserved ticket for a Shinkansen train, but found I was sitting in someone else's seat. Having misunderstood my ticket, I had to walk through 6 more cars and ask the refreshment lady to let me pass to find my seat
  
• I forgot to take my empty bottle off the train (despite the many reminders I gave myself to do so) and consequently littered on Japan's immaculate transit system
  
• I couldn't find my meeting place with my friend at Osaka Station and exited when I shouldn't have and had to lug my luggage around a busy terminal for 2 hours instead
  

• I waved and smiled at a cute little kid, and moments after walking away, I heard him start to cry
  




• I packed my sunglasses and scarf (both of which I needed) into the wrong bag and sent them to my future hotel
  
• My JR Pass didn't cover the night trains like I thought it would, stranding me in Osaka for an extra night
  
• I got hopelessly lost on the Osaka subways this morning
  

• I missed my train to Tokyo this morning by less than a minute
  






• As I ran up the escalator in an attempt to catch that train, the handle on my suitcase broke
  
• It's raining
  
  

Anything else? That's all I can remember for now. But I'm still trying to remain positive. I've still got my health and my high spirits, and I've been having a ball all this time (except for those moments described above, of course). What could I possibly see brightly about all the crap I've been through so far?

• 12 hour delay = $100 of AirCanada credit
  
• 12 hour delay = free shuttle into Tokyo from Narita Airport
  
• I haven't killed myself yet
  
• I didn't hear about any shrine fires on the news
  
• I have a soft copy of my itinerary on Jenny
  
• My luggage arrived safe and sound
  
• It's amazing what you can do with a little determination, nail clipper, nail file, and 2 hours to yourself
  
• But there are plans still to maybe meet before I leave Japan altogether
  
• Bad shoes have been banished and blisters have healed while in my runners
  
• People are nice and I had to learn to read the damn thing some time
  
• SimpleDimple said not to worry too much about the bottle—it happens
  
• I couldn't find SD, but she found me—and I got to blog in the time I waited
  
• Kids cry for the strangest reasons sometimes...
  
• Turned out to be 21 degrees while in Osaka, and only ¥1000 for a nice pair of sunglasses
  
• SD to the rescue again—she let me crash at her place and I "helped" her pack for her trip the next day too
  
• But I DID manage to find the station afterall, albeit 1 minute too late
  
• Somehow, by missing that first train to Tokyo, my new route to Morioka shaves 30 minutes off my travel time
  
• Nothing your standard screw and bolt couldn't fix (I know because dad already fixed my other suitcase like that)
  
• I still have an hour to go before reaching Morioka—who knows what the weather's going to be like there?
  

So take that, fortune! As long as I can emerge from this trip in one piece, I'll consider myself lucky enough. J