I believe...

in The Secret.

As evidenced through this week's trials and errors, I will have only gone to work 3 days this week. This week was my first week back on the job after two weeks of illness and vacation. I'd been out of the office since December 21. It was really nice and refreshing to be off from work, and I had some well-deserved rest. However, when I thought about the prospect of having to return to work, I wasn't exactly ready. I wished I didn't have to go to work. I thought about not having to go to work. I visualized it.

Then I remembered my jury summons clipped to a magnet on the fridge. I also remembered that I had to call in to check if I was to report on Monday morning. Previous times that I have been summoned, I have never had to report. However, this year, in very early 2008, I had to report at 8:30AM to the Superior Courthouse. And thus, my first day back to work never came to be.

I was excused from jury duty service since the courthouse had fulfilled their jury allotments, so I had to go to work on Tuesday. I readied my work bag and laptop for the next day. Tuesday morning I walked out the door forgetting to pick up my laptop bag on the way out. I remembered just as soon as I unlocked my car door. I grabbed the laptop and went to work. As soon as I got to work, I tried to dock the computer, but nothing happened when I tried to turn it on. Dead. I thought that was weird, so I tried to turn it on undocked. Nothing. I made the rounds talking to my coworkers who I had not seen in 2 weeks, and then when the computer still would work for me, I brought it down to the IT guys. After a couple tests, they declared the poor laptop dead. I was left without a computer. I couldn't work the entire morning. Thus, the second day was only half fulfilled.

Wednesday came and went without a problem.

Which brings me to this morning, Thursday, January 10. As I finished my breakfast, I thought to myself, "I don't want to go to work today". I got in my car and headed towards the bridge. It was raining so I turned on my lights and my wipers. When I was on the bridge I noticed that the wipers got noticeably weaker in strength and the radio sounded distorted. As I merged onto 101, my wipers died completely. I knew that I was losing power somehow, but I wasn't sure what was causing it. I was almost at my exit, so I figured if worse came to worse, I could just pull over once off the freeway. Right before the exit ramp, I tried to step on the gas, but there was zero acceleration. I knew that I was definitely not a good sign. I was lucky to be in the right lane, and I was able to pull off to the shoulder before getting stuck in the middle of the freeway on a gray, rainy day.

I went into panic mode, but remained as calm as possible. I called AAA to come tow me. After making the necessary phone calls to all the important people, I waited anxiously for the Tow Truck to show up. When it did, I was towed to the nearest repair shop. I was granted with the bad news that I would have to pay out the nose to the tune of $600. Great. My awesome coworker came to my rescue to take me to the office. Later in the afternoon I called to check if my car was fixed. Why is it that every time there is one thing wrong with a car, there is always something else that is discovered to be a problem? Well, my brakes are allegedly shot. I never experienced any problems in the last few weeks. The auto repair shop gave me an estimate of $790! Too expensive for the sake of my car -- both repairs would cost more than the total amount paid for the car! I drove slowly and cautiously 20 miles to get back home. Paranoid the entire way. But I made it. Later, we took the car to our local "guy" who specializes in European cars. I hope it doesn't cost too much to get the brakes fixed. Otherwise I will start looking for another car.

Since my car is in the shop today, I had to work from home, thus completing my week of not wanting to go into work. Lovely.

So now I need to visualize other things. Like a job for my dad. An increase in salary. A promotion. Healthy eating. Obviously, as evidenced by this week, my visualization skills work. Or, in my mom's words are "spooky".