Top Ten Thursday - What are the Odds?

Welcome to Top Ten Thursday!

Today let's talk about odds... Do you believe in coincidence, what strange situations have you encountered that made you think "someone orchestrated this", are you a gambler,..? Many ways to go around this topic. 

Before we even start, let's turn on the music:

1. What made me pick this subject? On my way to my hair appointment I stopped at the gas station for a bottle of Coke Zero and some crackers. I had been working on my post until i had to leave, so I kind of skipped breakfast. There was a police car parked out front, and two officers were engaged in a friendly chat with the manager. They let me go before them - they could probably tell I was in a hurry. A good two hours later I left the hair salon and drove home on a completely different road. There was something going on because a traffic guard stopped the cars in front of me. A big truck must have broken down, and he was blocking one lane. When it was my turn to drive, and I passed the truck, I saw a police car and two officers discussing with the truck driver. Sure enough it was the gas station guys!
2. When I was working for Starbucks I had a terrible commute. 33 miles doesn't sound too bad, but it involves three major traffic hubs = rush hour nightmares to overcome every morning. (The nights were better because I always worked late!) Anyway, for some reason, one morning I left home unusually early. Probably a cost cutting meeting, set by our workaholic and early riser CFO. To say that I was entirely awake while driving would be a lie. I did arrive without incidents, though, and as I was buzzing myself in, I noticed someone was just behind me, so I absentmindedly held the door open for them. "Thanks! Good morning. I hope I didn't scare you or something!" the guy said. Huh? "I was starting to think I was stalking you. You were driving in front of me for a long time. Every junction I needed to turn at, you would turn first. " Really, wow. Wait a minute, for how long exactly? "Well, I live in Staufen, I noticed you on the Lenzburg freeway entrance ramp, what are the odds?" Was he kidding me? As it turned out he and his family lived just two blocks away from me, and he worked in the same building as an external contractor. In the future whenever I needed a ride because I had my car in the shop I would get up in the middle of the night and ask him to pick me up!
3. A friend I play online scrabble with has 23 year old daughter and a 14 year old son - born on the exact same day, 9 years apart!
4. My Grandma and I are born on the same day, too - 50 years apart! My parents were supposed to have lunch with my grandparents to celebrate Grandma's 50th birthday. However my Mom had something more pressing to do that day, pun intended.
   
5. A couple of weeks after our 2016 California trip we were back to the daily grind, a Mom, whose girl attends daycare with Colin, asked me "hey, last month, were you in San Francisco by any chance?" Ahem, yeah, how do you know? "We saw you!!! Well, we thought we saw Colin! We weren't sure though as it was getting dark. He was running back and forth between the Wharf sign and Boudin, and we were at Ripley's believe it or not which is situated on the first floor of the building across the street! 
   
6. 1997 I started working for Landis & Gyr that was later acquired by Siemens. One of the few young guys on the same floor, Andy, was a hockey fan, and he had some role within the local youth team. I knew nothing about hockey. That didn't prevent him from inviting urging me to participate in a corporate  fun hockey tournament. "As long as you can skate a little, you'll be fine" he promised. He was actually right, and I skated better than most of the others. It was the stick and puck handling that killed me. Anyway. We became friends over the years, and even when we both moved on professionally he would still contact me for the tournament every year, and when people eventually dropped out, he'd invite us to the franchise's annual skateathon event. He would skate rounds, and sponsors paid an amount of money in favour of the hockey youth. You may guess how this story ends. 20 years later, 2017, Colin played his first season for this youth team! Andy is still the chief, and I see him all the time. He also happens to be the person who signs the request for school to let Colin leave early for practice if needed. Always good to have friends in cool places. 
   
7. Try and imagine a kid's 10th birthday party. He invites 9 kids and asks to RSVP. What are the odds that one will neither confirm nor decline? What are the odds that daycare calls and asks (on behalf of that kid) whether he is indeed invited, and they couldn't reach his parents to ask for permission? What are the odds that daycare lets leave the kids so they arrive at the party almost half an hour early? What are the odds that upon daycare pick-up time that kids dad shows up at daycare, having no idea that his son isn't there? What are the odds that daycare gives him my number and he calls and asks his son to come home immediately? At least the kid negotiated to be allowed to stay till after dinner. 
   
8. Imagine that another kid, the moment he arrives in our street, realizes "sh**, the gift. I didn't bring a gift!" Runs home, tells his Mom (who asked me at least a week ago what Colin would like) they needed to buy a gift. The kid returns not much later. The Mom then texts and tells me I needed to make sure her son was back home at 6 for soccer practice. Oh no, bummer. As stated on the invite that went out reasonably early for everyone to make arrangements if necessary, we were going to have dinner till about 7pm. All-right, the kid goes home. Soon later the Mom texts me "he's coming back. He can't miss dinner. I'll talk to the coach." Sure enough the kid was back in time for happy hour. Among 10 year olds obviously that is a glass bottle of Coke that needs a special opener. I had no idea this was going to be such a hit for a generation that grows up with plastic bottles!
   
9. Imagine said dinner at said birthday party is "classic American": burgers and a Coke. What are the odds that a) Coke spills, b) pineapple juice spills and c) Ketchup literally erupts? 
   
10. What are the odds that after said dinner of said birthday party my head was going to explode? Yeah.. The themed games I had prepared in case the kids got bored remained untouched. Instead they went back and forth: house, garden, house garden. They got tired of putting shoes on and off, so they either left and entered the house in their shoes or socks. Good thing I invited my friend and fellow Mom over for some unwinding while the kids were playing soccer outside. Aaaaaahhh. So, after 10 years of age, there will be no more home birthday parties. Right???
    

I had to hijack that post to do some processing of yesterdays events, apologies.

What stories do you have to tell? Let me know in the comments below or better yet, link up your own post!

Next week it's already time for another photo scavenger hunt. How about we do it a bit differently this time? The theme is sit down, and you're supposed to take ten pictures of benches, chairs, seats,... link up here; we post September 27.

We'll be travelling in October, so I think I'm gonna take a break from blogging. 

Next Top Ten Thursday is taking place October 18, and you may need this extra  time to prepare for this topic: you're supposed to try a case. Sort of. Chose a case that is on your mind like Lee Harvey Oswald, Shayna Hubers, Justin Ross Harris or Chris Watts, and share ten reasons why in your opinion a person is suspicious, guilty or innocent. Sign up here.