A Change of Luck

I have become accustomed to not having things go my way over the past year, and I never thought much of it - I didn't pity myself or lose sleep over it because there is no such thing as luck any way. I got what I deserved. But now, as of late, I have been treading in unfamiliar waters. I have experienced the other side of luck, and dear Lord, I never want to go back.

My first test of the year was in Immunology. Immunity has always been one of those vague words that I never really grasped or understood. B cells, T cells, macrophages, neutrophils...I couldn't tell one from the other, much less their function. Then out of nowhere, I get a 73/75 on the examination (the class average was something like a 63/75). WHAT?! And then to top it off, the professor ended up accepting 2 answers (ie both "b" and "d") on 3 of the questions on the test, 2 of which happened to be the ones I missed, which put me at 75/75. But oh, I am not done. He decided to completely throw out one of the questions because it was poorly written, but if you got it right in the first place, he would not punish you, so that puts me at a 75/74 on the test. How does that happen?! Unbelievable luck, I tell you!

I was trying to think back to when this change of luck began, and I believe I have placed my finger on it: somewhere on the road between Seville and Madrid. The source: my iPod. Pressing the "shuffle" tab on your iPod is always a big risk. You never know what music the melody gods will choose for you that day, especially when your library encompasses everything from Coldplay to Casting Crowns to Chris Brown to classical music. That day, every song that was played brought a smile to my face.

I have an uncanny ability to remember songs. Not necessarily by their lyrics, or the artist, but often by the context that I first heard it. Almost every song in my music library has a story to go with it, and if you are ever with me on a road trip, you won't get more than 5 minutes of silence because every new song that comes on will be followed by an anecdote. But on that warm sunny day in Spain, I just sat back, listened to the iPod do its magic, and pondered all the memories that flooded my mind. Fortunately for you, I wrote down the songs afterward so that I could share these memories with you. iPod shuffle doesn't get much better than this.

• "Me and Mrs. Jones" by Michael Buble - The spring of 2008 will go down as one of my favorite periods of time ever. That semester was my last of undergrad, I had no more college soccer obligations, and had already been accepted into medical school. Life was good, and much of that was due to Dr. Jerry Tsai, my biochemistry professor. I had the opportunity of getting to know him well over those few months, and one day in his office we were joking about my lack of a love life (not in a creepy way, I promise), and he boldly stated that I would know the person I was supposed to be with when I got serenaded with "Me and Mrs. Jones." I had never heard the song so I went home and downloaded it, and was shocked to hear it was about an affair. Nonetheless, it was a good memory, but it has not happened yet. (Don't get any ideas, Ed.)
• "Beautiful Day" by U2 - Every time I hear this song I think of Spencer Green. I blogged about him in the past, so I won't waste your time here again, but this was the song he chose to be played at his funeral when they showed the slide show of his life. Surprisingly, this is a happy memory, because of the fact that he was able to bring so much glory to the Kingdom during his short 23 years on this earth.
• "One by One" by Enya - Two words come to mind when I hear any song by Enya: Diana Davis, with whom I had the privilege of living with one year of college. That girl would blast this music while she worked on her honors thesis (about how Wal-Mart is the root of all evil...don't get me started on that). The only time Diana didn't have Enya blaring in the background was when she took the time to watch CNN and then come into my room and bash poor ole President Bush and everything Republican. While she intimidated me the first couple of months we lived together, I learned to love her fiery political side because she made me start thinking about why I believed what I did.
• "Fidelity" by Regina Spektor - This was one of the songs that was on the CD that a certain someone made for me. This was probably the most awkward memory of my life.
• "Out of My League" by Stephen Speaks - Mike McGuire let me borrow his Stephen Speaks CD my first semester at A&M, and my roommate Alex and I would lay in my bed with this song blaring on repeat, both in tears wishing that we had someone in our lives that would think this about us. Wow.
• "Indescribable" by Chris Tomlin - Sarah Foster Gray and I became huge fans of Chris Tomlin after going to the Passion Conference during our junior year. When Tomlin came to A&M a few months later, SJ was dead set on going to his concert. She bought both of our tickets and even got a t-shirt for me. I had a good time, but she seemed so much more into it than me. I was starting to think it was because she was a better Christian than me, but then a few weeks later she spilled the beans. She was absolutely convinced that Chris Tomlin was the man she was supposed to marry. She had even written him a personal letter to tell him how much he inspired her. Much to her dismay (at the time), he never responded. Luckily, Sarah did end up getting her knight in shining armor, but his name was Kent, not Chris.

So thank you, iPod, for the change in fortune. I owe ya.