+ Work | Friday 13th

Poster on loan from KETV7

Never a superstitious person all my life but Friday the 13th came barely two weeks into the new year!

The day at work started off great and all seemed normal. Through mid day, as I was coming back from my Friday Prayers, I overheard a teenage girl talking to her group of friends in the shuttle bus, complaining about the bad day she was having and mentioning "Friday the 13th."

"Oh yes, today is Friday the 13th... how about that..." I thought to myself. Hmm... Jason!

The most memorable scene came to mind. Thought all was over in the morning, and then Jason grabbed her from behind off the boat and into Crystal Lake.

I thought nothing of it as I believe it is a old but still "popular" western superstition made even famous by Jason, well, Mrs Voorhees at first of course!

Or was the number 13 in itself, like the eventful Apollo 13? Read once that it was an ill-fated space mission that was launched at 13:13 hours, from launch pad #39 (the 3rd multiple of 13), and aborted on April 13th 1970...

Well anyway, once I reached my office I started reminding my friends about the date, knowing they tend to freak out since some of them like to talk about superstitions and what not, just to see their reaction.

None of them remembered the date. They acted normal and just said "oh ya..." as if to indulge me. That was as much a "freaking-out" reaction as I could get. Well... whatever...

The day went by as usual until late afternoon when my boss called me to the conference room to drop a bomb!

Down-size! I then owed him a list of names to better streamline the operation side to suit the "present situation."

I know better than to mention such "sensitive" matter, let alone write about it, but Friday the 13th did become really unlucky, not particularly for me, but for the people under my charge. Sigh...

Darn it! I hate doing this part of the job. Being Jason and "slashing off" people's livelihood away! New year, new beginning? We were into the 13th day of the new year!

Wait a minute! Am I being superstitious now?!

Everyone in my team is great, but yes, the situation renders it. We were not as "busy" with orders to sustain everyone for quite sometime now. A man's got to do, what a man's got to do... submit it by Monday!

Darn it. Sigh...

Superstitious, I am not! Praying and Hoping I will. And I really hope there is a silver lining behind everyone's dark cloud. There always is!

PS: And I love cats, whatever colour it may be!