Lucky Charms

I am not a superstitious man.  I don't believe in luck - at least, not the four-leaf clover, horseshoe, rabbit's foot kind of luck...  I believe that what happens to you is a result of the choices you've previously made in your life and how those choices have interacted the outside influences of the world.  This is not to say that random things don't just happen, and that seemingly synchronous events don't occur.  It's just to say that... I believe in making my own luck.


Or, as Josh Ritter puts it in his song, "Lawrence, Ks" (off the album Golden Age of Radio), "Some prophecies are self-fulfilling / But I've had to work for all of mine."

Nevertheless, it doesn't hurt to carry around a few lucky charms, just in case.  At the least, these items will remind us of the love and support of the friends and family that gave them to us, and (hopefully) bring a smile to our faces when we're down and longing for home.

Babe the Pig

This heroic little pig has been with me since my first trip abroad in 2001.  A gift from my best friend Corlei, he's ridden to England, Ireland, France, Spain, and many other European locations.  He was on stage with me when my now defunct SoCal punk band, Babelfish42, opened for Cold at the Majestic Ventura Theatre.  He's journeyed across the country when I moved to Baltimore.  And now he's on board for South America.

Googley-Eyed Monster

Or is it a space alien?  All we know is that this little guy traveled through Mongolia with our friends Cory and Sara as they raced for charity as Team Shadowboat from London to Ulaan Baatar, Mongolia, as part of the Mongol Rally of 2007.  He may have lost a few eyes along the way, but he guided them across three continents, a bunch of countries, several mountain ranges and several deserts.  We're hoping his sixth sense and his green mojo will keep us pointed in the right direction.

Little Compass

And if it doesn't, hopefully this little compass will, also a survivor of the Mongol Rally and a gift from Sara and Cory.  It points to magnetic north, and as long as we know which way that is, we should be able to find our way in new countries with unfamiliar geographies and even stranger constellations.  As long as the poles don't flip on us, anyway :)

Superstitious or not, I'm sure we'll collect a few more charms along the way, the kind that you place in your pocket or wear around your neck or wrist.  The kind that, even if they don't bring real luck, give you a sense of well being, of being in the right place and time, of living in the here and now and knowing that you can make it, after all, in the big wide world.