Now, let me tell you why I'm gobsmacked at the moment. This evening, very unwillingly, I went out to see a mentalist show at the lovely Penang Center for the Performing arts. That's no reflection on the performer, believe me! It's just that I was tired and hungry and had to go alone. Earlier, my friend had trilled, "Let's all go see the mentalist show together, shall we?" So, I bought my RM40 ticket and then found out that nobody really actually would join me. But I had the ticket and had some seriously boring editing to do, so off I went to avoid having to do work on a Saturday night. Honestly, I did leave the house mumbling to myself, "Maybe something good will come of this." And it did!
I won't go into all the different things Ian Harvey Stone did during his performance but there was lots -- ESP type stuff, numerology and more. When I'd seen a teaser of this fellow's show a while back, he'd easily been able to read my mind. But this evening I was grumpy and negative mentally. Adding insult to injury, I got a cell phone call during the performance (on silent mode, of course!) It showed a number that seemed to have originated in the States, which is nerve-wracking when you live in Malaysia and you have elderly parents. I wasn't focused on the performance at all because all I wanted to do was slip out and take that call. So when some audience members were asked to send a mental picture of the card we were holding to Mr. Stone down on the stage, I was the person whose card he had the most trouble guessing. I was distracted by that phone call, so I couldn't help him out enough mentally. He got it eventually, but it was hard work for both of us!The show went on and I crouched down in the dark, wrapped in my black shawl, hiding and hoping not to be called on to participate any more. Most of the volunteers were nubile young gals with shiny black hair -- lots of it! Or they were earnest young men in striped shirts. Nobody like me had been called on and I didn't want to be.
Then the big finale came and the audience had to choose a representative. They chose me, and I can't imagine why. Maybe it was the red blouse I was wearing. Maybe because I'd stumped the mentalist earlier. Maybe my natural charisma (ha, ha!) Anyway, onto the stage I went to choose which balloons the mentalist was to pop one by one. There was money in one of the six. I had to choose the ones to be popped and if the money fell out of any of the first five, the mentalist could keep it. If it was in the last one, I would get the money. I'd done some serious garage sale shopping that morning, so suddenly I was motivated!
I'll never know how it happened -- my intuition or his being able to read my mind -- but miraculously, the first five balloons had nothing in them. But the last one did, so I won. And guess how much! RM100! (That's US $32 or 2,500 yen.) Not much in other countries, but serious money over here. I got back the ticket price and more. I just knew something good would happen if I went!
Oh, and let me leave you with the most impressive words uttered by Mr. Ian Harvey Stone. during the performance. I don't know quite what it's supposed to mean, but it sounds important and quotable, so I'll let it be my big finish:
“What if coincidence is the Universe’s way of alerting us to opportunity?”
