080808

August 8, 2008, is one of our new millennium’s lucky days. My last lucky day was 070707, a day that I returned from a business trip in Beijing. I thought it would be especially lucky as flying East pass the International Date Line would extend my July seventh ‘luck’ by the twelve hour time difference. Yet the eighteen hour flight time did little to expose my good fortune.
That prior ‘luck’ was just replaced as I flew back to China on this August eighth to foreshorten this day by twelve hours. The Chinese seem to have an extensive set of symbols for good luck. The dragon is one. Other symbols I recall hearing a lot are fortune and longevity which both have a factor of luck involved. Either luck has always escaped me or I have never sought to rely on more than I have. I never play the lottery, gamble, or open a fortune cookie unless prompted by my daughter. This could just be a shortage of optimism. I wonder if the Chinese indulgence in ‘good’ symbolism stems from centuries of poverty and subservience of the common ones. Hope may have been their saving grace.
Coincidence of those lucky days aside, I am not here as part of the Beijing Olympics. Triathlon skills notwithstanding, I am simply in Shanghai for a bit of business. Olympic excitement abounds as most can only image your being here for that purpose. A few days before my departure, I received word that a second of my systems was approved purchase. I attempted to scramble a weeks worth of preparation into two days to make ready the new shipment. The bonus being that if I could get the machinery shipped and through customs in a few days, I could extend my stay and have two systems installed for the traveling price of one. It seemed a noble goal but in the waning hours of the day before my flight, preparations were halted as I admitted the likelihood of a clear sail through customs was doubtful. Perhaps I should rely more on the luck of the Chinese to get me through such an occasion but as it is, I will need to repeat this trek in a few weeks.