LUCK: Advance one space. Keep until needed.

When I moved my entire life to America recently to start studying screenwriting at Chapman Conservatory, I took some things with me that I can’t find now, others I haven’t used once, many that I cannot plug in, and some that I’ve shed along the way through three motels and a bed bug epidemic. I sold the rest or gave it away, or stored it at my parents. Let’s hope they don’t decide to move to their separate old age homes because that would cause some serious storage problems for me.

It's been around the world with me, and we both survived the journey so far.

This little piece of paper – the Monopoly card -  is precious to me. It’s almost as precious as my passport sometimes. I’m not superstitious, BUT I’ve carried it around for so long because one thing I don’t do (at least, not for long) is completely give up hope. Well, not so far.

What you should know about the piggy bank 1. It is cute and 2. It has a hole in it's stomach and the plug is missing. It took me a few minutes to realise that this flaw will in no way affect my ability to use it as a money saving device. In fact, it's a great excuse to continue leaving quarters scattered randomly all over my flat, and spending too much money on cheese and electronic luxuries.

I bought myself the cheapest fridge available in Target. Like people and jeans in America, it seems everything comes in two sizes: Tiny, or Big Enough to Hold An Entire Family. On my fridge I stuck a few magnets made by Trouvrou, which I bought on the way to Oppikoppi while staying the night at her place. And this Monopoly card, whch I stole from the set my younger brother and I shared before I moved from Cape Town to go study in Durban, many years ago. So far, I’ll say it’s held. Not always, but I’m here in California, living my dream, aren’t I?

A sign outside a house in Orange, California, home of Chapman University and more Republicans than anywhere else in the USA. The town puts the cutesy in pie. But it's still charming. And generous to visitors... although the free lemon basket was empty.

Luck is important. Sure, life is 90% effort, but making a lot of effort when you have no starting point is pointless. I’m not sure what people have against lemons but if life doesn’t give them to you, you can’t make fuckall lemonade right? And if you make your own luck, how come everyone isn’t winning the lottery? Let’s face it, the most effective random number generator would 99.9999999% guarantee to supply you with almost all the losing numbers you should avoid using.

I feel very lucky at the moment, no matter how small my fridge may be – it basically only holds milk, cheese, one frozen meal, some leftover tacos I won’t ever eat, healthy yogurt which I may eat one day and a bottle of white wine.

That’s enough for me to get by on, for now.

Horse shoes... they have some creepy assocations for me that I'll never quite shake. But that's private - even by blog standards.

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