anticipatory pessimism as creative visualization

One problem with pulling into my brother Sean's neighborhood late at night is that his condo's parking space is usually filled to the gills. Realizing this long before I was to arrive in Alexandria, I grumbled, "Bet I'm gonna have to park way out on the main street, goddammit."

So it was a pleasant surprise when I discovered a parking space not too far from Sean's condo. I chalk it up to anticipatory pessimism: the Fates tend to conspire against me, confounding my normally optimistic expectations, so whenever I begin thinking dark thoughts about an imminent outcome, the Fates surprise me with something positive, just to mess with my mind. The problem, of course, is that I can't purposely strive for a positive outcome by deliberately thinking dark thoughts: the Fates are too smart for that.


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