Antichance

 

For the last few weeks, this passage from a favorite novel ("Shibumi") has been on my mind...

 

"There is a certain amount of antichance in my work. No matter how well-trained one is, how careful,how coolheaded, the odds regularly build up over the years; and there comes a time when luck and antichance weigh heavily against you. It's not that I've been lucky in my work—I mistrust luck—but I have never been greatly hampered by bad luck. So there's a lot of bad luck out there waiting for its turn. I've tossed up the coin many times, and it has come down heads. There are more than twenty years' worth of tails waiting their turn."