August 3, 2020

Lucky breaks are everywhere

Luck, by definition, is random. As we hurtle through space on this tiny blue ball, a million and one moments are happening every second. Each one of those moments is a chance – a chance for something to go right, or a chance for something to go wrong.

Consider being one of the 2,208 people who scored a ticket for the maiden (and only) voyage of the Titanic. The chances of getting on board that ship – considering that the population of England at the time was approximately 33,561,235 – was pretty small. Were those 2,208 people lucky? Well, it depends.

Being onboard the Titanic *before* it sunk would’ve been considered very fortunate. After it sunk? Probably less fortunate. But what if you happened to be one of the 705 people who survived? Were they lucky, unlucky, then lucky again?

Perhaps luck, in itself, isn’t that rare. Perhaps whether we’re lucky or not isn’t about the event or random occurrence itself, but how we decide to look at it. The story we tell, in hindsight, when we piece together the fragments of our lives.

Other observations
September 29, 2026

I feel like drawing flowers

When you feel like drawing flowers, but someone will pay you to draw monkeys, what comes first?

September 8, 2026

No shortcuts

You may be able to find a tool or technique to make a process or drawing more efficient. A digital camera show the photographer the result of their work quicker than a film camera, but it doesn’t make the photo better or the photographer more competent. One still needs to understand tone, colour and composition… Continue reading No shortcuts

View all