Now, as for this latest reprise of the classical "ask and ye shall receive"-type synchronicity, it begins two months ago, in December of '15.
I was in North Carolina at the time, visiting family for Christmas. While there, I encountered my father's grey pickup truck, and had the random thought that I wouldn't mind driving a truck for a while -- not own a truck, necessarily, just toy around in one for a little bit. This wasn't a distinct "asking," really, but it was no less of a desire, however faint. Well, long story short, I had car troubles while up in NC, which necessitated a rental car after the holidays. However, when I went to pick it up, I received some news: they were out of the economy car I'd reserved (cue Seinfeld sketch), but would I take a free upgrade? Of course I would; I wasn't picky, so long as I paid the same.
My upgraded vehicle? A big slate-grey pickup truck. Just days after my random-but-distinct desire to drive just such a truck (a grey one, as it were).
* * *
For the next part of this meta-incident (and yes, there's a next part, plus a third), we skip forward to January of '16, a month later.
Again, I'll summarize: more car trouble, and I needed to travel, hence another rental car. Likewise, just before this situation arose, I'd been struck with another fanciful notion to drive a certain type of car -- an SUV this time. In fact, for the whole week prior to my new car woes, I'd had these thoughts on several occasions, usually coinciding with my encountering one of the many big, beastly SUVs out and about.
You can probably guess what happened next.
On the morning I was to pick up my next rental car (another cheapie sedan, because I still wasn't picky about what I drive, despite my sudden car-lust), I received a call: "We couldn't get ahold of the car you rented, so you're getting a free upgrade."
This upgrade: a ginormous Chevy Tahoe, an SUV if there ever was one.
* * *
Yep, lightning struck a third time.
Today, in February of '16, the situation was almost exactly the same: yet more car troubles (my "luck" with the rentals was met with an equal amount of problems with my owned vehicle, it seems), and I had a doctor's appointment I didn't dare cancel, so it was back to my friendly neighborhood car-rental folks. And, surprise surprise: they were once more out of cheap cars, and I was receiving a free upgrade, and the car was (drum roll) just the kind I'd mysteriously and suddenly gotten the hots for.
Really, it's pretty profound in itself that this situation should recur three times in as many months. But, that each time I should be struck with vague-but-distinct desires to drive just the type of car I was upgraded to, just before receiving the upgrade ... However, I'm getting ahead of myself somewhat, for this latest incident was a little different, as to be a bit more notable.
See, this time, my "I want to drive this sort of car" thought was, unlike the last two, neither vague nor broad. This time, my desired car was very specific: a Nissan 350z. And, similarly, I can tell you exactly from whence this thought emerged: I had to walk a few minutes to meet the rental driver who was to pick me up (Enterprise really does pick you up, you know), and this short walk required me to pass a property on which I've seen parked, many times, a particular Nissan 350z, which I've several times thought that I would like to drive. Thus, it was by passing this property that my old longings for a 350z were stirred.
Note that this desire surfaced 1) only before being picked up and taken to the rental agency, and 2) just before I was picked up. That is, mere minutes before I would get to the agency and learn, entirely unbeknownst to me until then, that I'd once again received a free upgrade, now to a Nissan 370z (a luxury sports car that would've cost approximately four times as much as the economy-class I'd reserved, it bears mentioning).
(Ah, the more perceptive of you are probably saying, "But it was a 370z, not a 350." That was my initial thought, too (or, at least, it was after my head stopped spinning from witnessing this trifecta of sorts). But then, tonight, I got curious and Wikipedia'd the 370z, only to find that it is the 350's successor -- that is, not a separate model, par-se, but the 350's replacement. So, practically speaking, the 370 is in essence a 350z, just of a later year.)
* * *
So, just to recap: I not only got the exact type of car I'd "wished" for, and in the most random of ways, due to circumstances entirely unknown to me and outside my control -- but it happened three times in a row, each less than a month apart.
But I'm just "lucky," right? Just a "funny coincidence," right? Right ...
