I just can't catch a break, except when I can

I rode my bike from home to the bike shop, passing the university on the way. My rear wheel is wobbling, and my attempts to true it remedied it only a short while, so it was time to see a pro... Who happens to look about half my age. Sigh...

Half my age or not, the pro found more than an un-true bike wheel: the tire itself was popping out of the wheel. I'd never seen anything like that before, but it is a ten year-old tire, worn down so far that the tread was gone, and I've noticed places where the tire is starting to split, so I authorized a replacement. I declined most other suggested replacements. Whenever I take my bike to a bike shop, I come out feeling like I've just visited Jiffy Lube: you go in expecting to pay only $30 or so, and suddenly they recommend $200 worth of work. Today at least, the pro was able to point to each and every problem, whereas Jiffy Lube never offers to show me anything actually wrong: it's "recommended" service.

Deprived of my bike while it waits in the queue for repairs, I walked halfway to school on a hot, sunny day—wow, what a clear sky!—before I realized that I'd left my lunch in the bike's saddlebags. Sigh...

Trudge trudge back there, and this time I decided to ride the bus. Sat a while longer under a hot, sunny Mississippi sky. Barely a cloud in the sky, hmm?

I get to work, muck around on a few things, and the next thing I know it's raining, and it keeps raining through my afternoon class. Only one more bus today: at 5pm, and I'll have to sit in the rain... Boy, did I pick the wrong day to pick the bus home, I muttered to no one in particular while explaining optimization problems.

Wouldncha know, a student offered to drive me home after class.