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Dear Cecil,

I just moved this past weekend, and in the 72 hours flanking this move, I have had unbelievable bad luck. This might sound crazy, but I broke a mirror while trying to detach it from the wall of my old apartment. Two days later, all hell broke loose.

I got into a car accident while driving down to my new apartment to pick up my new keys. The other driver was at fault, but he took off and left me with a huge dent in my civic's northwest corner--a classic hit and run which unfortunately, didn't give me enough time to get his license plate number.

Then, 1 hour late, I drove to the U-haul place and suffered the condescending attitude of the male Korean owner who was in a hurry to leave (5pm) and didn't want to let me check all of the control dials on the truck. "Everything is o.k.," he said in his broken English, exasperated , "Just drive it home." This was a mistake because the next day, it was POURING rain in Los Angeles. If you read the newspapers, you will see headlines reporting the damage and accidents of March 15th. Unfortunately, this was when I had to return the truck and there was bumper to bumper traffic on the freeway. I had NO VISIBILITY because the damn windshield wipers wouldn't turn on. It was one of the scariest driving experiences I have ever had!!! The owner didn't even seem concerned when I complained to him in anger. He simply shrugged and said, "Sorry for the inconvenience." I am going to report him to U-Haul for negligent maintenance of his vehicles.

That was not the end of my troubles. The friend who came to help me move parked in the visitor's space at my old apartment which had an expiration time of 9am the next morning. Unfortunately, we were not quite done yet, and so I got a call from the apartment manager that they were going to tow the car. I pleaded with them to wait and said I would be rushing back to move it. Unfortunately, I was about 40 min away. At first, they felt this was too long to wait, but after some more begging, they finally relented and just cautioned me to drive safely in the storm. However, when I got there, the car had a huge ticket on it.

Next, I went to clean the old apartment because I needed the entire security deposit back. The ironic part is, my roommate broke the lease, not me, but I had to pay my share of the fine and move as well. She didn't even come back to help me clean! I worked my butt off to clean that apartment to get the whole security deposit back, both my share and HERS. It's so unfair.

Afterwards, I finally relaxed and went to my new home and collapsed in exhaustion. The phone woke me up at 12:30 at night. It was the hospital calling (I am a resident physician) wondering why I hadn't shown up for my 11pm shift yet. I immediately threw on some scrubs, jumped into my dented car, and drove frantically through the still pouring rain to get to work. I arrived there at 1:30 am and apologized profusely to the resident who helped cover my patients until I got there. I will make it up to her for her kindness somehow.

That wasn't the end of my string of bad luck, however. After staying up all night taking care of patients, I finally walked back to my car and discovered that I had forgotten to turn the headlights off. The battery was dead, and I had to ask another resident to jump start the car for me. In addition, I noticed for the first time that the southeast corner tire was almost flat. No wonder the car felt a bit unsteady when I was driving it after the accident!

As you can see, I am almost afraid of what is going to happen next. I don't remember ever having such bad luck in such a short period of time before! A bit superstitious, I wonder if the broken mirror has anything to do with it. A black cat also ran across the road the night of the move.

My question to you is whether Chinese feng shui can counteract western bad luck. Alternatively, are the broken mirror and black cat just superstitious wives tales, and that the real culprit lies in the chaotic jumble of stuff in my new apartment? I haven't had time to organize and unpack yet.

I would deeply appreciate your kind advice in this matter. Thank you so much for your help!

Yours truly,

Traumatized