Chances aren't good

When I was a teenager, I often watched TV series in which the characters asked the Magic 8 Ball questions. The answers they obtained were always very short and always ranged from clear to ambiguous.

It was funny to see just how enthusiastic they got every time the answers corresponded to reality somehow; and it was amusing to realise just how erratic they became whenever they were nothing but complete and utter nonsense.

I like to think that we all have a Magic 8 Ball somewhere in our heads and that we often "shake it" in order to find paths and solutions. And if sometimes we get excited because the answers are exactly what we wanted, other times we come up with something which is not quite it and end up going off track for a while.

The other day I asked myself if I would be going back to Brussels next year and the answer was "chances aren't good". Life is known to twist and turn in the most unexpected ways, of course, but right now everything seems to indicate that I will have another year to make a difference.

Do I ask myself if I'll be in Bangkok throughout 2013? Yes, I do; and the answer is often "can't predict now". As I said, life is known to twist and turn in the most unexpected ways. And sometimes it twists and turns so quickly that you hardly have the time to ask the Magic 8 Ball a question...