I'm not big on predeterminism and Fate, but even less so for parlor tricks of Faith. Coincidences may not be coincidences -- it's tempting to think along these lines at times, sure. Movies and so on. I should have been born in Missouri, probably, a stubborn but accessible skeptic, happy to learn... a curmudgeonly agnostic with curiosity to burn.
So, it is with a sense of skewed (if not skewered) aplomb, that I had a run-in with a berserk ATM, then managed to also have an allied discussion run equally amok. Here's what happened...
The other day, at the (in)convenience store, I was in for a pop and some cash. The ATM's in the back in the corner, after the magazines. So, I'm feeding in my card and waiting to twitch out the appropriate finger-dance on the key pad, to let my fingers do the high-kick walking, prime the machine-pump, and get the money flowing.
The ATM spat my card back out. No message on screen -- just URP, and card's back in the slot. I check out the card. Nothing wrong with the card, so far as I could see. I try again -- and URP, here we go again.