When I lived in Santa Monica, I parked my car on the street side. The only time you are not supposed to park is between noon and 2 pm on Thursday for street cleaning. Well, I had to work anyway, so I didn’t pay much attention to it.
住 Santa Monica 時，車子是停在馬路邊的，除了每週四中午至下午兩點要清掃街道，不能停外，其他時候都沒問題，反正我都要上班，所以也沒特別注意。
Because of working overtime on Saturdays in July, I took a weekday off – it happened to be a Thursday one time. I went out fishing with a friend on the night before and the boat returned around midnight. I was too exhausted to go out the next day.
因為七月時每週六都加班，所以有一次休禮拜四。
前一天，也就是星期三晚上，出海去釣魚，半夜才靠岸，所以隔天累得不想出門。
And then, here’s the parking citation . . . $47.
然後 . . . . 就被開罰單 . . . 47美元。
$ 47 was not a huge amount, but was enough for me to have dim-sum a few times . . . if you know how much I love dim-sum. Although I wasn’t worried too much, it was just enough to make me feel stupid.
47美元雖不是巨款，但是也足夠我在 LA 吃好幾次飲茶，嗚 . . . 覺得蠢！
A couple of days later, I received a notice of payment for the article I wrote back in April for a Chinese Opera Company in Taiwan. It was for New Taiwan Dollar of 1430, which was US $ 47.6 after currency conversion.
過了幾天，收到國光通知，要領取上次藝訊的稿費。
一看，臺幣 1430；如果以一美元換30算，也就是47.6 美元。
I did not expect to get the payment, nor would I be able to keep it.
原本不預期有稿費可以領的，現在也等於沒領到，注定不是我的。
Look on the bright side - I did not get any penalty from the parking violation, either. Very lucky of me!
換個角度想，我的運氣真好，等於沒被罰到。
I guess I could also put it this way: if it is meant for me, it will be.
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