I’m superstitious, but I’m not. I’ll do certain things a certain way … but if that way gets moved or switched or changed, I roll with it. I’ve lost “lucky” coins and had routines changed. I may resist it, but what are you going to do? Sit in a room with the door locked?

So, when I say I am loathe to mention the absence of something unpleasant, yes, it occurs to me that I may be bringing on that very thing — standard belief in the world of luck and superstition.

But the rational side of me says, ah, but the absence of something that seems likely … to note it is to acknowledge that it is overdue to happen, and what part of that is about you, exactly?

Sort of like the alleged Sports Illustrated Cover Jinx. Where to be on the cover of that magazine is sure doom. Well, think that through. You don’t get on the cover of SI unless you’ve done something amazing, and how long can you keep up “amazing”? You are likely to regress to the mean. That’s not a jinx, that’s life in this university.

All of which is preamble for unpleasantries that have not developed — so far — in Hong Kong.

1. Illness. We are among 1.3 million people who live on Hong Kong Island, which at 30 square miles is less than half the size of Catalina (70 square miles). And about 95 percent of us live on this narrow strip across the north of the island. It is hot. It is humid. It ought to be a perfect breeding ground for disease. Yet neither of us has been sick yet. Luck? Something to do with bureaucratic planning (drainage, pest abatement) and individual responsibility (wearing of masks by the ill)?

Anyway, to walk around the corner and mix with a thousand people, or to get on a subway and mix with 10,000 (seemingly), why aren’t we all giving each other viruses all the time? Hasn’t happened, yet.

2. Bad behavior. B.F. Skinner once did an experiment demonstrating that the more rats introduced into a confined area, the greater the pressure on them and the more bad behavior an observer could expect. We could hardly get more rats (i.e., humans) into this particular cage. But people have been amazingly restrained. I don’t recall seeing even one shouting match. There is a civility here that is remarkable. It must be taught, or absorbed. I just haven’t seen any antisocial behavior. It hasn’t happened, yet.

3. Crime. Certainly, there is crime on this island. But where? I haven’t seen any. I haven’t felt threatened. Women and children walk around late at night with seemingly no concerns. Most apartments have a couple of doors and several locks, but are they necessary? Robbers, muggers, thieves … must be out there. But I haven’t seen anything like this, yet.

4. Reaction to bad air. I’m vaguely asthmatic. I wheeze. And Hong Kong has bad air. Not as amazingly bad as, say, Beijing, but worse than Los Angeles. By quite a bit. I should be wheezing, coughing. I should be living on medication. But none of that has happened. Yet.

Mind, I’m not asking for any of this to happen. I could continue in contentment if none of these become issues. Not that I expect to avoid any or all of this. It’s just been three weeks and none of these bad things have happened. Just thought I would mention that … and take my chances.

Going out to do a bit of a jog now. Maybe I’ll catch a cold in the subway, wheeze while slogging around and need a hit on the inhalator to get back.