My friend Su Fei of Sexy Beijing told me a few nights ago over dinner that because the Year of the Rat is my birth year, I was bound to be facing some bad luck. Incredulous, I waved her away and told her I didn't believe in any of that silly superstition, but she insisted that someone close to me gift me with something red that I could wear on my body at all times. Sadly, I didn't pay her any attention and have been greeted since with a whole slew of bad luck, which reached new heights when my cell phone fell out of my pocket this afternoon in a taxi.

1. The story is simple. Girl in Beijing loses cell phone in taxi cab. Boo hoo hoo.
   
2. The story becomes optimistic - cab driver calls girl to tell her he has her phone and will call back in half and hour to drop it off. Success!!
   
3. The story takes a twist and the cab driver never calls back. Superstar Dan Ouyang makes a quick call for me to my phone, and it is revealed that the phone is now in the possession of a cranky woman who claims that she is in Tianjin and that she found the phone in a taxi cab and thus, it is now hers. Oh no!
   
4. The story unfolds, and the fantastic reception team of the office of the girl calls the taxi company with the fapiao from the driver, only to learn that the cab driver is now claiming that he never had the phone to begin with and swears up and down that he never even called. Anger starts a-'brewing.
   
5. The story gets official, and the reception team report lost phone and suspect activities to the police, and send off a 'ransom response' message to the girl's phone, stating that girl will paid hard earned cash in return for the phone. Cheeky receptionist chuckles and gleefully says 'Of course you won't pay her! If she comes, we call police!"
6. The story stalls, and we hopefully wait for a response.
   
   
   

Since it's my own stupid fault for not carefully paying attention to my belongings, and because it's the Year of the Rat and the year of new beginnings and the Olympics and prosperity, I'm going to stay optimistic and hope whoever has my phone decides to push some good will my way and give me back my phone. My new years resolution is to be happier than I've ever been in my life, and to not stress out over the things that can't be helped. It's only one month into the new year but I'm already being tested!

Please, tell me some happy endings to your lost cell phone tragedies! What are my chances?