Your Friday the 13th Survival Guide

Knock on wood, cross your fingers, and hope for cake.
Your Friday the 13th Survival Guide
A black cat enters the field of play during the round 18 NRL match between the Penrith Panthers and the Cronulla Sharks at Pepper Stadium on July 10, 2016 in Sydney, Australia. Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
Nicole James
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It’s Friday. It’s the 13th. And if you’re reading this from under your doona with a salt shaker in one hand and a rosary in the other, you’re officially a friggatriskaidekaphobe.

And yes, that’s a real word. It sounds like something you’d splutter into your Prosecco after a bottomless brunch gone wrong, but it’s basically ancient Latin-Greek-Norse for “I’m not coming in today, Mercury’s sulking, a black cat gave me side-eye, and my toast landed butter-side down.”

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Nicole James
Nicole James
Author
Nicole James is a freelance journalist for The Epoch Times based in Australia. She is an award-winning short story writer, journalist, columnist, and editor. Her work has appeared in newspapers including The Sydney Morning Herald, Sun-Herald, The Australian, the Sunday Times, and the Sunday Telegraph. She holds a BA Communications majoring in journalism and two post graduate degrees, one in creative writing.