"Super Magic" or super charmed?

As early as our college years, Robert, my twin brother and I felt like we lead charmed lives. Each time we faced a need in our lives, He-whose-power-knows-no-bounds, would come through. Only days before needing a new place to live? Bam, an apartment opening. Car breaks down? Bam, a blessed new vehicle or money to repair the old one. Bills pilling up with no relief in sight? Bam, an anonymous donation or new job to make ends meet. Even after Robert moved from Montana back to the Midwest, my own life remained charmed--affordable living space, new jobs, new career, new insights. All provided in order to prove to me the glory of God.
I seems that this same level of charm has followed me to China. As many of you may recall, my first blog posting included a picture of my trusty new ride. In less a quarter of an hour, that t'rusty' bike was broken. With one downward stroke in the standing position, I managed to bend the left crank arm. This ultimately led to a broken pedal, which I replaced. I left the crank arm as it was. However, as the second pedal began to crack, I realized I might have spent too little on my Chinese manufactured transportation.
Each day, as my 'new' bike began to sound more and more like the other 'Chinese' bikes I see on the road, I wondered, should I just leave this one unlocked, allowing someone to steal it, or should I try to nurse it along. So you will understand the nature of Chinese bike, let me tell you about two differnt bicycles I saw locals riding. There was the one where the front wheel slanted from lower left to upper right (/), while the back wheel slanted from lower right to upper left (the opposite of the other slash). This caused the rider to do a little dance on his saddle as he tried to keep the push-me-pull-me wheel angles from toppling the entire contraption. The other example is a bike I just saw coming home from school on Friday. While riding directly behind this bike, I could clearly see the front wheel to the left. So while both wheels were generally pointed in the same direction, they road on separate paths.
Anyway, back to my bike. Almost a week and a half ago, as I became extremely dissatisfied with my lovely "Super Magic" (that is what the paint job says), I was riding home from school when my right pedal fell off. As I lamented my bike's new failing, a motorcycle passed me on my left, just as I was passing someone else on the left. My handle bar got hung up on the motorcycle's saddle causing my front wheel to wobble then turn perpendicular to my path of progress. Of course, this led to my flying over my handle bars. After gathering my glasses, I hopped up to show the motorcyclist that I was all right. However, below is some of the damage to the Super Magic.
If you look carefully, you can see that the handlebars were bumped left of center. Also, upon closer inspection, you will see that the left hand shifter is completely broken. This means I cannot change from chainring to chainring. Therefore, my bike is now permanently stuck in the Granny gear.

This shot shows my broken pedal. The other one is cracked. You just cannot see it.
So how is the Super Magic super-blessed? A week ago yesterday (Saturday), I bought two new METAL pedals. I also purchased a new straight crankarm. While it is true that the crank arm and pedal fell off the next day, I managed to retrieve it as it came off (picture me bending over and grabbing the items as they fell off my bike while I negotiated the bicycle traffic coming from Sunday services), and have it replaced in a matter of minutes. It is also true that my chain now stretches from the small chain ring to the small cog on my back wheel, which really is not the best. However, my bike seems to be running like a top otherwise. So while it may not be Super Magic, it does seem to be super-blessed.
I really do love my bike. It deserves some more air in its tires. Maybe tomorrow I will treat it.