"Everyone makes mistakes," friends reassure you after you've committed yet another colossal blunder. "Making mistakes is better than not trying at all!"

To which you must reply, "I wouldn't have become friends with you if I'd known you were capable of such peppy banalities."

People like to claim the greater victory, prove themselves savvy and adaptable, by claiming never to make the same mistake twice. Keeping such a tally can become a confusing task, however, when you've gotten a little older and have made several thousand mistakes. They can't all be unique, can they? Besides, making the same mistake a second time might label you as foolish, but beyond that funny perceptual shifts begin to happen. For instance, making the same mistake a third time can get you seen as charmingly quixotic, admirably pursuing your goals with no regard to their realistic attainability. Making the same mistake a fourth time marks you as possessing steely determination, a stalwart throwback to days gone by when manly resilience was considered a trait worth having. A fifth consecutive mistake only further demonstrates your mettle, how else to explain someone repeatedly banging his head against the same unyielding wall? Make the same mistake six times running and people consider you rashly romantic, undaunted by defeat. Seven times, listen to them murmur in hushed awe at the incredible faith you have in yourself.

Be careful, though. Somewhere around eight or nine the tide will turn, and you'll be exposed as the obstinate idiot you truly are.