the story of the ill-fated vase(s)

i have a vase that thinks it owns my bamboo plant.  it cracked one day, and has since leaked water.  so i buy a new vase.  bring it home, wash it up, start putting the rocks in to ground the shoot, and one slips out of my hand, smacks the side of said vase, and shatters it to oblivion.  big sigh with head hanging down.  reinstall bamboo into old cracked vase.

today i bought another vase.  it's bigger and stronger and thicker than the old cracked vase.  same process: wash, insert rocks, and sure enough, one slips out of my hand, and cracks the top of the vase.  i turn to the old vase sitting on the counter, mocking me with its grimy, hardwater-encrusted sides, and i say, "look, idiot vase, you cannot have the bamboo."

alas, alas.