I hate it when things are out of my control

What is the common factor in all the items below?

• Tomorrow evening we are holding a Harp & Bowl style prayer meeting, which is my leadership project, and there is supposed to be a snowstorm tonight.
  
• I'm studying for the VLI final, and I'm still frustrated that I got many questions wrong on the midterm due to misinterpreting the questions, even though I was well prepared and knew the material
  
• There is an odd odor at work, a sort of hot metal smell, with a chemical edge -- I'm not sure what it is, or whether it migt be dangerous, and the engineers haven't shown up yet to examine it.
  
• On the way to work, I'm trying to learn a few words in Turkish
  

The common factor is pretty apparent for the first three -- they are all things that are to some extent out of my control, but they are worrying me because I'm trying to make sure that I do whatever IS under my control.
The last one is more subtle -- but I realized this morning that it is also a control issue. I don't want to be unable to communicate on my trip to Turkey. But at least that one I can do something about!

Hosca kalin [but the 's' and the 'c' should both have accents, and the 'i' should not have a dot, in order to say 'good bye'