Don't really know if I truly know of the best way to answer the question, or if I truly understand the exact question.
1) I don't know if it's necessarily random, but both of my parents lost their jobs around the same time. Consequencially, I moved to a new town, and I'd say it changed my life pretty drastically. My school was about 10x worse, had no friends.. and saw a lot of horrendous stuff after my mom died. Who knows, if I hadn't moved there, maybe I'd still be the innocent nice guy I was before. But time won't change, only I will. So here's to hoping I change for the better now.
2) Control.. Some would say yeah, others would say no.. I say maybe. Sure we have control over a lot of small details in our lives, but at the same time, we have so very little control over the chaos that is life.. I guess I'd say yes and no.. And leave it at that.