The RNG hates me

So, I just started (without finishing) a series of games. Each was standard size on continents. The first game was as the Celts, planning to play a sacred sites cultural game -- and I started as the only civ on my own continent, with only one city-state accessible before astronomy. Got tired of struggling with no gold and no one to trade with, and started over.

Next, I tried twice as Spain. Both times found myself on a continent with two other AI civs -- and zero natural wonders. Then I started four games in a row as Japan. Each time, I sent scouts in either direction along the coasts. Traveled at least 20 tiles in each direction and found zero sea resources.

Then I started a game as Persia. On the coast. Next to a mountain. With two whales and three fish visible. And found Mt. Kailash on turn two. I decided that the RNG had clearly had its fun for the day at my expense.

Is it just me, or does it seem that a very high percentage of starts make it (almost) impossible to take advantage of a civ's unique abilities?

No. It's something magical hating you. Think back into your life.... WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER?

Firstly, you haven't Disabled Start Bias lately have you? A little while back I noticed that Civ 5 remembers your last Advanced Setup so you might want to go look and un-check Disable Start Bias. That being said, as we get better as players I think many of us start to look at non-optimal starts (especially on Emperor+) as not worth the hassle, so that may be what you are experiencing subconsciously.

I think it's probably just you.

Delete your cache found in ~My Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5\cache and redoing your advanced settings as the game has a habit of remembering things it shouldn't.

When playing as Spain it's important to explore the coast with a trireme, I've forgotten the number of times I've missed a juicy NW because I didn't build a trireme early.