The 29 Day Leap & Other Date Oddities

I am fascinated by Leap Year and Leap Day. I love dates & months & years and thinking about what happened on dates & months & years past. I like to be very exact when talking about these things, which is why, on the multiple occasions I have heard people refer to April 31st and June 31st, I have been both shocked that the person could make such a mistake, and just generally feel a bit distressed. The first time it happened was back in May 2007 when N. stayed with me in Paris for a week. We were talking about what he'd been doing that spring and he said, "I left New York on April 31st." I was speechless... but only for about 5 seconds.Then I said "April has 30 days!!" For the rest of the day I couldn't get over (nor could I let him get over) how he could have made that mistake. It was so interesting to me to think that he thought he had done something on a day that did not (and does not ever) exist - because the thing was, N. didn't say it like he was making a mistake and meant to say he left New York on April 30th. He said it like April 31st was a real day on which he had truly left New York.

The next time happened about a month later when I was on the train heading out to Meudon (just outside Paris) to have dinner with A. and S. I overheard this guy talking on his cell phone behind me and he made some reference to June 31st. I felt like turning around, interrupting his conversation and telling him that whatever he was planning on doing that day was impossible because June 31st does not exist! The last time was very recently, just over a week ago in fact. I was discussing the semester and what finals I had with a classmate, and she made some comment about finishing finals on the "31st." I don't know her very well and so it didn't feel right to say "I think you mean the 30th because April 31st isn't a real day." So instead I just nodded and carried on with the conversation, but inside the truth was screaming to get out :) Obviously, the number of days each month has is permanently ingrained in my brain. And so what I love about Leap Years is that that all gets changed up. I like how every four years we get that extra day. February is one of my least favourite months, except in Leap Years. Then I like it.

K.'s boyfriend B has such a cool (or annoying or odd depending on how you look at it...) birthday situation that I had to write about it here. His mom went into the hospital in Vancouver (or just outside it? K. which was it?) on April 14th, which was her birthday, to give birth to him. Unfortunately, she had a very long labour and he was not born until just after midnight on April 16. The hospital staff though, when filling out the paperwork, said he was born on April 14th. B.'s parents didn't realize the mistake until too late. They inquired into legally changing it when he was a kid but the whole thing was too complicated. So instead B. has two birthdays: his legal birthday of April 14 (which according to the Canadian/BC government/his drivers license/his passport is his real birthday) and April 16 (which is his real birthday and the one he celebrates.) I can't get over that! It must be so weird for B. on April 14 and April 15 knowing that according to some people/institutions he is really his new age, but knowing inside that he is really not. On the other hand, he does have two birthdays every year (in a way) and that's very cool.

It's interesting to compare B. to people born on February 29th. According to the Wiki page on February 29, in the UK and Hong Kong people born on February 29th are considered to have turned 18 (ie. the legal age) on March 1st of the relevant year. Whereas in New Zealand, people born on February 29th become the legal age on February 28th. Wiki doesn't say anything about which date other countries choose. Unlike B. who has two birthdays a year, people born on Leap Day only have a birthday every four years! I wonder which day those people prefer to celebrate their birthdays on - February 28 or March 1. I see wanting to celebrate your birthday on February 28 because then it's in the same month you were actually born in. On the other hand, I think I'd feel like I still hadn't reached a new age on February 28 and would therefore want to wait until March 1st. It would definitely be a dilemma! And I love birthdays, so I think I'd definitely feel sad not to get to have a real one every year. I am glad that 1984, the year I was born, was a Leap Year. There was a kid in my elementary school whose birthday was February 29th and I remember in 1996, so the year he (I/we) turned 12, everyone was joking that he was only turning 3. And this February 29th will only be his 7th actual birthday. If I had a Leap Day birthday, I'd make the biggest deal of my birthday every four years and have a huge party.

This coming February 29th is also D.'s half birthday - something he only gets to celebrate every four years. D.'s real birthday is August 29th so his half birthday is in February. I really like half birthdays and also smile and think to myself on July 18 how it's my half birthday. My mom, whose birthday is May 31st, never has a half birthday unfortunately since November only has 30 days. Neither do people born on August 30 or 31 or October 31 or March 31 or December 31. That's okay though... while fun, real birthdays are definitely better.

Wishing you a very happy Leap Day and Leap Year! Enjoy February 29th!

This Blog Post In Six Words

D. loves this podcast/radio show on the CBC called Q. It's a daily show about arts/pop culture etc. hosted by this man named Jian and it does seem pretty cool. I've listened to a few specific things like this interview Jian did with Charlaine Harris last summer and another funny clip about how Facebook is affecting jury selection (both recommended by D.) I have no doubt I would really like Q and would enjoy listening to it on a regular basis. However, I already subscribe to so many podcasts and always have so many to listen to that I just feel I can't add another one. That may change though, because on March 1 Jian is doing a live Q show in Montreal, which D. and I are going to. So maybe after that I'll decide I like Q so much I need to subscribe.

Anyway, this is all just a very long introduction to say that the day we were buying tickets for the show, I was on the Q website and came across this post about a six word love story contest. I was struck by the Ernest Hemingway story: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn" and how apparently he claimed it was the best thing he ever wrote. Later that night, I told D. about all this and he showed me this Ted Talk all about six word stories. I guess they are this total thing I had never before known about. Anyway, if you like Ted Talks (I know L. does!) or are just curious, it's worth watching this one. It's pretty funny, although at times a little too clever. The guy giving the talk said that the claim that Hemingway liked that six word story best of all his writing is an urban legend. I take that view too because while Hemingway's little six word story is poignant, a lot of his other work is better. And I don't think that six words can adequately tell a story. Forcing something to be just six words necessarily limits what the writer can say, and leaves so much out. I'm sure proponents of six word stories would argue that they force writers to get at the essence of what they want to say. But I just feel like it forces people to try too hard to be funny or clever or cute or whatever. I would rather read a novel over a six word story any day.

That said, of course I couldn't resist trying out a few of my own after I learned about them. Here some of them are, in no particular order. They are most definitely not my best writing and most of them are pretty cheesy, if not downright cliched. (See number 3.) Number 4 is also so embarrassing but I did know someone for a while who had purple-ly bags under his eyes (it sounds weird but it was actually really attractive) and when I read Twilight and learned about Edward's purple eyes I kept thinking about the guy I knew with the purply eyes. I used to see him in the daytime though so I know for sure he wasn't a vampire. Anyway, here they are:

1. Goodbye on Bloor, no tears, yet.
2. Saw you, hid, wished I hadn’t.
3. After: cigarette passed back and forth.
4. Your purple vampire eyes stake me.
5. Found: one earring, under your bed.
6. Middle of night, tears for free.

Now for six words of closing: thank you for reading this post. :)