The Day Which Must Not Be Named...

My friend Nick has an unusual fear (not that I can talk -- I have plenty of rather bizarre phobias myself...). He absolutely can not stand to look at the clock when the time reads 11:11. According to Nick, this is simply because it's the only time during the day when all four numbers on a clock can be the same. And I'm not sure what's so scary about that, exactly... but again, who am I to talk??

So it would stand to reason that years and years ago, when 2011 seemed miles away, I wondered how Nick would handle today's date -- 11/11/11. Because if one minute of 11:11 on a clock is bad, how much worse must it be when an entire DAY is comprised of that single number? Twenty-four hours of the somehow-for-some-reason evil number... calendars everywhere proclaiming its existence, newspapers shouting it out like a headline, the internet rife with superstitions and stories of its perceived significance. What would Nick do on such a day??

Well, for starters, he blocked his Facebook profile so those of us who know of his aversion to the Time and Date Which Must Not Be Named wouldn't be able to inundate his wall with posts. I'm also fairly certain he turned his phone off, even though I, personally, haven't tried to call him. But anyone else who has attempted to call him today has been met with nothing more than a voicemail message. Silly Nick... 11/11/11 is harmless. Everyone knows that the world will be ending on 12/21/12.

Besides -- historically, GOOD things have happened on this day. For instance -- Faisal was born!! Probably sometime back in the 50's... but he WAS born on 11/11. And how can it be a horrible, scary day when this was the day that one of my very best friends arrived on the planet? How can it be evil when we have an excuse to head out for a great dinner (and hopefully some kind of chocolate for dessert)?? A day that gives you a chance to eat chocolate is NEVER a bad day...

And there's no doubt that the world became a better place when Faisal showed up... without him, there's a fish and chips restaurant in Lincoln Park that would be out of business... Rick and I would still have an entire storage unit filled with unused stuff, instead of extra cash... I may have never discovered the wonder that is British chocolate... my iPod would be decidedly lacking in awesome Indian music... random strangers wouldn't be offered help with heavy suitcases or unwieldy boxes nearly as often... and I'd have one fewer person who still talks to me even after I demonstrate my obvious bouts with insanity. In short -- Faisal rules. And, therefore, so does 11/11.

But for some reason, I don't think Nick will ever agree with me... :)