Not Yet

Note:  If Suldog sent you, you are probably looking for Thanksgiving Comes First.  You are also more than welcome to read today's meanderings while you are here.


"Hi, mom!"  Bigger Girl came in with a smile.

Hi, yourself, i said.  What's up today?

"Well, I took my friend Muriel out to the abandoned pier," she said.  "I love it out there, and she likes it, too!  She thought it was great, an old pier, part of it ripped away so you have to make sure your feet are on the thickest parts that are still standing so you don't slip.  It's covered in really great graffiti, and my friend Will actually did some of it before i even met him!"

Isn't that thing out over the Mississippi River?  It's probably abandoned because it's unsafe.  Be careful when you go out there, you don't want to tumble into Old Man River, there's no coming back out! i noted.

"Yes, I know, and you are right, it is in bad shape.  Muriel and I joked that it's only held together by the bird poop!  That's why even the homeless people don't go there any more."

But your friend Will has been out there?

"Yes, and we took his friend Anthony, too.  But I'd rather go just with Will, or now with Muriel, because Will is just a friend, but Anthony has a crush on me, or so Will says, and I think he's right.  How come people can't just be friends without someone trying to get you into a relationship?"

"Yeah, what's up with that!" Little Girl joined the conversation.  "At my school, everyone is asking me, 'Do you have a boyfriend?' and 'Why aren't you in a relationship?' and they just don't understand.  Why can't they get that I'm not interested in that right now?"

It's sad, i noted.  They think life should revolve around that stuff, just like in the movies and on TV.  Try telling them that right now, you just want to concentrate on school, you've got time for that later.

"That's what I've said, and they think I'm weird," Little Girl said.  "But that's okay, I don't mind being weird."

Says the girl who claims to be part vampire, i noted drily.  She grinned at me.

"Yeah, I've said the same kind of stuff, but all the guys think about is that they want to 'get out of the friend zone,'" Bigger Girl said.  "They seem to see it as a challenge."

 "I mean, I get that it's nice to have someone who cares about you like that, that a relationship can be a great thing, and can feel wonderful, but I'm only 15, so I'm not looking for that in my life yet.  Let me grow up and get my education for goodness sake!"  Little Girl is very decided about that matter.

Now, i just hope they both continue to feel this way for a few more years.




Today is:

Eid-e-Ghadir -- Iran

Feast of Good & Plenty (the candies)

French Food Festival -- LaRose, LA, US (local specialties, dancing, music, and fun; through Sunday)

Great Pumpkin Carve -- Chadds Ford Historical Society, Chadds Ford, PA, US (carving pumpkins that weigh about 150lbs or more each; through Saturday)

Independence Day -- Zambia(1964)

Lilith's Day -- Ancient Mesopotamian Calendar (Lilith, legendary first wife of Adam, mother of the giants; date approximate)

Maladay -- Discordianism

National Bologna Day

Share a Pop Tart With Someone You Love Day -- internet generated, and how much do you want to bet the Kellogg company may have had a hand in it?

St. Anthony Claret's Day (Patron of weavers; Catholic press; Claretians; Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary)

St. Crispin's Eve Celebration -- Tenby, Wales

St. Raphael the Archangel's Day (traditional date; Patron of health inspectors, druggists, happy meetings, leaving home, travelers; against blindness)

Suez Victory Day -- Egypt

Take Back Your Time Day -- Canada; U.S. (anniversary of the day in the US that the Fair Labor Standards Act went into effect, specifying a 40-hour work week as the standard, in 1938)

United Nations Day
     Disarmament Week begins
     World Development Information Day

World Origami Days -- held each year from today, the birth anniversary of Lillian Oppenheimer, founder of the first origami societies in Britain and the US, until Nov. 11, which is Origami Day in Japan; a couple of good sites are http://origamiusa.org/wod and http://www.japanese-city.com/calendar/events/index.php?eID=31502

Birthdays Today:

Kevin Kline, 1947
F. Murray Abraham, 1939
David Nelson, 1936
J. P. "Big Bopper" Richardson, 1930
Y. A. Tittle, 1926
Moss Hart, 1904
Alexandra David-Neel, 1868 (first female foreigner to explore Tibet)
Sarah Joseph Hale, 1788 (author of "Mary had a little lamb")
Antony van Leeuwenhoek, 1632
Domitian, Roman Emperor, 51


Debuting/Premiering Today:

The first Transcontinental Telegram is sent, 1861


Today in History:

Cathedral of Chartres is dedicated, 1260
The Treaty of Westphalia ends the 30 Years War, recognized the independence of Switzerland, and marks the end of the Holy Roman Empire, 1648
Felix Mendelssohn, age 9, performs his first public concert in Berlin, 1818
The match is patented, by A. Phillips, 1836
The first US transcontinental telegram is sent, from San Francisco to Washington, DC, ending the need for the Pony Express after only 2 years, 1861
Levi P. Morton, US ambassador to France, drives the first rivet for the Statue of Liberty, 1881
Dr. Robert Koch discovers the germ that causes tuberculosis, 1882
Anna Taylor becomes the first woman to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel, 1901
The first NYC subway opens, 1904
Harry Houdini's last performance, 1926
The Hershey Company is incorporated, 1927
"Black Thursday", the start of the stock market crash, Dow Jones down 12.8%, 1929
Al Capone is sentenced for tax evasion, 1931
The George Washington Bridge, connecting NY to NJ, opens, 1931
US forbids child labor in factories, 1938
The United Nations Charter is signed by the first member nations, 1945
Eisenhower pledges US support to South Vietnam, 1954
Government of Poland legalizes Solidarity trade union, 1980
Launch of Deep Space 1 comet/asteroid mission, 1998
The Concorde makes its last commercial flight, 2003
Justice Rutherford of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice struck down the "motive clause", an important part of the Canadian Anti-Terrorism Act, 2006
"Bloody Friday" saw many of the world's stock exchanges experience the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices, 2008