If it's 6pm, someone must be late.

"Mom, Cicero is getting harder to get into gear," Bigger Girl announced.  "When can we take her to Darren's?"

Mr. Darren is the guy who does the big, major repairs to our vehicles.  As much as i love Kevin and Lenny, they don't do transmissions.

The trouble with Mr. Darren is that he is one of the best and most trusted mechanics around, and he always has a waiting list.  Taking your vehicle there and putting it in line means you won't see it again for at least a few days.  Since he closes the last two weeks of every year to let his crew have a break, at this time of year, you can expect it to be a week or more.

Anyway, we took Cicero over there, and had to ask for the keys back three times to get all of Bigger Girl's stuff out of it because first she forgot the library books and then her parking pass for school.

Festus' vehicle has decided that right now is the best time for its battery to die, so he is having to get rides until payday.  Bigger Girl and i will share Jalopy with #1 Son because he can't get his CV axle done until he starts back up to work, which they tell him will be any day now but never today.

Last night, Sweetie had to take his car to a church function, Bigger Girl had Jalopy for work and school, and we ended up having to drive to #2 Son's work to borrow his car then bring Sweetie's car back to him so someone could go get Festus in #2 Son's car, then take that back to him so he could drive home at midnight.  If you are following that, you are doing better than i am.

Yes, it's back to the sport of car juggling here, and right at a difficult time.  My friend DiDreaming, the one who lets me use power tools when i visit, is in the hospital, and we can't spare a vehicle for me to drive down there.

Soon, though.  Somehow, soon, i'm going to have to find a way.  Once we get Cicero back and Jalopy done, i will find a time.  Until then, if it's 6pm, i'm late to pick someone up, and i just hope i can remember whom.


Today is:

Chichibu Yomatsuri -- Chichibu shrine, Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture, Japan (one of Japan's most impressive night parties; through tomorrow) 

Festival of the Finger Stalls -- Fairy Calendar

Giving Tuesday -- after celebrating Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, be part of the national giving movement

International Day for the Abolition of Slavery -- UN

National Day -- Laos; United Arab Emirates (trad.)

National Fritters Day

National Mutt Day -- US (because mixed breeds need an extra chance) 

Oshiroi Matsuri -- Fukuoka, Japan (Face Paint Festival, to ask for good harvest next year)

Safety Razor Day -- the first disposable razor blades were patented by King Gillette this day in 1901

Sarsodaw Pwe -- Myanmar (Writers' Day/Literati Day, especially celebrated by the press)

Special Education Day -- US (anniversary of the first US special education law in 1975)

St. Bibiana's Day (Patron of epileptics, mentally ill people, single laywomen, torture victims; against epilepsy, hangovers, headaches, insanity, mental illness; and, appropriately considering the aforementioned list, Los Angeles, CA)

Walter Plinge Day -- UK (the British equivalent to George Spelvin, a name used to disguise the fact that an actor is playing more than one part in a production, but Walter was based on a real pub owner who was generous to actors)


Birthdays Today:

Britney Spears, 1981
Nelly Furtado, 1978
Monica Seles, 1973
Lucy Liu, 1968
Randy Gardner, 1958
Dennis Christopher, 1955
Dan Butler, 1954
Stone Phillips, 1954
Cathy Lee Crosby, 1948
T. Coraghessan Boyle, 1948
Gianni Versace, 1946
William Wegman, 1943
Julie Harris, 1925
Maria Callas, 1923
Randolph Hearst, 1915
Charles Ringling, 1863
Georges Seurat, 1859


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Naked Gun(Film), 1988
"Mystery of Edwin Drood"(Musical), 1985
"Imus in the Morning"(Radio), 1961
Dancing Lady(Film), 1933 (first appearance of Fred Astaire)
"The Adventures of Charlie Chan"(Radio), 1932
Model A Ford, 1927 (first sold on this date, for $385)
"Sie Versunkene Glocke/The Sunken Bell"(Hauptmann play), 1896
"Samson et Dalila/Samson and Delilah"(Saint-Saens opera, Op. 47), 1877
"La Favorite/The Favorite"(Donizetti opera), 1840


Today in History:

The University of Leipzig opens, 1409
Dedication of the Touro Synagogue, in Newport, Rhode Island, the first synagogue in what became the United States, 1763
Napoleon defeats the Russians and Austrians at Austerlitz, 1805
The first Savings bank in the US opens, the Philadelphia Savings Fund Society, 1816
US President James Monroe declares his "Monroe Doctrine", 1823
US President James K. Polk declares it is the "Manifest Destiny" of the US to expand into the West, 1845
Charles Dickens gives his first public reading in the US, in NYC, 1867
King Camp Gillette patents the safety razor, 1901
Pu Yi (Hsuan-T'ung) became China's Last Emperor at age 2, 1908
Following 19 years of Ford Model T production, the Ford Motor Company unveils the Ford Model A, 1927
A team led by Enrico Fermi initiates the first self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction, 1942
Riots break out in Jerusalem in response to the approval of the 1947 UN Partition Plan, 1947
The Granma yacht reaches the shores of Cuba's Oriente province and Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and 80 other members of  the 26th of July Movement disembark to initiate the Cuban Revolution, 1956
Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Sharjah, Dubai, and Umm Al Quwain form the United Arab Emirates, 1971
Benazir Bhutto is sworn in as Prime Minister of Pakistan, becoming the first woman to head the government of an Islam-dominated state, 1988
A coalition led by Chancellor Helmut Kohl wins the first free all-German elections since 1932, 1990
The United Kingdom devolves political power in Northern Ireland to the Northern Ireland Executive, 1999
NASA announces finding an arsenic based life form on Earth, 2010