Making Plans

How did it go taking your friend The Dragon to her doctor's appointment? i asked Bigger Girl, knowing she had been worried about it.

"Oh, it went really well.  I've told you how hard it is for them to get a vein on her, but the lady got it on the first stick.  And I was able to distract her while the lady drew the blood and so she didn't lose bladder control this time!"

Wonderful, i said, while thinking, never a lack of information from this child.

"Oh, and the computer at college kicked me out of all of my classes again and I had to reregister.  It happens to everyone sooner or later, but I want to pay the tuition today if I can so I will have a receipt with proof of registration if it happens again."

Okay, i'll transfer the money, i told her.  Then i added, how do they manage to drop people even before the final tuition due date?

"The same way their computers mess up so much other stuff, mom.  One semester, a professor had me listed as being in his class, and kept sending me emails asking why I wasn't attending, and I finally had to go show him my registration and that I wasn't in his class!  They had me on his roster even though I'd never signed up for that class."

Wow, i said.  Sounds like their IT department needs some fine tuning.

"Ya think!" she grinned.  "Oh, and I sent emails to all of my professors for this semester asking for the first day's assignments, I'm going to miss the first day of class."

What's up? i asked.

"Well, that's the day Freya flies back to Hampshire, so we are going to go to NOLA and visit the aquarium, and then go have dim sum, and she will go talk to her publisher before I take her to the airport.  Since I won't see her again until who knows when, we are making a day of it."

She won't be home for Christmas? i asked.

"No, after the semester is over she is moving somewhere near the college, where she will try to market her game.  The lady has already said she could move in, and that's the best place for her to be."

Is that the game that helps people know what it's like to live with disabilities? i asked.

"Yes, that one.  You have to navigate through the world of the game while having some kind of disability, like dyslexia, or cerebral palsy, or fibromyalgia, or, well, it covers the gamut.  If she can get it marketed well, it could really help people find out more of what it's like to live with a serious disability.  When you can't play on that section of the game because you are in a wheelchair, or you can't read the signs, well, it really does make you stop and think about people who go through that every day."

Well, i wish her all the luck in the world, we do need that game, i said, as she headed out to work.

Today is:

Antique Marine Engine Exposition -- Mystic Seaport, Mystic, CT, US (annual exposition of pre-WWII marine engines and models; through tomorrow)

Armed Forces Day -- Poland

Asuncion Foundation Day -- Paraguay

Assumption of Blessed Virgin Mary -- Catholic Christian Holy Day of Obligation
    Related Observances
         Coeur d'Alene Indian Pilgrimage -- Coeur d'Alene's Old Mission State Park, Cataldo, ID, US
         Dormition of the Theotokos -- Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Christian
         Ferragosto -- Italy (During the Roman Empire, a festival to Diana and a fertility and ripening celebration)
         Mother's Day -- Antwerp; Costa Rica
         National Acadians Day -- Acadians
         Virgin of Candelaria, patron of the Canary Islands -- Tenrife, Spain
         Irmandade da Nossa Senhora da Boa Morte Fiesta -- Bahia, Brazil (Festival of the Order of Our Lady of the Good Death)
         Festival of the Outremeuse -- Liege, Belgium
         Public Holiday or Publicly Observed -- Andorra; Austria; Belgium; Benin; Bosnia; Burkina Faso; Burundi; Cameroon; Cape Verde; Central African Republic; Chile; Colombia; Côte d'Ivoire; Croatia; Cyprus; East Timor; France; French Guiana; French Polynesia; Gabon; Gambia; Germany; Greece; Guadelupe; Guatemala; Guinea; Holy See; Hungary; Italy; Lebanon; Liechtenstein; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Macedonia; Madagascar; Malta; Martinique; Mauritius; Mayotte; Monaco; New Caledonia; Paraguay; Poland; Portugal; Reunion; Romania; Rwanda; Saint Barthelemy; Saint Martin; Saint Pierre et Miquelon; San Marino; Senegal; Seychelles; Slovenia; Spain; Switzerland; Togo; Vanuatu; Wallis and Fortuna    

Battle of Blue Licks Celebration -- Blue Licks Battlefield State Park, Mount Olivet, KY, US (to commemorate the Revolutionary War Battle of Blue Licks with living history demonstrations, arts, crafts, games, reenactments and more; through tomorrow)

Best Friend's Day -- sponsored by Thema Martin

Bike Van Buren -- Van Buren County, IA, US (a leisurely two-day bike tour of villages, landmarks and landscapes)

Bon/Obon Festival -- Japan (biggest day of the festival in most parts of Japan)

Chauvin Day -- observed on Napoleon's birthday because his is unknown, the day is named for Nicholas Chauvin, whose blind devotion to Napoleon was immortalized in his name's use for absurdly intense attachments to any cause

Check the Chip Day -- the American Veterinary Medical Association reminds you to check your pet's microchip and make sure it is still working correctly and that the registration information is up to date

Dia de la Ley Fundamental -- Equatorial Guinea (Constitution Day)

Eleusinian Mysteries -- Ancient Greek Calendar (through the 18th, dates approximate)

Ferry Fair Day -- South Queensferry, Edinburgh, Scotland (centuries old fair, the biggest day of the modern festival that was originally a way for farmers to find labour for harvest, but is now just for fun)

Festival of Vesta -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of the hearth)

Fete Nationale -- Republic of the Congo (National Day/Independence Day)

Fool's Dance -- Japan (part of the Awa Dance Festival)

Independence Day -- India(1947)

India Independence Day Parade -- Devon Avenue, Rogers Park, Chicago, IL, US (yes, a Celebration of Indian and American Democracy; anything for a party, even another country's Independence Day, right?)

International Federation of Library Associations Annual Conference -- Cape Town, South Africa; through the 21st

International Geocaching Day

International Homeless Animals Day® -- International Society for Animal Rights

Leadville Trail 100 Bike Race -- Leadville, CO, US (100 miles of off-road bike racing over Colorado's high peaks)

Liberation Day -- both Koreas
    Gwangbokjeol -- South Korea
    Jogukhaebangui nal -- North Korea

Maras Diena -- Ancient Latvian Calendar (celebration of the goddess Mara, cognate of Mary)

Mt. Hagan Cultural Show -- Mt. Hagan, Papua New Guinea (one of the biggest cultural shows in Papua New Guinea; through tomorrow)

National Day -- Lichtenstein (a/k/a Liberation Day [1945])

National Failures Day -- some websites say the 16th, and may i suggest a book called Fail Better, a small quotations book about how failure is just the beginning.

National Lemon Meringue Pie Day

National Mourning Day -- Bangladesh

National Relaxation Day -- sponsored by Sean Moeller of Clio, Michigan; if you call in sick to stay home and relax, blame him

Panama La Vieja Day -- Panama (Founding of Panama City)

Sandcastle and Sculpture Day -- Nantucket, MA, US

Shoro Nagashi Nagasaki -- Nagasaki, Japan (floating lanterns are released into the harbor in honor of the ancestors)

Sproshinki -- Slavic Pagan Calendar (end of the hay harvest festival)

St. Tarcisius' Day (Patron of altar servers, first communicants)

The World's Greatest Carrot Festival -- Bradford, Ontario, Canada (unleash your inner Bugs Bunny! through tomorrow)

Tuva Republic Day -- Tos-Bulak fields south of Kyzuk, Tuva, Russia (celebration of the Tuva Republic, a Naadam festival of Mongolian wrestling, horse racing, and archery; held by the Tuva people, the closest genetic relatives to the North and South American Native Peoples)

Wafaa El-Nil -- Egypt and Coptic Church ("Fidelity of the Nile", celebration of the annual of Flooding of the Nile)

Woodward Dream Cruise Day 2015 -- Detroit, MI, US (what began in 1995 as a fundraiser for a soccer field has grown into the largest one-day classic car show in the world)


Anniversaries Today:

Woodstock, 1969
Buddy Holly marries Maria Elena Santiago, 1958
Panama Canal opens, 1914
Transcontinental US railway is completed at Promontory Point, UT, US, 1870


Birthdays Today:

Joe Jonas, 1989
Kerri Walsh, 1978
Ben Affleck, 1972
Debra Messing, 1968
Melinda Gates, 1964
Zeljko Ivanek, 1957
Princess Anne, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom, 1950
Jimmy Webb, 1946
Kathryn Whitmire, 1946
Linda Ellerbee, 1944
Stephen G. Breyer, 1938
Vernon Jordan, Jr, 1935
Phyllis Stewart Schlafly, 1924
Mike Connors, 1925
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson, 1925
Rose Marie, 1925
Huntz Hall, 1919
Oscar Romero, 1917
Julia Child, 1912
Elizabeth Bolden, American Supercentenarian, 1890 (d. 2006)
Edna Ferber, 1885
Ethel Barrymore, 1879
Charles Albert "The Old Roman" Comiskey, 1859
E. Nesbit, 1858
Sir Walter Scott, 1771
Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769


Debuting/Premiering Today:

Mainz Psalter(Publication date; first book with the publication date printed on the colophon), 1457


Today in History:

Battle of Roncevaux Pass, the Basques defeat Charles the Great (Charlemagne) and Roland is killed, 778
Macbeth defeats his cousin and rival King Duncan I, who is killed in the battle, and becomes king of Scotland, 1040
Battle of Lumphanan, in which King Macbeth is killed by the forces of Mael Coluim MacDonnchada, 1057
The cave city of Vardzia is consecrated by Queen Tamar of Georgia, 1185
The foundation stone of Cologne Cathedral, built to house the relics of
the Three Wise Men, is laid, 1248*
The "Mainz Psalter" is completed, the earliest dated book, 1457
Founding of Panama City, 1519
Jesuit priest St. Francis Xaverius land in Kagoshima, Japan, 1549
Joseph Haydn departs England, never to return, 1795
Country of Liberia is founded by freed American former slaves, 1824
Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest still intact amusement parks in the world, opens in Copenhagen, Denmark, 1842
The Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu, Hawai'i, is dedicated; it is the oldest continuously used Roman Catholic Cathedral in the US, 1843
San Sebastian Church in Manila, the first all-steel church in Asia, is officially inaugurated and blessed, 1891
A male servant of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright sets fire to the living quarters of the architect's Wisconsin home, 1914
The Panama Canal opens to traffic with the transit of the cargo ship Ancon, 1914
Will Rogers and Wiley Post are killed in a plane crash, 1935
The birth of stadium rock:  The Beatles play Shae Stadium, 1965
President Richard Nixon completes the break from the gold standard, 1971
The "Wow! signal":  The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space, 1977
An 8.0-magnitude earthquake off the Pacific coast devastates Ica and various regions of Peru killing 514 and injuring 1,090, 2007
The olinguito becomes the first mammal to be discovered in the past 35 years, 2013


*Yes, we just noted the other day the date of completion in 1880!