You Know They Made Me Do It -- a Wednesday Whine

Sometimes i think i am a professional procrastinator.

Most years, when this chore comes up, i get to it in time, but not because i want to.  Oh, no.  If i could, i'd put it off forever.

The chore, of course, is getting the tax papers ready for Grandpa's accountant friend, who does ours, too.

Last year, i went berserk and got everything in the mail to him by Valentine's Day!  His office still didn't get our taxes done until the day before they were due to be filed.

This year, i figured why bother, since getting it there early didn't help any last year.

As the old song lyrics say, "I didn't wanna do it!"  Knowing they won't get to it any sooner didn't help with that.

Nothing can make me love it, either, but when i sat down to do the dreaded chore yesterday, figuring it would be all day, it took less than two hours.

That's part of the professional procrastinator mindset, always think things take longer than they do.

Will this convince me next year to try getting it all in early again?  With me, you never know, it might.

Meanwhile, since the only way to get a song out of your head is to play it all of the way through:

Today is:

Anniversary of the Arengo and the Feast of the Militants -- San Marino

Annunciation of the Virgin Mary -- Roman Catholic Christian
     Lady Day/Quarter Day -- England; Ireland; Wales (traditional New Year's Day)
     Varfrudagen -- Sweden (waffle day)

Day of the Shining Ones of Heaven move Upstream -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Festival of King Amenhotep I -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (rituals depicting his death and burial, performed for the Deir-el-Medina workforce; date approximate)

Hilaria -- Ancient Roman Empire ("Day of Joy", honoring Attis)

Independence Day -- Cyprus; Greece(1821)

International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade -- UN

International Day of Solidarity with Detained and Missing Staff Members -- UN

International Waffle Day -- based on Sweden's tradition of having waffles on Annunciation Day

Medal of Honor Day -- US (first one awarded this date in 1963)

Mother's Day -- Slovenia

National Day of Celebration of Greek and American Democracy -- Greece; US

National Lobster Newburg Day

National Pecan Day -- anniversary of George Washington's planting of Pecan trees at Mt. Vernon in 1775

National Waffle Day -- possibly also International Waffle Day, depends on the site you search

Numbskulls and Clodhoppers' Dance -- Fairy Calendar (i know a couple of people who qualify on both counts; i need to find out how to buy tickets!)

Old New Year's Day -- until 1751, British Empire

Revolution Day -- Greece (anniversary of the revolt against the Ottoman Empire in 1821)

Sacrifice to Kronos -- Ancient Greek Calendar (private sacrifices to Kronos; date approximate)

St. Dismas' Day ("Dismas" is the name given to the unnamed "Thief on the Cross", crucified next to Jesus according to Biblical accounts, and who repented; Patron of condemned/death row prisoners, funeral directors/undertakers, penitent criminals, prisoners, reformed thieves; Merizo, Guam)

Struggle for Human Rights Day -- Slovakia

The Tichborne Dole - in Alresford, Hampshire, UK; since 1150, a gallon of flour is given to every resident by the Tichborne family head on this day, to avoid a curse

Tolkien Reading Day -- sponsored by The Tolkien Society on the anniversary of the fall of Sauron


Birthdays Today:

Danica Patrick, 1982
Lee Pace, 1979
Sheryl Swoopes, 1971
Sarah Jessica Parker, 1965
Marcia Cross, 1962
John Stockwell, 1961
Mary Gross, 1953
Paul Miles, 1952
Bonnie Bedelia, 1948
Elton John, 1947
Bonnie Bedelia, 1946
Paul Michael Glaser, 1943
Aretha Franklin, 1942
Anita Bryant, 1940
Gloria Steinem, 1934
James Lovell, 1928
Eileen Ford, 1922
Simone Signoret, 1921
Howard Cosell, 1920
Norman Borlaug, 1940
David Lean, 1908
Bela Bartok, 1881
Arturo Toscanini, 1867
Gutzon Borglum, 1867


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Barrymore"(Play), 1997
"Cagney & Lacey"(TV), 1982


Today in History:

The first Easter, according to calendar-maker Dionysius Exiguus, 31
According to legend, Venice, Italy is born today at noon, 421
Richard I is wounded by a crossbow bolt while fighting France, leading to his death on April 6, 1199
Robert the Bruce becomes King of Scotland, 1306
Sir Walter Raleigh renews Humphrey Gilbert's patent to explore North America, 1584
Henry Hudson embarks on an exploration for Dutch East India Co., 1609
Lord Baltimore founds Catholic colony of Maryland, 1634
Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is discovered by Christian Huygens, 1655
Mount Etna in Sicily erupts, destroying Nicolosi, killing 20,000, 1669
The Slave Trade Act becomes law, abolishing the slave trade in the British Empire, 1807
The Swansea and Mumbles Railway in England, then known as the Oystermouth Railway, becomes the first passenger carrying railway in the world, 1807
Percy Bysshe Shelley is expelled from the University of Oxford for publishing the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism, 1811
Greeks revolt against the Ottoman Empire, beginning the Greek War of Independence, 1821
In New York City, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire kills 146 garment workers, leading to factory reform laws, 1911
The Georgian Orthodox Church restores its autocephaly abolished by Imperial Russia in 1811, 1917
The first successful tornado forecast predicts that a tornado will strike Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma, 1948
The European Economic Community is established (West Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg), 1957
Canada's Avro Arrow makes its first flight, 1958
Civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King, Jr. successfully complete their 4-day 50-mile march from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery, Alabama, 1965
The first fully functional space shuttle orbiter, Columbia, is delivered to the John F. Kennedy Space Center to be prepared for its first launch, 1979
The world's first wiki, a part of the Portland Pattern Repository, is made public by Ward Cunningham, 1995
The European Union's Veterinarian Committee bans the export of British beef and its by-products as a result of mad cow disease, 1996
Protesters demanding a new election in Belarus, following the rigged Belarusian presidential election, clash with riot police, 2006
In southwest China, environmental and health concerns among residents are raised when 1,000 dead ducks pulled from the Sichuan River, 2013

Speaking of...

...dentist visits, did you hear about the dentist who married a manicurist?  It wasn't a happy union.  They fought tooth and nail.

And then there was the guy who needed physical therapy for his bad knee, and fiscal therapy for his dental bills.

As for going out of town for things, we don't have a fancy GPS with an exotic accent.  After all they don't make them with a "Cajun Marie" voice.  You know, where instead of saying, "Recalculating," she would say, "Mon dieu!  What you doin' da car like dat fer?  Sacre!  You done gone off the wrong road, turn dis ting 'round, cher!"

Nowfor something totally different, a fish story, as you only get in south Louisiana.  The men were out trading fishing stories, and Bob from up North, who worked with the Cajuns that summer, was telling about the huge bass he caught.

One of the Cajuns responded with, "I was fishin' in de bayou a few day ago, and when I hook someting, I pull him up.  It's an ol' kerosene lantern, and it was lit!"

Bob told him, "That's impossible!"

"Well," the Cajun answered, "you take a couple inches offa dat fish, and I'll blow out de light!"


In the spirit of the season, i've linked to a selection on YouTube, because i can't get it to embed.  It's a Cajun Christmas song, "Walkin' in the Woods With My Parrain."




 
Today is:

Adoration Parade -- Branson, MO, US (celebration of traditional values of faith, family, and friendliness)

Battle Day -- Falkland Islands

Be Someone's Pillow While You Watch TV Night -- a good idea, i guess, especially if it is cold

Bodhi Day (Rohatsu) -- Buddhism (especially among Zen Buddhists, and in Japan, a celebration of the Buddha's enlightenment)

CARICOM-Cuba Day

Constitution Day -- Northern Mariana Islands; Romania; Uzbekistan(Konstitutsiya Kuni)

Dia de las Playas -- Uruguay (Day of the Beaches, a/k/a Family Day or Blessing of the Waters Day; official opening day of beach season, marked with a ceremonial blessing by a priest, as well as sailing regattas, horse races, and more)

Dita Kombetare e Rinise -- Albania (National Youth Day)

Feast of the Immaculate Conception -- Roman Catholic Holy Day of Obligation; recognized holiday in Andorra; Argentina; Austria; Chile; Columbia; East Timor; Equatorial Guinea(Patrona de Guinea Ecuatorial); Holy See; Italy; Liechtenstein; Macau; Malta; Monaco; Nicaragua(Fiesta de la Griteria); Paraguay; Peru; Portugal; San Marino; Seychelles; Spain; Switzerland; special observances
     Dia de las Playas -- Uruguay (Day of the Beaches, a/k/a Family Day or Blessing of the Waters Day; official opening day of beach season, marked with a ceremonial blessing by a priest, as well as sailing regattas, horse races, and more)
     Festa da Conceição da Praia -- Salvador da Bahia, Brazil (syncretic celebration of Yemanjá, Queen of the Ocean and the Immaculate Conception)
     Festival of Lights -- Lyon

Festival of Tiberinus -- Ancient Roman Empire (guardian of the Tiber River)

Mother's Day -- Panama

National Chocolate Brownie Day

National Students' Day -- Bulgaria (studentski praznik)

Popeye Day -- birth anniversary of his creator, Elzie Crisler Segar

Santa Marian Kamelen -- Guam (Our Lady of Camarin Day)

Second Sunday of Advent -- Christian
     Lighting the Candle of Love

St. Kliment Ohirdski -- Macedonia (St. Clement of Ohrid's Day)

Take It In the Ear Day -- a bizarre and unexplainable internet generated holiday; and by the way, your ENT will tell you not to put anything in your ear that is smaller than your elbow

The Compassionate Friends Worldwide Candle Lighting -- in memory of children lost the previous year

Winter Flowers Day -- internet generated, a day to find and enjoy whatever flowers are still blooming right now


Anniversary Today:

American Federation of Labor founded, 1886


Birthdays Today:

Ian Somerhalder, 1978
Dominic Monaghan, 1976
Teri Hatcher, 1964
Ann Coulter, 1961
Kim Basinger, 1953
Sam Kinison, 1953
Gregg Allman, 1947
Mary Woronov, 1946
Jim Morrison, 1943
James Galway, 1939
James MacArthur, 1937
David Carradine, 1936
Flip Wilson, 1933
Maximilian Schell, 1930
Sammy Davis, Jr. 1925
Richard Fleischer, 1916
Lee J. Cobb, 1911
James Thurber, 1894
Elzie Crisler Segar, 1894
Diego Rivera, 1886
Jean Sibelius, 1865
Willam C. "Billy" Durant, 1861
Eli Whitney, 1765
Mary, Queen of Scots, 1542
Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus), Roman writer, BC65


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Gentlemen Prefer Blondes"(Play), 1949


Today in History

Daitokuji temple, Rinzai line, established in Kyoto by Daito Kokushi, 1326
Biblioteca Ambrosiana opens its reading room, the second public library of Europe, 1609
The Mexican border town Ciudad Juárez is founded by Fray García de San Francisco, 1659
Margaret Hughes becomes the first actress to appear on an English public stage, playing the role of Desdemona in a production of Shakespeare's play Othello, 1660
Vienna's Ring Theater is destroyed by fire, killing over 600, 1881
The American Federation of Labor is formed by 26 individual craft unions, and Samuel Gompers is elected its first president, 1886
The Japanese military police launch a violent suppression of the religious sect Oomoto, 1935
The Chinese Nationalist government moves from mainland China to Formosa, 1949
John Lennon is murdered, 1980
The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine sign an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States, 1991
The Cuzco Declaration is signed in Cuzco, Peru, establishing the South American Community of Nations, 2004
Kirsty Williams is elected the first female leader of a political party in Wales, the Welsh Liberal Democrats, 2008
With the second launch of the SpaceX Dragon, SpaceX becomes the first privately held company to successfully launch, orbit and recover a spacecraft, 2010

My Taste Ran to Gorme

No, i didn't misspell that title.

A singer i grew up hearing and enjoyed, Eydie Gorme, died on Saturday.

She wasn't just a singer and entertainer, though.  She was a role model.

In an era where the bad behavior of celebrities is flouted, she and her husband, Steve Lawrence, worked together and had a great marriage of over 55 years.

It's easy enough to read snippets about the facts of her life in the news story about her death.  What's more difficult to get across is how i see the kind of life she lived -- unapologetically singing the music she loved, not just what became popular at the moment, sticking out marriage, which is not easy no matter how much you love each other, and making over where and how she entertained to fit audience needs -- as something to strive for.

The above video was from 1966, and done at someone's home with early, what we would consider primitive, home recording equipment from a Tonight Show broadcast.  It's still one i like, dated as it looks.

The world is a little sadder of a place without her.


Today is:

Aloha Day -- unofficial celebration of the annexation of Hawai'i by the US

Anniversary of Snick-Snacker's Left Foot -- Fairy Calendar

Awa Odori Festival -- Tokushima, Japan (through the 15th; one of Japan's largest dance festivals, Awa-dance is said to be a "fool's dance", and the saying is "It's a fool who dances and a fool who watches, so if both are fools, you may as well dance!")

Carnival Monday -- Grenada

Fathers' Day -- Samoa; Tokelau (a public holiday in both countries)

Festival for Hercules Invictus -- Ancient Roman Calendar (through tomorrow; based on an even older Greek celebration of Heracles at the same time of year)

Festival for Venus Vitrix -- Ancient Roman Calendar (Victorius Venus)

Grouse Day/Glorious Twelfth -- England; Scotland (opening of grouse hunting season)

Her Majesty the Queen's Birthday and National Mother's Day -- Thailand

Heroes Day -- Zimbabwe

International Youth Day -- UN

Julienne Fries Day

Lychnapsia -- Ancient Roman Calendar (celebration of the Birthday of Isis, instituted after the conquest of Egypt)

Mae West Birthday Gala -- New York, NY, US (through the 17th)

Middle Children's Day -- on some sites, listed as Aug. 14; either way, Middle Children deserve a special day!

National Toasted Almond Bar Day

Osirian Mysteries; Feast of the Lights of Isis -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate, but this is the date the Romans gave it, so who am i to quibble?)

Perseid Meteor Showers -- in 2013, most visible today and tomorrow; the Celts believed these meteors were due to games being played by Lugh, their sun god

PC Day -- no, not politically correct, personal computer; IBM introduced theirs this day in 1981

Put Peanuts in Your Coca Cola Day -- and no, i can't figure this one out, but they say don't shake it once you do it; if anyone else wants to experiment with why, let me know the results

Solar Alignment with Teotihuacan, City of the Gods -- ancient when the Aztecs found its ruins, this city's ritual cave aligns with the setting sun today and April 29, also the rising and setting dates of the Pleiades

St. Gracilian's Day (Patron of Bassano Romano, Italy)

St. Murtagh's Day (Patron of Killaria, Ireland)

Vinyl Record Day -- celebrating the tremendous cultural influence of records, on the anniversary of the day in 1877 that Edison invented the phonograph

Weird Contest Week -- Ocean City, NJ, US (contests through the week include salt water taffy sculpting, wet t-shirt throwing, ear wiggling, french fry sculpting, chewing an artwork out of a huge cookie or TastyKake Pie, making a work of art from paper clips, a Little Miss and Little Mr. Chaos contest, and Mr. and Miss Miscellaneous contest for those who have always wanted to compete in a talent contest but maybe missed the bus or got stuck at a rugby game; through Friday)

Zaraday a/k/a Zarathud's Day -- Discordianism


Birthdays Today:

Pete Sampras, 1971
Skip Caray, 1939
George Hamilton, 1939
William Goldman, 1931
Alvis Edgar “Buck” Owens, 1929
John Derek, 1926
Michael Kidd, 1915
Jane Wyatt, 1912
Cantinflas, 1911
Joe Besser, 1907
Alfred Lunt, 1892
Cecil B. DeMille, 1881
Christopher "Christy" Mathewson, 1880
Edith Hamilton, 1867
Katharine Lee Bates, 1859
"Diamond Jim" Brady, 1856
Robert Mills, 1781
Thomas Beckwith, 1753


Today in History:

The last ruler of the Egyptian Ptolemaic Dynasty, Cleopatra VII Philopater, allegedly commits suicide by asp bite, BC30
A conjunction of Venus and Jupiter occurs which may have been what the Bible calls the Star of Bethlehem, 3
Crusaders win the Battle of Ascalon, 1099
Juan Ponce de Leon arrives in Puerto Rico, 1508
Praying Indian John Alderman shoots and kills Metacomet, the Wampanoag war chief, ending King Philip's War, 1676
Isaac Singer is granted a patent for his sewing machine, the first one to be practical for home use, 1851
Asaph Hall discovers Deimos, 1877
The last quagga, a subspecies of zebra once plentiful in South Africa, dies at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam, 1883
Hawai'i is annexed by the US, 1898
William Somerset Maugham published "Of Human Bondage", 1915
Alleged date of the first Philadelphia Experiment test on United States Navy ship USS Eldridge, 1943
The Soviet Union detonates its first thermonuclear weapon, 1953
Echo I, the first communications satellite, is launched, 1960
South Africa is banned from the Olympic Games because of its racist policies, 1964
The first free flight of the Space Shuttle Enterprise, 1977
The IBM Personal Computer is released, 1981
Canada, Mexico, and the United States announce completion of negotiations for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), 1992
The Oscar class submarine K-141 Kursk of the Russian Navy explodes and sinks in the Barents Sea during a military exercise, 2000