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Happy Death Day to You...
J:
Last Saturday we
celebrated Gina's Death Day. Yeah, sounds weird, I know. I'll explain.
First off, I'm glad to report Gina is alive and well.
A couple months ago, Gina, lying in bed half awake, heard a voice in
her head—her own, actually—calmly saying, "When am I going to die? July
24th, 2004." So for the last two months she's been slightly worried,
despite my scoffing attitude toward this (and every)
psychic prediction. Her plan was to stay at home all Saturday, "just in
case," to watch videos and eat soft foods that she wouldn't choke on. I
figured any excuse to laze around and watch movies sounded good to me.
Even so, for two months I tried to convince her that any chance of
coincidental truth in her prophesy was slim at best, and that I was
confident she wouldn't die on that exact date. She acknowledged that I
was probably right, but she felt the tug of superstition anyway, so
she'd take it easy. She speculated many kinds of deaths, e.g. that she
could theoretically be involved in a car accident a week or month
before the 24th and then die in the hospital on the predicted date of
her demise.
Well, the predicted date came, and I got to walk Booda that morning so
that Gina wouldn't get hit by lightning, or a falling tree. Or a
meteorite. Because, you know, our house is meteorite-safe. When Booda
and I returned from our walk, Gina was of course still alive and hadn't
fallen down the stairs or anything. We both continued to make death
jokes all day. Like, "Gina, this kitchen is a mess. I'm going to kill
you." (And some of the jokes were funny, too.)
Rich and Izolda came to visit, and brought videos. We chatted and joked
about all sorts of stuff. We ordered some Chinese food—brought to us by
a thankfully non-violent delivery guy—and watched
videos of The Matchmaker and Lilo and Stitch. Luisa and TV Tom
came over to celebrate Gina's mistaken dream. Later Reneé
and Alex came over. They brought games, a karaoke machine, and— more
friends! Janet, Becky, Petra, and Liam. Later Alfredo and Manolo came
by, too. By then we had quite a raucous party going on. Loud games and
loud Karaoke. Gina and gang had a great time singing old favorites.
When midnight came we all cheered for Gina. She had cheated Death again
till another day! Someone brought up that it was still the 24th in
other timezones, but I reminded
everyone that the prediction was very specific, and very wrong. I added
that even though my Goddess Gina had dreamed the prophesy, it, like all
such prophesies, was crap. Then we partied till three in the morning.
Happy Death Day, Gina!
Speaking of crap, I forgot to mention two items last week. First item:
Last week I managed to run two miles on a full stomach, and I felt
great! Just like the old days.
The other item would best be expressed in a copy of an email I sent to
the James Randi Educational Foundation:
OK, I just can't let go of this
peculiar event, so I'll hand it over to you folks for a little humor
and possibly some empathy.
I'm an engineer for a large government organization. Last week as I was
walking back from lunch with a physicist friend, he pointed out a guy
about 50 feet away from us, who was using two long thin sticks to dowse
for who-knows-what. The dowser, a fellow in construction pants and a
plaid shirt (who, it happens, looked a bit like you, Mr. Randi) walked
along slowly until the sticks turned away from each other, then he'd
either bend over and spray paint a mark on the ground, or shake his
head and continue dowsing. His coworkers were standing idly by with
actual surveying equipment (tripods, laser rangers, and such), waiting
I guess for the dowser to finish his important job.
All of this is probably quite mundane in the world of dowsing, I'm
sure. But the time and place struck me as somewhat significant. You
see, the large government organization I work at is none other than
NASA, and the date was July 20th, which my father has fondly called
"Moon Day" ever since 1969.
That's right-- 35 years after transporting men safely to the Moon and
back, we're still paying government dowsers to demonstrate their
subconscious motor "skills" while surveying NASA property.
Please, please reassure us that this is just a spike in the noisy data
of ignorance, and that science and technology continue to advance
beyond superstition and folderol despite the peripheral dowsers,
quacks, spoonies, etc.
Thanks a bundle for your efforts to teach people how to observe
accurately and think rationally. I'm one of the many people you've
helped through life-- especially during my younger days, investigating
and dispelling my own superstitions.
Anyway, on with this week's events. I ran three miles on Sunday; felt
good. Then I spent several hours fixing four water valves in and under
the kitchen sink. Meanwhile the bathroom sink and toilet have started
leaking. Durn.
On Monday Kory came over to play a new game of his (good one, too!) and
partake in fresh roasted chicken mushroom, and then Gina's delicious
raw fruit pie with banana ice cream (frozen banana thrown into a
juicer). Mmmmmm. Good.
G:
I just want to
thank everyone who came over to party with me and risk their lives in
doing so, ha ha. I made a point not to specifically invite folks over,
at least at first. I just told a few people about it and they offered
to come and hang out. When other folks asked what I was doing that day,
I'd tell them I was staying at home, and why, and they were welcome to
come if they wanted. Alex pointed out after midnight that I might have
lured them all to their deaths, but that was really not my intention!
People came of their own free will, knowing full well the possible
consequences! So there!
Also, we played "Light as a feather, stiff as a board," but it didn't
work. That was funny.
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