Two Cents On Pennies

Today is Lucky Penny Day! Pennies aren't exactly worth what they used to be, as anybody who has ever been younger than anyone has been told constantly throughout their life. People have even talked about discontinuing them! That would be horrible! That's 1/4 of the world's good luck gone! The other 3/4 being 4-leaf clovers, rabbits feet, and horseshoes, of course. Sure, pennies don't exactly buy you candy anymore, but dimes haven't gotten me a soda lately either! So there! And what's up with arcade games being a whole dollar for one play? ...This is off-topic.

Lucky pennies are found in one place and in on manner. The ground and face-up. No, a penny with your birth year on it is not lucky just on that merit. Keepsake for a kitschy family project? Sure, but not lucky. No, a penny you find in a treasure chest isn't lucky. It's currency. By the way, your treasure hunts sound kinda weak if that's what you're pulling out of the sea. ONLY a penny found face-up on the ground is a "Lucky Penny".

You see, when a penny has charged it's luck up to a point where it feels sufficiently lucky, it jumps out of it's home in our pockets and purses in order to find it's own fortune. It lands on the ground face-up to signify to the next observant person that it is, in fact, lucky. Now, there are several ways to tell HOW lucky it is.

The first rule is: The shinier, the better. Why? Because that means it has so far been lucky enough to not run into any major troubles. with this rule comes the fact that you may just find a very young shiny penny. Those are mostly good for one lucky thing, as they were impetuous in their youth and thought themselves ready before they truly were. Hold onto them to see what small good thing happens, but don't expect too much from them, as they are a bit foolhardy. However, old shiny pennies are immensely lucky. Having obviously charged their luck for years in some sating lined wallet, they know exactly what they're doing. The danger comes when you find a scratched, worn, rusted, old penny face-up. It dares you to pick it up and accept it's challenge. Oh, sure. It's old. It's lucky. But it likes the risky road. It will make sure you DESERVE it's luck. Some of the scratches on it look almost as inhuman as Lincoln's visage on it's face. The ruins of the memorial on the back look almost apocalyptic. Sometimes, it is hard to tell whether you picked up a penny or a blackened copper disc. But what fun is luck if it falls into your lap? No, it's better to earn it. To have it thrown at you at high velocity along with a little bit of trial and a dash of fear just to see if you can handle the power of the penny! ... ...

... That got out of hand fast and I apologize.

Thanks for reading!
~Kyle

76 Trombones

Today is Buy A Musical Instrument Day! It should be really obvious what you need to do today, so I'm just going to skip ahead to what I wanted to do, why I couldn't, and what I did instead. I really desired to buy a ukulele, but those are slightly too expensive for a poor southern boy such as myself. I found out about the existence of mandolins again, and I actually COULD afford one, and also liked the sound better than ukulele. However by "could afford one" I mean that it would be about all I could afford. I wouldn't even be able to buy a pack of gum if I bought one right now. So I of course, settled for the next best thing! A Mandolin app on the iPhone. It wasn't free ($1.99), so it TOTALLY counts as buying an instrument... right? Anyway, I'll be playing with it until I can afford the real thing without plunging myself into the red.

Thanks for reading!
~Kyle

Notes and Tips

Today is National Memo Day! Today is a day to know the importance of making, checking, and even sending those short little messages that tell you everything you need to know that day. So spend today with a pad of Post-Its on hand and write as many memos as you want. Go ahead. Jot until your hearts content. Send memos to other people in your workplace or leave notes on the fridge for your family. Write a memo on your hand if you're in junior high or on the side of your notes/doodles if you are in senior high. Even your computer has a memo program! Thats right! Huh? No, it's actually completely separate from your normal text editing program. Yes! There is a text editor devoted solely to memo making! I know! I don't know why they didn't just add it in to another one. Well, you should take it up with them, I don't represent their company. Look, just write it down somewhere so you remember, I have another holiday to talk about.

Today is also National Waitresses/Waiters Day! Now I don't know about you, but the waiting staff pretty much makes or breaks the meal when I'm out eating with my friends and/or family. I can safely say I've had one or two rude ones in my time, but over all my experiences with them have been good and even fun sometimes. Honestly, the kind of service you get directly reflects how you treat them, so if you are rude, don't expect them to be running back to you every time your drink is half gone. You SHOULD be nice to them every day, but if you aren't, make an exception for today. Be kind and for goodness sake, don't complicate things with crazy orders that don't make sense. It might be nice if you told them what today was and had fun mini-conversations with them every time they came around. The wait staff has the funniest stories about other customers and experiences they've had. So talk to 'em! And leave a larger than necessary tip! Leave a memo telling them how cool they are, too. That'd be nice.

Thanks for reading!
~Kyle