It’s October 13th!

Happy Amazon Prime Day!

Happy #NoBraDay too (I’m not wearing one)!

Happy #OralBDay too!

I’m sure there are a few more of these dumb hashtags we could celebrate, though if you’re in the party mood, it’s also my birthday, which I share with Paul Simon, Margaret Thatcher, and Sasha Baron Cohen! Very nice!!!

There was a time when I used to think that sharing birthdays with people meant something. I’m not sure that it doesn’t in some deep structural way in which people born at one end of a year have an advantage in school over those born at the other end of the year. I’m pretty sure that’s statistically true – dimly recall Malcolm Gladwell covering it in one of his books. Not that I ever wanted to emulate Margaret Thatcher but I’m a big fan of the other two. I suppose it’s why I still have vestigial interest in star signs but, again, I’m sure there’s a reasonable argument for that too… No, no, hear me out.

It’s not that I think being a Libra does make me care about balance and justice. I do think, however, that being told that as a Libran I care about balance and justice must, in some psychological sense, made me care about balance and justice. Or maybe everybody cares about balance and justice and I’m engaging in some kind of exceptionalism….

But I digress.

I admit that in my rush to finish an article I’d left incomplete last night I’d forgotten it was 13th October. I was only reminded when somebody tweeted me a Happy Birthday. I thanked them only for them to come back and admit they didn’t remember doing it. I guess they must have subscribed to some bot system, which puts it on a different scale of sobering… That’s why I’ll be spending my day trying to write another piece for the end of the week, which will involve some research and perhaps a dive into a book or two. I’m still hopeful that the two drawings I made over the weekend might lead to a commission, but we’ll have to see.