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Somebody’s been eating my porridge, and it’s all gone
Summing Up:
October 10 has a strange list of holidays including the following feast days of Catholic Saints, Arbor Day in Poland, World National Mental Health Day, and World Porridge Day. The Old Farmer’s Almanac says that today is a good day to go camping or straighten hair. Today’s moon is waxing crescent, and the sun and mercury are in Libra. Oh shit, mercury is retrograde and I completely forgot to warn you. Instead of being articulate and understood, you will spend eight more days like the curse of Cassandra, doomed to a world where though given divine foresight, she could not warn others of what she saw coming, as they could neither understand nor believe her. But if it helps, mercury retrograde is only an optical illusion, it doesn’t matter I promise.
Sorry I have disappeared for a while. I have two 10-year-olds who recently started fourth grade, so I have also started fourth grade by default. It is just as tedious as I remember, except now there is also a new form of math that I don’t understand. I will try to keep up. Know that if I miss a day or two, it’s not because I stopped caring about your day, it’s because I am relearning the names of clouds, or solving problems with decimal points.
For tonight: Bela Lugosi’s Dead
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Ed Wood
Movie poster for Plan 9 from Outer Space directed by Ed Wood. I have seen this movie, but it has been more than 20 years, and I do not remember even a little bit what it is about. But I think I had this poster in my college dorm room. Or first apartment. Or both? Often cited as the worst director of all time, but still beloved for his campy sci-fi horror movies and his work with Bela Lugosi, Ed Wood was born on October 24, 1924. Friday. Leap year.
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Alberto Giacometti
Alberto Giacometti. Photo by Henri Cartier-BressonSculptor Alberto Giacometti was born on October 10, 1901. Thursday.
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Helen Hayes
Actress Helen Hayes was born on October 10, 1900. Tuesday. Leap year.
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Louise Mack
World War I journalist and the first woman war correspondent in Belgium, writer Louise Mack was born on October 10, 1870. Monday. Her book A Woman’s Experience in the Great War is available at that link on Project Gutenberg.
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Henry Cavendish
Philosopher, physicist, and chemist, Henry Cavendish was born on October 10, 1731. Wednesday. He is credited with the discovery of hydrogen gas, the most abundant element in our universe. Unless we ever find out what dark matter is.
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Catalina Micaela of Spain
Catalina Micaela of Spain was born on October 10, 1567, second daughter of King of Spain Philip II. Friday.
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Mary of Waltham
Mary of Waltham, Duchess of Brittany, daughter of King Edward III, was born on October 10, 1344. Sunday. It was a leap year.
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Zhu Biao
Crown Prince Zhu Biao and his mother, Empress MaCrown Prince of the Ming Dynasty Zhu Biao was born on October 10, 1355. it was a Saturday.
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Tiberius Gemellus
Tiberius Gemellus, son of Drusus Julius Caesar and Claudia Livia Julia, adopted son of Caligula, and grandson of Emperor Tiberius and Drusus the Elder, was born on October 10th, 19 A.D. Because I was curious, I looked it up, and it was a Tuesday. His birthday stood out because I have been reading a lot of Greek mythology, and novels based on the story of Achilles in the Trojan War. I know the birth year of Tiberius Gemellus was quite far away from antiquity, but I will recommend two of the novels nonetheless: The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller and The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker.
