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11:11 on 11/11/2011.
Or, if you prefer the American date system, 11/11/2011.
The 11th of November is a renowned day in our history. Remembrance Day, for a start. We remember all the soldiers who pro patria mori’d their way through the First World War, and reminisce about how lucky it is we all learnt from that example and never entered into world-wide conflict ever again. Other things have happened on November 11, too, apparently – at least, according to the lyrics of a Whitlams song I like about the life of Gough Whitlam (you see where they cunningly derived their band name from?), which goes something along the lines of:
November 11
Armistice Day
A bushranger was slaughtered and Gough was betrayed
November 11
He wouldn’t survive
The Governor General in ’75
November 11, yeah
A big day for all of us
I said November 11
Ned Kelly died
Shame, Fraser, shame
And we all cried
For you, Gough
No idea who Fraser is, but this song is evidently deep and meaningful despite that.
It’s also the only one I know that mentions the name of the town I live in.
None of these things are, however, the most crucially crucial event to occur on this day, ever.
Which is:
Ariane’s birthday.
Which I am choosing to honour with a graphic I made in five minutes on photoshop.
Given that I have little to no ability to work that app, despite having owned a Mac for virtually my entire life.
Wahay!
Anyway, as you can see, 11/11 is a significant day in world history. One that is routinely celebrated and one that, for some reason, is having an abnormally large amount of fuss made over it, purely because the arbitrarily chosen number of the year we’re in happens to end in double digits.
Supposedly this is a time of magical luck and wonder. The number 1 repeated 10 times within a single date and time, remembering to ignore, of course, the 2 and 0 digits, because that just ruins the whole thing for everyone. Yes. A lucky day. Maybe after you’ve made your magical definitely-coming-true wish you could go out and catch a leprechaun. Or go around all day with your eyes closed JUST IN CASE you accidentally look at a black cat. On the plus side, you could probably catch up on some sleep like that.
I’m not so big on the whole superstition thing. Honestly, I don’t think many people really are now (unless you count religion), which is why it’s so perplexing as to how great a deal of fuss certain people are making about today. Probably the lack of precedent.
I mean, think about it:
ANY B.C. DATE – different year system used. Obviously. It’s not like they were enthusiastically counting down to 0 B.C.
1 A.D. – if Jesus existed, he would only have been one, and hence naming a type of calendar after him would have been a little premature.
11 A.D. – I don’t think even eleven-year-old Jesus would have had much calendar-related influence by this point. Or any kind of influence, really. Harry Potter was far more well-known by that point in his life.
111 – 1111 A.D. – system would probably have started by now, but most of the population couldn’t read anyway, so wouldn’t have been much help.
1211 – 1711 A.D. Ditto.
1811 A.D. – the Age of Enlightenment occurred roundabout now, so I’m assuming they rejected superstition as a matter of course before the Romantics turned up and screwed that whole thing up for them. Hopeless Romantics.
1911 A.D. – alright, maybe they had the lucky-number-one thing then, but given WW1 followed in less than two years, I’m not sure that’s the best example.
1994 A.D. – Ariane was born.
2011 A.D. – Now.
11111 A.D. – The luckiest year in history. However, I’m not sure if the robots ruling the Earth, having crushed humankind underfoot in the infamous apocalypse of 2012, will feel like celebrating it. Also they will probably have designed a totally new system by then, built on binary code, meaning everything will have 0s and 1s in it anyway.
In short, we have very little idea as to what is likely to happen. Probably a normal day. You never know, maybe someone’s predicted the end of the year for today. That’s always fun. I enjoyed the Rapture earlier this year. The Apocalypse of 21st December 2012 seems likely to be a high point of the next year. Apparently, the only reason the Aztecs thought that would be the end of the world was because they kept their calendar on a giant wall and ran out of room at that point. See, there ARE more arbitrary ways of marking dates and years than the one we use.
You may have noticed, observant reader, that I am somewhat sceptical of the whole ‘lucky day’ thing. This is mostly true.
Being of a scientific bent (that is a blatant lie told because it makes the sentence sound nicer), I decided to disprove this theory of fortuitous events happening on 11/11/11 with an EXPERIMENT. This started on Tuesday, after an extremely unlucky event occurred, and I continued it throughout the week. The results surprised me.
THE 11 EXPERIMENT
HYPOTHESIS: That I [Subject A] will be no luckier on 11/11/11 than any other day of the millennium. This hypothesis will be examined in terms of occurrences that happen between Subject A and Lala [Subject B] in the days preceding, and including, Friday the 11th of November 2011.
OBSERVATIONS:
Day 1, 8/11/11
While running into the Senior Common Room after school in heavy rain, Subject B attempts to speed up proceedings by gently shoving Subject A in small of back. Subject A trips, grazes knee, and rolls into a puddle. Does not dry fully until some hours later that night.
CONCLUSION: Extremely unlucky
Day 2, 9/11/11
While walking to assembly, Subject B playfully shoves Phoenix [Subject C] into a railing, evidently having forgotten that Subject A is walking on other side. Result: Subject C is fine, Subject A is left draped over a railing with a tasteful bruise on right side of the body. On the plus side, this looks great with the graze from the day before.
CONCLUSION: Unlucky.
Day 3, 10/11/11
Nothing untoward occurs between Subject A and Subject B.
CONCLUSION: Neutral
Day 4, 11/11/11
D-Day. Teacher’s birthday in the morning. Free cake is dispensed to all. Peanut [Subject D] purchases lunch for Subject B, forgetting that she will be absent due to a former engagement. Subject A receives free lunch from Subject D and no injuries.
CONCLUSION: Lucky
Therefore, I have managed to prove myself wrong.
Great.
So evidently 11/11/11 does have a certain significance.
However, lucky or not, it’s still Ariane’s birthday, to which I can only say A VERY MERRY ANNUAL WOMB EMANCIPATION DAY at this time, the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the eleventh year of this millennium.
I mean, it would probably better if you were turning 11, but we’ll work with what we’ve got.
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