This is a bit of an outlier day in the maelstrom of celebrations layered overtop a world crumbling under the weight of too much madness. If you read yesterday’s article (and you should, if only to enjoy the wonderful poetry that I linked to), you may have noticed only four possible celebrations on our radar: menopause, toy cameras, chocolate cupcakes and shaving off my beard. That last one was not going to happen, we didn’t have access to any homemade chocolate cupcakes or toy cameras, and that would just leave me writing about menopause. So we opted to touch on remarkably little and move on. Today is another day full of other possibilities for indulgence. Here’s what we got to:
Bone & Joint Action Week
I took this one literally, as you can see. First, the backstory. More than half of America’s adults are burdened with joint or bone conditions like arthritis, osteoporosis, or even plain ol’ back pain. With the boomers now hitting those… let’s call them ‘medically busy’ years, the collective cost of these conditions are rising steadily. This is the week to raise awareness for just how seriously we need to take care of ourselves so we don’t add to the numbers.
This ‘week’ is actually nine days long, beginning with World Arthritis Day on October 12 and wrapping up with the fireworks show that is World Osteoporosis Day. It’s a good day to do some research on food to eat that’s good for your bones (I heard a rumor that Skittles might be good for this), and maybe do some spine stretches so you remain limber and don’t crumble into a ball of grunts and moans at the first hint of performing physical activity. Trust me, that’s no fun.
For me, it was a time to reflect upon my own bone and joint history. My foot remains mostly within this plastic boot, though tomorrow I’ll hit the four-week mark when I can count myself as beyond the tipping-point toward healed. And while that addresses the bone portion of this celebration, the joint portion, which I tweaked in meaning to reflect how I care for my mental well-being, my physical pain and my desire to eat Doritos, is also represented.
I’m calling this a solid win. Also, it turns out that Skittles thing isn’t true. Damn.
International Starman Month
I have no idea what the hell this is about. This is pure filler time – on a day with nothing of substance to offer us, I randomly selected this from the pile of October monthly merriment, and none of my sources online can tell me a thing about it. Is it about the John Carpenter movie, Starman? Nope, that was released in December of 1984, not October. Maybe it’s about the British pop band that lasted only from 2009 to 2011? Nope, can’t find anything in their history that happened in October.
Starman is also a DC Comics character, or more accurately a name that has been used by a few characters. The first character to use the name was Ted Knight, though I was disappointed to learn it was not the guy who starred in The Mary Tyler Moore Show turned into comic form. Anyhow, that character first appeared in an April, 1961 issue of Adventure Comics, so again, no October.
What else could I do? I listened to the David Bowie song. It was recorded then released in February and April of 1972, so again, no October, but that seemed to be the most viscerally enjoyable way to celebrate this curious month.
Today offers a slightly more impressive bounty of celebrations, though I’d be happy to just tune them all out and listen to some more Bowie (today is, after all, the 47th anniversary of his brilliant Pin-Ups covers album!). Also, we might pick up some chocolate cupcakes, just for the hell of it. Alas, here’s the menu:
- National Clean Out Your Virtual Desk Day. Hey cool, I have one of those. I mean, I’m not at work today, but I can log in and clean up a little.
- National Kentucky Day. I was going to make a traditional Kentucky soup with squirrel meat, but instead maybe we’ll just get some KFC.
- National Seafood Bisque Day. This sounds remarkably better.
- National New Friends Day. Will I make a new Facebook friend? Probably not. But you never know.
- Evaluate Your Life Day. Oh, this is probably not a great idea.
- Dress Like A Dork Day. What do dorks wear? Suspenders? With sweat pants? Maybe…
- International Adjust Your Chair Day. Good. Now we’re getting to the important stuff this year.
- International Gin & Tonic Day. I’m not going to lie. I’m very happy about this.
- Rainforest Day. Hooray for the rainforest.
celebrate366.com 