The other ground hog day….

Truly scary.

The other day (like, November), my friend Pam asked me if I liked scary movies. I asked her, “Like what?” And she responded with the usual – Friday the Thirteenth, Jack the Ripper, Ghostbusters (you know, the part with the Stay Puft Marshmallow dude at the end).

I told her, yeah, spooky stuff, but the one I didn’t want to live through was Ground Hog Day. You know, the movie where Bill Murray wakes up each day & it’s a repeat of the same old day, over & over again. I think I’m more creeped out by that than any axe murderer.

I had to learn this little speech from A Thousand Clowns once, with Murray talking to his brother Arnie, which sums all this up:

Five months ago I was on the
subway on my way to work,
was sitting on the express same
as every morning looking out the
window watching the local
stops go by in the dark with an empty
head and my arms folded, not
feeling great, not feeling rotten,
just not feeling. And for a minute
I couldn’t remember, I didn’t
know, unless I really concentrated,
whether it was a Tuesday or a
Thursday or a… for a minute it
could have been any day, Arn.

[Stands up] I gotta know what
day it is. I gotta know what’s the
name of the game and what the
rules are without anyone else telling
me. You gotta own your own days
and name ’em, each one of ’em,
every one of ’em, or else the
years go right by and none of them
belong to you.

And that ain’t just for weekends, kiddo.

I wish that for you. Name your own days. For me, today is Harry Manx Day, ’cause I get to see him. Thursday is Knowledge Bowl Day. Friday is April Fool’s Day, because it’s the day I set aside for making up stuff for April 1st. Saturday is Math Day, because it’s 2/5/10 for the date, which is like 2 x 5 = 10. Sunday is All Saints’ Day, because whether they win or lose, New Orleans is a city that could use a break.

You get the idea. A year from now, I’ll be able to say,”Yeah, that was the day before Harry Manx Day! It was great!” or “Remember our cool ideas from the February April Fool’s Day?”

Got ’em named, every one of ’em. Do you?

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