The 11/11/11 Phenomenon

Some say its just an ordinary day. Some say its just the same number that got repeated to form a date. For me, it is not ordinary nor it is just a date. Today is a special day. A once-in-a-lifetime (at least in my lifetime) phenomenon. And I am not the only one who thinks so. Lots of people scheduled today for a special occasion. A lot of couples are getting married today, like the boxer Donaire, even if its a Friday (according to the elders its considered a bad day to get married). There are lots of concerts today, christenings, and other special occasions. Of course for those who were born today, its a double extra special day, like my friends Dorothy Nepumoceno and Novie Graille Constantino. What about those who are being born today? Imagine filling out those "Birthday:" forms with "11/11/11"? Lucky people indeed.

What makes this day special, you may ask of me, with this semi-obsessive interest on this day? Its because of the number 1 repeated several times, not just 6 mind you, because at 11:11:11:11 and so on, this morning, it was repeated countlessly in a nick of time. And it will not be repeated as I consider it just this morning because tonight it would be 23:11:11:11 military time and its never the same. However, one can wait for the same time in another time zone. Its the only time a single digit is repeated several times until November 11, 2111. I'm savoring the moment as I couldn't wait for another 100 years.

A part of my interest stems from mathematical wonders. In this case the digit repetition of the number 1. The repeated number 1 multiplied by itself (until the 9th repetition) will return a palindrome:

11x11=121

111x111=12321

1111x1111=1234321

11111x11111=123454321

111111x111111=12345654321

1111111x1111111=1234567654321

11111111x11111111=123456787654321

111111111x111111111=12345678987654321

Isn't that a wonder?

The date itself, aside from it being a same number palindrome is palindromic in any double digit time format. It remains the same whether its dd/mm/yy, mm/dd/yy , yy/dd/mm, etc.

Businesses also took the chance for launching promotions today. I read from a friend in facebook that Cebu Pacific has a promo offering plane tickets to local destinations for Php 11. (were you able to book a flight, Vivian?) Or a chicken restaurant is offering 11 meals at Php 11. What a treat!

La Pena in her article in GMA News (11/10/11, 5:42 pm) said that it is a practice for people to wish at midday at 11:11. Nobody knows when this practice started (its the first time I knew about it) but tonight at Banchetto Megatent, according to La Pena,

"over a thousand people will release wish lanterns at exactly 11:11 in the evening. Wishes will be written on paper attached to mini hot air balloons, and as you let go of your lantern, you make a wish. Organizers have received an overwhelming response, and all the lanterns have already been reserved. Still, anyone can go to the activity to see the sky lit up with wishes."

I guess if we couldn't go there and release a wish, what's keeping us from wishing by ourselves in front of our computer screens?

Here's wishing that from today, 11/11/11, onwards, you and I will be blessed with more blessings than we could handle and we will be grateful for it!

Happy 11/11/11!!!!

Perfect!

Susana Torres is never perfect. She yells and curses when angry. She has more bad hair days than good. She wears baduy clothes which she calls "comfortable". She always has chapped lips even with countless lipsticks in her purse. Her nails are always chipped. She was always on a "see-food" diet and her figure proves it. She sings like a pig being slaughtered. She never played any musical instrument. She tells corny jokes. She doesn't have a cellphone or a facebook account because she is a tectan (technology tanga).When she is nasty, she is super nasty and obnoxious, the devil woman encarnate.

But as a mother, she is 200% perfect, if there is such a thing. She brought up 6 boys (5 brothers and my father) into strapping, healthy, smart, responsible, wonderful men, and 1 girl into a (walang kokontra!) beautiful, intelligent, wonderful, gorgeous, super, mega, giga, great mother, too (hehe. i'm the writer e!). As if the 7 people she took care of weren't enough, she took in other wards - brothers, nephews and nieces, friends, children of friends, bums, lost souls, etc. into her house, took care of them, and whose lives she has changed for the better. She had a large, warm bosom, perfect for hugging to comfort a crying child. She has warm hands, that would melt a cold, icy heart or pacify a raging temper with just a stroke on the cheek or a pat on the back. She always had super large sleeves which she uses to wiipe away tears from faces of crying kids fresh from fights or heartbroken teens. Her stout figure was perfect in carting off pastries and snack items that she cooked or baked the night before to sell to supplement her salary so she can feed her growing kids and coultless wards and send them all to school. She seems to have eyes behind her head, that she knows exactly what naughty things her boys (and girl) are doing behind her back. She has a loud voice that disciplines everyone and makes even the most fearless bully in the neighborhood cower. She has xray eyes that she sees sadness, heartache and suffering behind a smile or a laugh. She has psychic powers that she reads a lie between answers, a story, an anecdote or a brag. She has a warm, loud, infectious laugh that makes everyone laugh with her, never mind the corny joke she just told. She has something in her that makes people she talks to open up to her. She has never been a beauty queen, never modelled clothes or anything, but she always wore a personality and a sense of style that makes people look at her beyond her clothes and make up. She is always proud of her children and fights fiercely and nastily, like the devil woman encarnate, against whoever threatens anyone in her family, in anyway.

Susan, Susana, Sue, Suzy or Susing, is a far from perfect person. But so is everyone else. But as a mother? There is no one like her.

Happy Mother's Day, Palmera!!!! And to all who can relate...

(a mother's day post on FB)

Your Name

I hear your name

I die a thousand deaths

And yours is a common one

In a day i die a trillion times

Its the name I say

Every morning when I wake

Its the same name I whisper

Silently at night

I flinch, I bleed,

I cry, I weep,

But all so silently

Every time I see your name

You have a name

As sharp as a blade

That shreds my bleeding heart

Into tiny little pieces

I wish my name

Affects you the same

And that thought

Makes me feel better.

A poem I wrote after two months of heartache.....