Friday the 13th

You know, for the longest time Friday the 13th has been considered a very unlucky day.

In an article by About.com's David Emery, he explained some culture's disdain for the number 13:

It is said: If 13 people sit down to dinner together, all will die within the year. The Turks so disliked the number 13 that it was practically expunged from their vocabulary (Brewer, 1894). Many cities do not have a 13th Street or a 13th Avenue. Many buildings don't have a 13th floor. If you have 13 letters in your name, you will have the devil's luck (Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, Theodore Bundy and Albert De Salvo all have 13 letters in their names).

Continued on in his article, Ebory quotes an old tale:

One hundred years ago, the British government sought to quell once and for all the widespread superstition among seamen that setting sail on Fridays was unlucky. A special ship was commissioned, named "H.M.S. Friday." They laid her keel on a Friday, launched her on a Friday, selected her crew on a Friday and hired a man named Jim Friday to be her captain. To top it off, H.M.S. Friday embarked on her maiden voyage on a Friday, and was never seen or heard from again.

And one story that resonates around the world is the tale of the Knights Templar, recounted by Katherine Kurtz from Tales of the Knights Templar

"On October 13, 1307, a day so infamous that Friday the 13th would become a synonym for ill fortune, officers of King Philip IV of France carried out mass arrests in a well-coordinated dawn raid that left several thousand Templars — knights, sergeants, priests, and serving brethren — in chains, charged with heresy, blasphemy, various obscenities, and homosexual practices. None of these charges was ever proven, even in France — and the Order was found innocent elsewhere — but in the seven years following the arrests, hundreds of Templars suffered excruciating tortures intended to force 'confessions,' and more than a hundred died under torture or were executed by burning at the stake."

So what about all the other "bad days" that have happened in the world's history?

The atomic bombs hit Japan on August 9th, a Thursday.
And 9/11 happened on a Tuesday.
The Titanic sunk on April 14th, a Sunday.
And Martin Luther King Jr was shot April 4th, a Thursday.

So I guess what I'm saying is that a day can only be unlucky if you make it unlucky. I on the other hand choose to break free of the stigma of the unlucky Friday and the unlucky number 13 and say "Hello world! I am not going to let 13 get me down!"
And just in case I am wearing my horseshoe necklace...and a green shirt (you know the luck of the Irish thing....).

I have fallen in love for the first time....and probably the last.

It seems as though I am in a very committed relationship. Most of you who know me know that I am not one to easily, or in this case quickly, commit to any sort of serious long term relationship. But, as love has a way of appearing when you least expect it, I have fallen madly deeply in love with the City of New York.

"Impossible!" You are probably thinking. Well, I am here to tell you it is possible to find true love! And I have found my true love.

From the busy streets where people are as diverse as their clothes; to the muggy, dusty, smelly, subway stations transporting people to their desired location; to the musicians filling every nook and cranny available to showcase their talents; to the myriad of things to do at any given moment; I am in love with this city.

I can't wait to experience the most romantic season here in New York, winter. I believe then I will officially be engaged to the city of my dreams. But for now we are going steady. I think it is almost time for the city to meet my parents!