Lesson 133: Numbers Speak Sometimes, Too

Friends, Slovenians, countrymen, lend me your ears....  I know that's a catchy line, but I have to admit that it's not mine--it's a spin on Mark Antony's...well actually, it's Shakespeare's from his play Julius Caesar.  I thought this would be a good way to start this weekend's blog since I am writing this on 3-15, the Ides of March.  As I type, I got one hour and twenty minutes left to wipe the sweat off of my brow.  Bad things happen on March 15th and now I got me 79 minutes left to ride out the doomed day.

You see, this day didn't turn out too well for Roman Emperor Julius Caesar in 44 BC.  Slash, splash, blah, blech, bye--those are the sounds Caesar was making as he was stabbed by his friend Brutus 23 times.  One little ditty I came across while researching this was that when Shakespeare wrote the play, Caesar received 33 stab wounds.  I couldn't find with any degree of certainty if that change was intentional or a mistake.  It just caught my eye because I like the number 33.

Don't feel too bad for Caesar, though.  He was warned by the soothsayer (cool word) that he would meet his demise on the Ides of March (middle of March).  Caesar, who was a little full of himself being the leader of Rome and all, ignored it.  Guess he should have listened.  Hindsight they say is 20-20.  Hindsight, Eloise says, would have come in handy because Caesar was stabbed in the neck from behind.

The Romans in 44 BC must have thought the world was ending.  Many people in 2012 think that too, not because of the Ancient Romans, but rather the Ancient Mayans. I've been kind of into them lately.  They are a cool people to learn about.  I particularly think that temple at Chichen itza is super impressive.  It is proof that the Mayans figured out time and seasons in particular.  Google that sometime when you have nothing to do.  I've added to my List of Places I Want to Visit But Probably Never Will.


In fact, I found a couple of pinterest pins last week that discussed the doom of the predicted world's end on December 21, 2012. Here is one. Good thing Caesar created the Leap Year before he ignored the soothsayer (sorry, just needed an excuse to use this cool word again).











   Here is the other one that is a little more relevant to our times.  Slovenians, don't judge us by the stupid, senseless show Snooki appears on--The Jersey Shore.  We Americans have more depth than that. (And Readers, if I just made you feel guilty for watching it, you should be).








OK.  I have 51 minutes left in the safety of the Lamp Post to hide out from people who want to stab me.  I'll stall around up here writing this until Cinderella's clock chimes twelve.  Then we can all breathe a sigh of relief.  Eloise will have lived and The Lamp Post will continue.  We'll jump to the next block in the calendar which is the day that saved us all--March 16th--3-16.

God always provides us with a balance, and so he did with this date.  It always reminds me of the Bible verse central to Christian beliefs, John 3: 16.  The movie is set to a Van Halen song titled 316.  A big thank you to Tracy Southern for sending it to me.  It's a short song--only about a minute and a half in length.  Eddie Van Halen wrote it for his son Wolfgang (yep, true, that's his name after the composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart--but he goes by Wolfie if that softens the blow somehow).  Wolfgang was born on March 16th.

One of my favorite students was born on 3-16 at 3:16.  I think she is destined to do something big with that sprite sized body of hers.  Similarly my son Sam was born on 3-27 at 3:27 pm.  They say that every person should have a Bible quote associated with themselves.  Many people try to link their birth dates to the Bible in some way.  That would be very nice for Wolfie and Amelia as they can recite their verse from John 3:16:  For God so loved the world that he gave is one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  

I found one for Sam.  2 Samuel 3:27:  Now when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the gateway, as though to speak to him privately.  And there, to avenge the blood of his brother Asahel, Joab stabbed him in the stomach and he died.  And didn't I open this blog post with a lesson on stabbing.  Sam's birthday party is next weekend and I have to say I scanned the list of 8 boy names to make sure there was not a Joab on the list.  We're good to go.

And here I sit with 30 minutes left to this dreadful day.  But I keep my sites set on tomorrow, March 16th, when I have the hope for better things to come.  It will be especially nice because we have the day off--a built in snow make-up day that we didn't need to use because of our mild winter.  Yeah!  I hope to get out there for a nice long run while the sun is coming up thinking of the Son who came to save us all.

 The title of today's blog is Numbers Speak Sometimes, Too.  I think it is no accident that my 316 blog post landed in the 133rd spot in the line of lessons.  It reminds of all the Biblical links to the number 33.  And if this link with numbers fascinates you, I then urge you to begin watching the new TV series Touch with Kiefer Sutherland.  If you are a 24 fan or a Lost Fan you will like this show.  If you are a LOSTIE, look for the Man in Black in the premier episode.  The series is about a non-verbal boy with autism who communicates through numbers.  Eloise gives it a double thumbs up.  The first episode ran again tonight, but you can find it on line on the FOX website.  The next new episode is March 22nd.  Don't miss it.

I like the quote on the Touch poster:  The world is connected.  But only his son sees how.  If I just put a slight little teacher correction on that, you'll see how it changes the entire context of those sentences.  Here, try it again with this Eloiseish improvement:  The world is connected.  But only His son sees how.  Amen.


17 minutes left and I am still breathing and not bleeding.  Time to run spell check.

Note to students:  spell check does not recognize, Chichen Itza, Van Halen, pinterest, Joab, and Snooki.  I'll have to tell it about the first four.  The last one we could all do without.

14 minutes.  Time to revise.  Note to students:  running spell check is editing, not revising.

11 minutes.  Got a pulse. Got to run through looking for spelled correctly words used incorrectly that spell checker failed to pick up.  Spell checker is not fool proof.  No matter how carefully I scan, I always find one in the morning when I read my posts back.  I guess that makes me the fool.

3 minutes.  Testing to see if the video plays.

1 minute.  Copy and paste onto another document before uploading.  Blogger should be renamed Belcher because of all the coughs and spits it does at me with formatting errors.  I found a way around it with remembering to save a copy somewhere else first.

Midnight.  3-16.  I'm alive and so are you.  Amen to that!

Eloise