Are You Superstitious?

This being Friday the 13th, all manner of folks will be watching out for black cats, avoiding ladders and cracks in the sidewalk and generally comtemplating spending the day in bed or hiding under it.

But if your house is like mine chances are there are so many moth-eaten socks and dust bunnies under the bed that spending the day there might be more hazardous than facing Friday the 13th head on!

It does get me to thinking about Paraskavidekatriaphobia (fear of Friday the 13th) and whether there is any truth to this 'superstition'.

My 'slo-pitch career' came to a 'shattering' end – literally – while wearing number 13 for the Fort Nelson Fire Dept. team. But I had worn number 13 for several years and my doctor did remind me that carrying around 230 pounds on a 5'9" frame was a major contributing factor! By the way the game was on a Wednesday night.

Prior to wearing number 13 I always wore number 8, which was even 'unluckier' – two dislocated knees, a dislocated elbow, two seperated shoulders, several hyper-extended / broken fingers and at least a half dozen sprained ankles. Perhaps my 'bad luck' was more my playing style than fate!

In rugby I played 8th man and although I never received a major injury I am left with nasty 'rain pains' in my quads and prone to charleyhorses. There's that number 8 again!

A few years back I wrote a numerology program, more for the coding experience than any deep desire to learn my 'inner number'. You can try it out if you like, and I promise there are NO number 13's lurking deep in the PHP.

Friday has long been considered an unlucky day. According to Wikipedia, "Friday has been considered an unlucky day at least since the 14th century's The Canterbury Tales, and many other professions have regarded Friday as an unlucky day to undertake journeys or begin new projects. Black Friday has been associated with stock market crashes and other disasters since the 1800s. It has also been suggested that Friday has been considered an unlucky day because, according to Christian scripture and tradition, Jesus was crucified on a Friday."

Gee, I always thought of Friday as being kind of a lucky day. After a long week you can look forward to sleeping in on Saturday morning (7 a.m. around my house) or maybe grabbing the kids and heading out for Chinese food or maybe even getting together with friends for a few hands of Euchre or Solo. Certainly Friday seems a lot more lucky than say, the dreaded 'Hump Day' or even first thing Monday morning. And a number of rather crumby things have happened in my life on a Thursday.

Around the world research has shown no significant increase in accidents etc. on a Friday the 13th. Perhaps we should be more concerned with the truly unlucky days – January 1st (HIGH incidence of hangovers), July 2nd or 5th (rampant tinnitus), November 1st (significant increase in tummy aches amongst children) and of course May 15th.

Why May 15th you ask?

Studies have shown a major increase in depression in the Greater Toronto Area on May 15th! Researchers attribute this increase to it being the day that Maple Leaf fans finally realize that once again their team has missed the playoffs!

(the preceding article was written by flashlight while hiding under the covers – ed.)