LEAP DAY AWARDS

 welcome all to the tetra-annual quadrennial awards segment on this blog- THE LEAP DAY AWARDS!

I started this blog on February 2nd, 2007. But then on November 23rd, 2012 I purged most of the posts up to that point (about 400 of them) because they had cursing and I decided I wouldn't use bad words on this blog anymore. Also they weren't very good. Anyway, I say all that to say that there have been FOUR leap days since the beginning but this is the FIRST Leap Day Awards. Wow. Isn't that something.

The Leap Day Awards are meant to highlight the special nature of Leap Day. Leap Day is special because without it, the seasons and the calendar would slowly drift apart and they still are but because of Leap Day it's happening at a slower rate than it would otherwise. So, you know, small gestures can't fix things entirely but they can make a difference. Right? Also, Leap Day reminds us that all systems are arbitrary and if we want to just put another day in the year with some fancy rules then we can. The arbitrary nature of power is also important to remember.

LET'S BEGIN THE AWARDS!

The winner of the 'most posts written for this blog' goes to ME! ANDY! By an overwhelming majority I have contributed the most posts to the blog that I started when I was fifteen years old and I humbly and proudly accept this award from myself.

Our next award goes to chafing! A big part of this leap day was chafing because yesterday I got caught running in the rain and shoo-wee! Let me tell you. I chafed. But we celebrate chafing because it's there to teach us an important lesson. When you have problems that create friction you just keep going because that's not going to stop you from reaching your goals. Pain exists to filter out the weak.

No that's not true. The third award goes to saying things that aren't true. Remember that things you say and do on leap day don't really count. It's a made-up pocket dimension of time that some guy named Luigi Giglio made up towards the end of the 16th century. Also, I read on Wikipedia just now that before leap days, the Romans just used to have February 24th twice and they called both days February 24th. That's awesome.

The fourth award goes to me again for my masterful presentation of awards.

The fifth award goes to anonymous commenters. This blog has seen a resurgence and it is mostly because of anonymous commenters and people telling me they actually read it. Thank you!

The sixth award goes to the trees I saw on JPA today that are blooming. I don't love that trees are blooming in February but then I remember that trees don't know about Leap Days so it's just like March 1st to them. It's important to have empathy and understanding for all things.

The seventh and final award goes to singing songs. Songs are like bread that you never have to stop eating if you don't want to. And when you and another person know the some bread it's like the alignment of the stars.

The eight award goes to the eighth day of the week that coincides with the Leap Day. In a fit of inspiration I've decided that there are two Thursdays on the Leap Week. One is the Thursday that Leap Day happens on and the other is regular Thursday.

The ninth award goes to mental health breaks. Remember that the existence of the 'mental health breaks' is a tacit admission that we live in situations that are incompatible with actual mental health which is bonkers. Make sure to take 'poison gas breaks' from all the poison gas in the air. Pay no mind to how it got there or what function it serves.

We're getting distracted.

The tenth award goes to community. Because for all the ills of society that I love to complain about, the power of connection and community goes a long way towards making life be pretty good at times and so remember that that is the ultimate goal unless you have some cooler goal like winning a million dollars or taming various beasts and fowl. In which case, do that.

Thank you if you've read this far. Tune in in 2028 to see if I remember this bit. Comment every day to remind me to do the 2028 Leap Day awards.