Day 124 - May the Fourth be with you

Today is the 5th day of the 18th week, the 4th day of the 5th month, the 124th day of 2023, and: 

• Anti-Bullying Day [AKA Pink Shirt Day] - started in 2007 by high school students in Berwick, Nova Scotia, and declared a holiday by the UN in 2012
• Bird Day
• Independence Day - restored to Latvia from the USSR in 1990
• International Day for Mine Awareness Assistance in Mine Action
• International Firefighters Day
• International Respect for Chickens Day
• Jeep 4X4 Day
• K.I.N.D. Day
• May Fourth Movement - a demonstration in Tiananmen Square by students protesting imperialism
• National Candied Orange Peel Day
• National Day of Prayer
• National Day of Reason
• National Kids Fitness Day
• National Orange Juice Day
• National Sexual Assault Awareness Day of Action [SAAM]
• National Weather Observers Day
• Petite and Proud Day - I'm short.  I have absolutely no problem with being short,  just wish I could  actually e described as "petite"!  
• Renewal Day
• Star Wars Day
• Victims of Violence Wholly Day
• Vitamin C Day
• World Give Day
• World Password Day
• World Rat Day (( I didn't know politicians has their own global celebration? ))

Quote of the day:

"Your own mind is a sacred enclosure into which nothing harmful can enter except by your permission."

~ Arnold Bennett,  prolific English author who published between the 1890's and 1930's.

Construction update:   Management sent out a message this morning showing the start of the new phase of work on the parking lot - and asking everyone who has been parking in the unaffected areas to move their cars out by 7 AM next Friday [the 12th].  I certainly hope the existing portion will be reopened for parking before then, and for cars to pass through as well!  If not, then the parking wars will become even more intense very quickly

I'm being hard on myself today  You know the kind of day - you are already tired, and you just keep doing things or saying things that make you shake your head right afterwards.  Got into a conversation with one of my coworkers who is very quiet and I talked his ear off, telling war stories of lending in a small community back back when there weren't very many women in commercial lending.  Being garrulous is not a good way to encourage a quiet person to seek further conversation!   Had to recall an email or two, one to bossman.  Had to spend an hour with IT on the phone to do something in a new program that should've been fairly intuitive.  My defense in that one was that he had to find where to go in settings himself when he remoted into my laptop - and we still left one frayed loose end dangling because he's not sure how to wrap it up either. 

Star Wars has a very special place in our family.  When it debuted at noon on Wednesday, May 25th, 1977, it was not a blockbuster film.  In Baltimore, it debuted at the Westview Cinema, a theater that is long gone now, but used to be quite nice.  There wasn't a lot of hype attached to it, but as a big sci fi fan, and one of the original Trekkies, I was very aware of it.

Why do I remember this so clearly?

Because my three year old son was scheduled to go into John Hopkin's Pediatric Surgery unit the next morning for open heart surgery.   All of the adults in the family were distraught, but trying very hard not to show it because we didn't want to alarm Tommy.  He, on the other hand, having no real idea what was ahead of him, was pretty nonchalant about the whole thing - something he never was about doctors or needles ever again.   It was actually my husband [who had taken the day off from work, and was not really a sci fi fan] who suggested going to the opening of this movie and doing something really fun to distract all of us.   I loved the movie [not even comparing it with my beloved Star Trek because it was a pirate move, whereas Star Trek had basically been a western], my husband tolerated it, and Tommy was totally enthralled.   Star Wars toys, action figures, clothing, sheets, Legos, household items, posters et al followed over the years - and Tommy still prefers Star Wars to Star Trek, altho as he got older, he has become more appreciative of the genre as a whole.

But for me?  Star Wars will always be what is now called "A New Hope"  and a starry eyed little boy who was so excited at going to see his very first non-cartoon movie with his mommy and daddy.

And, for the record?  

Both my son and I agree