Friday, March 25, 2011

Today's fortune: March 25, 2011

Today's fortune: The next full moon brings an enchanting evening.

According to the Farmers Almanac, the next full moon is set for April 17, 2011. That's a Sunday, so good - Jamie won't have night classes.

"The next full moon brings an enchanting evening." Hmm. So many possibilities. And I'll get to those in a second. But first, let's talk about the moon.

Seems to be a lot of myth surrounding full moons. Every time some crazy shit goes down somewhere, I hear people say, "There must be a full moon out tonight!" The people who say this are not necessarily unreasonable, but there's no doubt in my mind those same people actually believe a full moon affects people.

According to an article by ABC News, that's a bunch of hogwash, but it's hogwash based on a certain amount of truth:

"To be fair, there is a hint of logic to the myths linking the moon and human behavior. Earth, much like the human body, is composed mostly of water. If the moon's gravitational pull can affect ocean tides, so the reasoning goes, couldn't it also affect a person's body?

"But the science doesn't bear this out.

"'Published [research] does not confirm that there is a change in the amount of violence, reported crimes or aggressive behavior during a full moon,' (bioengineering professor) Eric Chudler told ABC News."

Another interesting article at The Skeptic's Dictionary examined a study that looked at homicide rates, casino payouts, stabbings, traffic accidents, suicides, kidnappings and many other categories of activity, and not a single one showed a spike during full moons. In fact, according to the article, psychiatric hospital admissions went down during full moons.

So I don't think we have to worry about our enchanted evening being interrupted by drive-by shootings, werewolves or vampires.

Now, about that enchanted evening. Jamie and I could re-create our first date. We met up at Crown Center in Kansas City, Mo., and ate dinner at the Crayola Cafe. Good times. We've reenacted that evening once before, and it was a blast, because we were there in the dead of winter and we laughed unmercifully at the ice skaters falling on their butts.

Or we could reenact the day I proposed. I picked her up at her apartment (the way she tells it, when I took her hand to hold it, I unwittingly grabbed her ring finger - and then she knew) and we ate lunch at a Kansas City institution - Gates Barbecue. Then I took her to the Liberty Memorial, which has an amazing view of the city.

Photo courtesy of www.soulofamerica.com

There at the base of the monument, as we looked out over the city we love, I dropped to one knee and asked for her hand in marriage. She said yes.

I would love to visit the Memorial and the National World War I Museum, but we'd probably have to forego the barbecue since Jamie has become a vegetarian.

But I don't think I'll have to worry about it.

When Jamie came home from work today, she told me, "Don't worry about planning an enchanting evening on April 17th. I'll take care of everything."

What more could a guy ask for?

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