December . . . All This and Days Too

December . . . All This and Days Too

With a new month underway, it is once again time to take a closer look about our beloved “Christians Stole my Pagan Holiday” Month, and learn a few things you may not know about our twelfth month of the year. The big holiday this month is, obviously New Year’s Eve, the night people all around the world stay up waiting for my birthday to arrive at the stroke of midnight. Oh yeah, then there’s that Christmas thing as well.

As for the rest of the month, turns out December is also, but not limited to:

Bingo Month
Write a Friend Month
Choose a Summer Camp Month
Identity Theft Awareness Month
National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month
National Stress-Free Family Holidays Month
National Tie Month
Read a Book Month
Safe Toys and Gift Month
Universal Human Rights Month

When it comes to week long celebrations December starts off week one with Cookie Cutter Week, National Aplastic Anemia Awareness Week and Tolerance Week. For the record I would like to say that all this week I have been tolerant of all aplastic anemia cookie cutters bringing awareness to the nation.

Week two is Clerc-Gallaudet Week and National Hand Washing Awareness Week. That’s right you would think that everyone would be aware of the importance of washing your hands, but there’s always that one deviant at work that you notice in the bathroom who walks out of the stall and right past the sinks and out into the hall. People like this are always etched into my mind, mainly so if I see them in the hall or am ever introduced to them, I can keep at a safe distance. As for Clerc and Gallaudet, they are two chaps that played a very important role in deaf education history . . . back in the 17 to 1800s.

Week three and four is . . . there might be something there, but I didn’t really find anything. I theory is that week three is Christmas preparation week and week four is Gift Return week.

As for special days in the month of November, I managed to find 50+ different day celebrations. Today happens to be International Civil Aviation Day, Letter Writing Day, National Cotton Candy Day and Pearl Harbor Day.

As for the rest of the days, for the sake of avoiding a ridiculously long list, I’ll highlight just a few of my favorites:

  • December 5 – Bathtub Party Day and Repeal Day – And of course Repeal Day is to celebrate the 21st Amendment ending Prohibition . . . I’ll drink to that. The nice thing about this day is that if you drink enough for your Repeal party, it can very easily turn into a bathtub party as well.
  • December 12 – National Ding-a-Ling Day and Poinsettia Day – It’s important to point out this is not a holiday for the Salvation Army Bell Ringers that have started popping up at every store entrance starting at the beginning of this month. National Ding-a-Ling Day is actually about embracing bizarre and crazy behavior from all of the people you encounter that day.
  • December 17 – National Maple Syrup Day – This also happens to be my official “Perfect day for watching Elf” Day.
  • December 21 – Mayan Calendar Ends, Forefather’s Day, Humbug Day, National Flashlight Day, and Look on the Bright Side Day – Since the Mayan calendar ends on the same day as Humbug day, I wonder if “those people”, the humbug ones I mean, are going to get all pissy that the world didn’t end?
  • December 26 – Boxing Day – The origin of this holiday goes back to the Middle Ages. On this day, members of the merchant class would take boxes, fill them with food and fruits, and give them to servants, tradespeople and the less fortunate. In the case of servants, they would work on Christmas Day, so it was only fitting that immediately after Christmas, they would be given a day off to celebrate.
  • December 23 – Pepper Pot Day – Pepper Pot Day commemorates the creation of this thick spicy soup, which was served to the Continental Army during the cold, harsh winter of 1777-1778, and is not to be confused with Pepper Potts, Iron Man’s sweetie-pie.

Well, that’s it for my highlight of a few December Holidays. I hope you found a smirk getting a little more awareness about this month. Cheers, and a Happy Holidays to you all.

Image Sources:
Google Images, keywords: December, National Hand Washing Awareness Week, Repeal Day, Mayan Calendar Ends, and Happy Holidays.

Copyright © 2012 Richard Timothy

November . . . All This and Days Too

November . . . All This and Days Too

With a new month underway, it is once again time to take a closer look about our beloved “Triptafen Overdose” Month, or “We have all these leftover pumpkin innards, we might as well make pie” Month, and learn a few things you may not know about our eleventh month of the year. The big American holiday this month is Thanksgiving, once an homage to people of different beliefs working together for the betterment of humanity, but now a dedicated to the obsession of overindulgence and stuffing yourself until you pass out.

As for the rest of the month, here’s what I found out; if I were to write a novel about drum playing, peanut butter loving, Native American pilot, who only sleeps comfortably when wearing a necklace made out of real rubies, and one day, while at a model train store, he sees a child have an epileptic fit and he saves the child from a life on the mean streets by adopting the kid, well then I think I would have celebrated November in its entirety, mostly.

November is also, but not limited to:

Aviation History Month
Child Safety Protection Month
International Drum Month
National Adoption Awareness Month
National Epilepsy Month
National Model Railroad Month
National Novel Writing Month
Native American Heritage Month
Peanut Butter Lovers Month
Real Jewelry Month
National Sleep Comfort Month

  • When it comes to week long celebrations November starts off week one with Chemistry Week. Good thing I didn’t know about this the week of, otherwise I might have gotten all nostalgic and made a Drano bomb like I did when I was in high school and learning about chemical reactions in science class. Yes there is a story there . . . a few actually, but those will have to wait for another Smirk. All I can say is hurray for explosive education.
  • Week two is Dear Santa Letter Week and Pursuit of Happiness Week, I think if you wrote a letter to someone you care about, apart from Santa, it would be a good way to pursue happiness this week. Although, is pursuing happiness really the best use of your time? Chasing happiness? Is happiness something you have to catch or is it something you already have and sometimes forget is already there? Find something in your week that makes you happy, embrace it and celebrate the happiness you get from it.
  • Week three is Game and Puzzle Week, The nice thing about Thanksgiving is that my mom always has a puzzle out for us to work on while we digest and ready ourselves for the first round to leftovers. Kudos to you, mom, for always having a puzzle ready.
  • Week four also has . . . nada. I could find anything for week four, but if I had to think of something I’d call it: Holy Shit Christmas is only a Month Away, Let’s go Shopping Crazy Week, since that is what the main focus for the week usually seems to be.

As for special days in the month of November, I managed to find 50+ different day celebrations. Today happens to be Button Day and Have a Party With Your Bear Day. First off, I hope this means teddy bears, because if they mean real bears . . . well apart from being the #1 threat to America, most to all people on the planet don’t own a bear to have a party with. As for buttons . . . thanks buttons, you are the classy version of zippers, look much better on almost everything . . . apart from that Michael Jackson jacket back in the 80’s, which, thankfully, only lasted about a week. And by week I mean about three years.

As for the rest of the days, for the sake of avoiding a ridiculously long list, I’ll highlight just a few of my favorites:

  • November 3 – Book Lovers Day, Housewife’s Day and Sandwich Day – To all the house wives out there, it is your day. Go out and get your favorite sandwich (you should not make it yourself) and when you get home curl up with a book you love and take the day off. When the husband and kids get home, and want to know where their dinner is, you tell them that it is your day and they have to fend for themselves.
  • November 6 – Marooned without a Compass Day and Saxophone Day – First off, I’d like to give a shout out to Zoot, the Muppet that inspired me to choose the saxophone as my band instrument when I took band. Secondly, Marooned without a Compass Day? Really!? Does this happen enough that we need an entire day dedicated to this? Also, does this mean if we are serious about celebration this day, does that mean we should go out and get marooned after having left our compass at home. Unofficially, the 6th is also “Thank (insert deity of your choice here) Election Season if Finally Over!”
  • November 9 – Chaos Never Dies Day – All I want to say about this is, years ago in my college speech class an exchange student was giving his speech: “Everyone has cows in their life. Cows at home. Cows at work. Cows in our families. Cows can take over everything, but how do we get rid of the cows?” The teacher then said out loud: “Chaos. It’s pronounced chaos.”
  • November 11 – Veterans Day – If you know a veteran, give them a hug and say thanks. I think veterans could use a few more hugs.
  • November 15 – Clean your Refrigerator Day – I can only assume this is in preparation for Thanksgiving day. There are few things as aggravating as trying to fill a full fridge.
  • November 21 – World Hello Day and False Confession Day – The false confession portion of this day is what I am truly delighted with. A day dedicated to going into a church and giving a false confession . . . awesome! I recommend we all take the time to confess on this day, even if you aren’t religious or belong to a church that has confessionals, find one, go in, and confess away.
  • November 23 – Black Friday, Buy Nothing Day, Eat a Cranberry Day, National Cashew Day, and You’re Welcome Day – I like that Black Friday and Buy Nothing Day are the same day. Either way, you are celebrating one of them. Personally, I recommend buying nothing, but that’s because the Black Friday crazies scare me. I also like that since we have a Thanks day, we also have a You’re Welcome Day. What a well mannered holiday.
  • November 30 – Stay at Home Because you are Well Day – One of the best holidays, ever! Everyone should take part in a holiday like this at least one a year.

Well, that’s it for my highlight of a few November Holidays. I hope you found a smirk getting a little more awareness about this month. Cheers, and a Happy November to you all.

Image Sources:
Google Images, keywords: November, NaNoWriMo, Number one threat to America, Zoot, and Veterans Day.

Copyright © 2012 Richard Timothy

What Hump?

What Hump?

It’s a line you either know or you don’t, which I suppose could be said for so many of the lines from that film. It is one of those movies that sticks with you long after you’ve seen it, and carries with it the power to bring people together. It is also one of the few ways I’ve figured out how to reminisce with people I don’t know. You quote a line, and if they are in the know, they’ll quote one back. It’s a great way to have entire conversations with people without really talking about anything.

Spouting off your favorite lines from movies are one of those skill sets that may not have been useful to Liam Neeson in getting his daughter back, but it is a great skill set for getting people to talk to one another at a party while you’re waiting for the alcohol to show up.

The other thing I love about is that in the right circumstances you can reenact the entire film from that moment on. Those circumstances being, the other people in the room love and therefore have watched the movie as many times as you have, thus having the whole thing memorized.

So Cinemark (a movie theater chain) has been revisiting a few classic films over the past few months; showing one old movie for one night only, with a new old movie the next week. Well yesterday, on Halloween, they showed Young Frankenstein. Since this film was released the same year I was born, I’ve never had the chance to see it on the big screen. So between staying at home waiting for little people (kids) in costumes to show up on my doorstep, and plead for free candy, or going to see one of my favorite comedies on the silver screen, I figured the little sugar addicts would have plenty of ‘junk’ without my yearly contribution.

What I didn’t realize until after we got to the movie was that my sweetie-baby-cutie-pie-wifey-pooh had never seen this film before. I’ll admit, there was a part of me that refused to believe this was true, but as she started laughing at the lines, lines I have been regurgitating for close to thirty years now, there was a certain quality to her laugh that convinced me she was a Young Frankenstein virgin.

There’s a difference in laughing at something for the first time and laughing at something because you have seen it 100 times and your love and appreciation for it keeps you laughing every time you see it.

And even thought I wanted to quote every line right along with the movie, in much the same way as a teenage girl feels compelled to sing along to every song sung at every Adele concert ever, I employed a Jedi’s amount of self-control and refrained, mostly. There were a few times lines slipped out, and I found myself whispering, “Walk this way.”, “There wolf. There castle.” and, “Put the candle back!” at the appropriate times throughout the film.

Monsters, brains, henchmen, and laugh after laugh; all in all, it was a truly grand Halloween.

Image Sources:
Google Images, keywords: What hump, Young Frankenstein, and put za candle back.

Copyright © 2012 Richard Timothy

October . . . All This and Days Too

October . . . All This and Days Too

With the start of the new month it is once again time to take a closer look about our beloved “Look, pumpkins really do have a purpose!” month, and learn a few things you may not know about our tenth month of the year. The big American holiday this month is Halloween, which I have Smirked about in the past, and totally worth checking out if you have not read it yet (wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

As for the rest of the month, here’s what I found out, October is also, but not limited to:

  • Adopt a Shelter Dog Month – I am allergic to these canine mongrels, so I get a pass for this one, but to those of you that might feel compelled to take part in this celebration, I would highly recommend that you do not do this every year, but only when you are dogless or when you dog could use a pal because all the kids have left for college and no longer has anyone to play with on a regular basis.
  • Applejack Month – This is AWESOME! I had to look it up, but here’s what I found: “Did you know that Johnny Appleseed was really named John Chapman, and that he sewed his apple seeds throughout colonial Ohio and Indiana primarily for the purpose of providing rural farmers with hard cider and applejack, the most popular intoxicating beverages for country folk back then! The apple harvest and October’s chill have traditionally ushered in cider season, and applejack, a concentrated and higher proof version of hard cider is now an officially recognized part of that tradition. Happy National Applejack Month!”
  • Breast Cancer Awareness Month – Also know and Pink Ribbon Month, at least it probably is, and if it isn’t, it should be. And I would like to add that if I had a job that required me to wear a tie, I would wear nothing but pink ties all this month. Maybe I can find some pink socks.
  • Clergy Appreciation Month – Since I am officially clergy (check out my Reverend Smirk) and since I completely appreciate myself, I can definitely get behind this celebration.
  • National Diabetes Month – My guess is that this is either the month dedicated to making people more aware of diabetes, and sharing tips for how to avoid getting it, or it is the month most likely to give people diabetes thanks to that evening of gluttonous candy consumption . . . actually it’s probably both.
  • National Vegetarian Month – Why? Because Vegetarians are delicious!
  • Sarcastic Month – Ohhh, an entire month dedicated to being sarcastic! What a brilliant idea! (/sarcasm off).

When it comes to week long celebrations, October starts off week one two topic of celebration, Get Organized Week and Customer Service Week. I think I’ll get organized this weekend, and by organized I mean I might consider dusting my office. Hey, a tidy office does not mean you are organized, but having no dust on all the crap you have stored on your selves . . . well if that doesn’t scream organized, I’m sure I don’t know what does. Then for customer service bit, I’m considering taking Friday off, that way I won’t have to deal with serving any customers at work. (Note: This Smirk was finished and posted on Friday, and guess what? I’m not at work! Shhhhh.)

Week two is another two-parter with Fire Prevention Week and Pet Peeve Week, which pisses me off, because I hate bears that try to tell me that I’m the only one that can prevent fires. The first time I heard that as a kid, it stressed me out. Talk about a lot of responsibility. I even kept a loaded squirt gun in my pocket for a week, just in case I came across any fires. The problem was it was a cheap squirt gun and was constantly leaking, so for a week I walked around looking like I had wet myself, hence another reason I hate that bear.

Week three is Pastoral Care Week, so I guess for you church going folk to show you care you could always make an extra effort to stay awake during your pastor’s sermon on the 3rd Sunday this month. For you non-church types, I plan on going to get a milk shake made out of pasteurized milk to show Louis that I do care about his gift to the world. Hey, Pasteur was the closest thing to a pastor I could find for the non-religiously inclined, and I think it makes a very good substitute for this week’s celebration.

Week four also has . . . nada. I could find anything for week four. Here, let’s just call it, Buy Candy for Strangers Week, since that is what the main focus for the week usually seems to be.

As for special days in the month of October, I managed to find 60+ different day celebrations. Today happens to be Do Something Nice Day and World Teacher’s Day. Considering I didn’t go to work today and that I’m posting a new Smirk for everyone to read and enjoy, I think I’ve done something nice for everyone today. To embrace this day fully I’d just like to say to Don Barrow, Steven Timothy, Billie Sessions, and Rebecca Clack, thank you for encouraging me to embrace my creativity and introducing me to a world full of art, both literary and visually.

As for the rest of the days, for the sake of avoiding a ridiculously long list, I’ll highlight just a few of my favorites:

  • October 6 – Mad Hatter Day – In honor of the Alice’s Mad Hatter of Wonderland fame. So, I guess, put on a hat and enjoy some tea with your friends.
  • October 11 – Take Your Teddy Bear to Work Day – I’m going to dress mine up like me, that way I can take a really long lunch and just place the Teddy in my chair and hopefully no one will notice I’m gone.
  • October 12 – Moment of Frustration Day – Do you just save up this moment and then embrace your frustration on this day? Because if you are not likely to get frustrated easily, this day is going to go to waste.
  • October 17 – Wear Something Gaudy Day – Sounds like the perfect day to get my ugly Christmas sweater out of storage.
  • October 21 – Babbling Day and Count Your Buttons Day – In the event that you run out of things to babble about, you can always chat about counting your buttons.
  • October 22 – Punk for a Day Day – I wonder if the punks dress like young Republicans on this day to level things out.
  • October 29 – Hermit Day – This is supposed to be a quite day spent in seclusion, which, let’s face it, if more people celebrated this day correctly, it would be one of the best days ever to go to the movies.
  • October 31 – Increase Your Psychic Powers Day – The nice thing is that since it is also Halloween, I would love to see the streets filled Star Wars fans walking up to strangers, make a subtle hand waving gesture, and then exclaim, “These are not the droids you’re looking for.” Not sure if that will increase anyone’s psychic powers, but it would be brilliant.

Well, that’s it for my highlight of a few October Holidays, it appears that a number of these days require a bit of dressing up . . . fancy that. I hope you found a smirk getting a little more awareness about this month. Cheers, and a Happy October to you all.

Image Sources:
Google Images, keywords: October, Applejack, Smokey Bear, Mat Hatter Day, and Not the droids you’re looking for.

Copyright © 2012 Richard Timothy

September . . . All This and Days Too

September . . . All This and Days Too

With the start of the new month it is once again time to look closer and learn a few things you may not know about our ninth month of the year. The big American holiday this month is Labor Day, which always takes place on the first Monday of September. This day is dedicated to the laborer, the working man . . . you know, the guy who is always there at the petrol station on at 2AM on a Friday with a variety of refrigerated beer always at the ready and is amazingly fluent in drunkenese, and slur slang. Well, except that that guy never gets Labor Day off because he has to work. Okay so maybe it’s follow through as a holiday is a little flawed, but as an idea for a holiday, it’s pretty solid.

I was curious to learn more about some of the other holidays this month. Here’s what I found out, September is also, but not limited to:

  • Classical Music Month – To help you embrace this month I highly recommend you watch Benjamin Zander’s TED talk about classical music. It’s worth the 20 minutes and it will make your life a little better as a result.
  • Hispanic Heritage Month
  • International Square Dancing Month – Just make you don’t have any Hatfield or McCoy’ on the dance floor at the same time.
  • National Blueberry Popsicle Month – Looks like I’m stopping at the story on my way home from work.
  • National Courtesy Month – I wonder if this is treated like a leap year, since every four years there is an US Presidential election and we know by this current election (and past elections) that courtesy is a concept that neither party even vaguely understand.
  • Baby Safety Month – Which reminds me, I have a peach tree in my back yard. I should probably go check on it.
  • Self-Improvement Month – This would be a good month to start reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, although I’ll be honest motorcycles do scare me a little, unless of course I’m riding one. In that case, I’m probably wetting myself from terror.

When it comes to week long celebrations, September starts off week one (always the 1st – 7th) with Child Injury Prevention Week. My first recommendation for this week is for all people across this entire planet to purchase and use condoms. Hey, the best way to prevent child injury is by not having any children. However, for those of you with kids, in addition to the condom thing, you could always make sure your kid is wearing a helmet and elbow and knee pads before leaving the house, because we all know that’s one of the best way for them to avoid injury, especially from the neighborhood or class bullies.

Week two is International Housekeepers Week, which could mean one of two things. Either it’s a week to for everyone around to world (who has housekeepers) to celebrate them, or it means that we are celebrating that we have international housekeepers (which comes across as a little racist). Also, isn’t this a bit counterproductive? If you have a housekeeper and you have a week-long celebration in honor of them, aren’t you just parting for a week, creating a huge mess, and at the end telling this person you are honoring to clean up the mess you made in their honor? Isn’t that kind of a douchebag thing to do?

Week three had a few celebrations dedicated for that week. The first being National Child Care Week, which is either giving thanks to those that watch your kids or being thankful that your child cares about, well anything really. It is also National Farm Animals Awareness Week, which, I guess is a reminder to us that farm animals are aware and that we should, um . . . eat less of them? Or it could just be that it’s a reminder to read Animal Farm or Charlotte’s Web. We also have National Flower Week, which if you were wondering is the rose. The rose was designated the official flower and floral emblem of the United States of America back in 1986.

Week four also has three different celebrations tied to it, the first being Equal Parents’ Week. I actually looked that one up since I had nothing. The holiday is about parents sharing equal responsibilities in raising their children, except when it comes to birth and breast feeding. I don’t think those responsibilities will ever be equal. For the next two week holidays I think we should just combine the two National Dog Week and National Roller Skating Week and have Bo (Obama’s dog, thus making him the National Dog) pull anyone who shows up at the White House with a pair of roller skates around the White House parking lot. I’d go to D.C. with some roller skates for my turn if they combined these two holidays like that.

As for special days in the month of September, I managed to find 60+ different day celebrations. Today happens to be Cheese Pizza Day and Be Late for Something Day. Hmm, maybe I should go get cheese pizza for lunch today and get back late from my break. I can’t imagine it not being excused. As for the rest of the days, for the sake of avoiding a ridiculously long list, I’ll highlight just a few of my favorites:

  • September 6 – Fight Procrastination Day – This is great! There were a few things I’ve needed to take care of around the house and I was going to take care of them tonight, looks like I wait until tomorrow to get them done.
  • September 7 – Neither Rain nor Snow Day – I sure hope it doesn’t rain or snow on Friday or this day will be completely pointless.
  • September 14 – National Cream-Filled Donut Day – In a word, Mmmmmm.
  • September 19 – International Talk Like a Pirate Day – I wonder if I could get away with writing all my memo’s in Pirate Speak on this Wednesday.
  • September 21 – World Gratitude Day and International Peace Day – It would be nice if one of these times the Peace would actually stick.
  • September 22 – Oktoberfest – This is the first day of Oktoberfest for a number of places . . . including my place.
  • September 23 – Dog in Politics Day – Personally I think there is already too much of this and we really need to revisit this and make it “Get the Dogs out of Politics Day”.
  • September 28 – Ask a Stupid Question Day – In honor of this day I will answer any stupid questions any of you want to ask me. Oh maybe I should do a Smirk on some of my favorite stupid questions I’ve ever been asked, or asked.

Well, that’s it for my highlight of a few September Holidays. I hope you found a smirk getting a little more awareness about this month, and I truly do how you can all admit to finding yourself happy this month. Cheers, and a Happy September to you all.

Image Sources:
Google Images, keywords: September, baby dos and don’ts, procrastination, and asking stupid questions.

Copyright © 2012 Richard Timothy

August . . . All This and Days Too

August . . . All This and Days Too

With the start of the new month it is once again time to look closer and learn a few things you may not know about our eighth month of the year. August is one of those months where there in not a lot going on, as far as big US holidays go. There is one event, however that is the big event for the month, and if I had to guess I’d guess that most parents consider it one of the best holidays of the year. Of course, I’m talking about back to school day. The summer kids running amok and treating every day as if it is Saturday, is something that I imagine is quite exhausting. Having them go back to school, is probably a grand holiday for any parents that stay at home, or have to deal with day care.

Apart from the parental joy of having their kids leaving the house to learn a few things for a few hours each day, I was curious to learn more about some of the other holidays in the month of August. Here’s what I found out, August is also:

  • Admit You’re Happy Month – I’m not sure on this, but if you happen not to be happy this month, I think it’s okay to lie and just admit that you are.
  • Family Fun Month – I recommend going on a picnic.
  • National Catfish Month – I’m sure that Animal Planet already has a very special Hillbilly Handfishin’ episode all ready to air in honor of this month.
  • National Eye Exam Month – I see no point in this . . . sorry (/hangs head in shame).
  • National Golf Month – Also known as Curse like a Sailor for No Good Reason At All Month.
  • Peach Month – Which reminds me, I have a peach tree in my back yard. I should probably go check on it.
  • Romance Awareness Month – All I ask is that people refrain from doing anything in public that brings attention to your romance. I promise, most people just don’t want to see that.
  • Water Quality Month – Does this mean that the rest of the year we are just supposed to ignore the quality of our water?
  • National Picnic Month – Woah! What are the odds!

When it comes to week long celebrations apparently the first week in August (so this past week) is National Simplify your Life Week. And by skipping a week that encourages people to simplify their life, I did, in fact, simplify my life. Hooray me! Week two just so happens to be National Smile Week, which is the perfect segue for me to encourage you to share my blog and Facebook (Authors) page with all your friends that you feel could benefit from a daily dose of smiles. You can even continue to encourage your friends to check out my work thanks to week three’s Friendship Week. Introduce your friends (everyone you know) to your other friends (me) in an act of friends becoming friends. Okay, okay, the shameless self-promotion is now over. Week four is Be Kind to Humankind Week, which, in the event we ever get invaded by aliens, is the week I hope they decide to invade.

As for special days in the month of August, I managed to find 40+ different day celebrations. Today happens to be Left Hander’s Day, which is rather serendipitous, since I am left handed! I even wrote a Smirk on the subject. As for the rest of the days, for the sake of avoiding a ridiculously long list, I’ll highlight just a few of my favorites:

  • August 6 – Wiggle Your Toes Day – Okay so how many of you started wiggling your toes the second you read that? I sure did.
  • August 8 – Sneak Some Zucchini onto Your Neighbor’s Porch Day – I’ll tell you, in Utah this is almost a pandemic, and is more like a month long cruel joke under the guise of ‘good intentions’.
  • August 9 – Book Lover’s Day – If you missed it, go out and buy a real book, one you can touch, and smell and place on your shelf as a trophy proclaiming your literacy. Just remember, it’s okay to love your books, just don’t ‘love’ your books.
  • August 15 – Relaxation Day – I wonder if I could get away with working from home this day, and by working from home I mean waking up at noon, checking my email once, and then spending the afternoon in a hammock, swinging gently as I bask in the shade of a tree.
  • August 16 – National Tell a Joke Day – This one is kind of a freebie since I try to do this every day with my ‘Thought of the Day’ posts I do. Still, if you know any good jokes I’d love to hear one.
  • August 18 – Bad Poetry Day – I have so much bad poetry I could share with the world! Hmm, that is a Smirk just waiting to be written . . . truth be told, most of it is already written, all I need to do now is to find some of my poetry notebooks from high school.
  • August 27 – Just Because Day – I figure the main motivation for this celebration was, you know, in the title of the holiday, and is also the reason I put this on the list.
  • August 30 – Frankenstein Day – I think I’m going to have to watch Young Frankenstein on the 30th to commemorate this day, which as long as eat a sandwich while watching it, is a perfect way to wrap up National Picnic Month and Admit You’re Happy Month, because, I promise, every time I watch Young Frankenstein, I openly admit to being happy.

Well, that’s it for my highlight of a few August Holidays. I hope you found a smirk getting a little more awareness about this month, and I truly do how you can all admit to finding yourself happy this month. Cheers, and a Happy August to you all.

Image Sources:
Google Images, keywords: August, admit you’re happy month, group of people smiling, wiggle your toes, and Young Frankenstein.

Copyright © 2012 Richard Timothy