| I have a fascination with the Ides of March. Granted, I've never had a soothsayer warn me of my impending doom -- something that I would most certainly heed, unlike that Julius Caesar fellow. Lesson learned, there. If some guy starts yelling that I should beware and actually goes to the trouble to provide a specific time frame, I'm going to consider that worth heeding.
The only notable thing that's ever happened to me on a March 15 was that my first dog, Elliot, died at the ripe old age of 18. There's no other personal connection between the date and myself, save for that one of my friend in college relished the opportunity to annually spend the day gravely intoning Beware the Ides of March! to others in our group, which was generally pretty amusing, since he really sold it well. To me, the Ides of March is actually a little more interesting than Friday the 13th, possibly because it comes around less frequently. The two days share a lot of similar qualities -- unluckiness, foreboding, name ending in "teenth" -- even if Friday the 13th has taken on entirely different commercial aspects thanks to the movies. I do like to think, though, that since history repeats itself, there used to be a famous series of Roman plays based on the Ides of March. Sadly, until someone turns up an ancient parchment with the script of The Ides of March Part VIII: Caesar Takes Manhattan I admit that this is more speculation on my part than anything. So as the date comes round again, I'd advise exercising caution -- at the very least, be on the lookout for backstabbing coworkers (doubly so if one of them is named "Brutus). |
