Journal of a Sabbatical

March 15, 1999

the ides of march

Calends, nones, ides. What's the big deal about the ides of March? I mean I know Shakespeare used it in Julius Caesar - "Beware the Ides of March" - but was there something special about the Ides of the month or was that just an arbitrary date? And how come the calends is always the first, the nones is always the ninth, but the ides can either be the 13th or the 15th? I don't recall this being covered in Latin class. Maybe I should've taken 4th year Latin instead of physics and this wouldn't be such a mystery to me. Not that knowing that would have been more useful than knowing that light can be both wave and particle...

Still reading Waiting to Fly and really enjoying it. Maybe part of the reason I am reading so slowly is savoring the language. Also I seem to choose non-fiction books that are chock full of information. It's possible that a few mystery novels would go faster. I have stack of Sneaky Pie Brown books that Priscilla gave me about two weeks ago that I haven't started because I'm in the middle of the great penguin tome. Waiting to Fly is a seriously good book and I will be sad when I'm finished with it. And it is making me want more than ever to go to Antarctica.