Andy Carpenter is a native Wisconsinite who also has spent time living in Pennsylvania, Missouri, Australia and now Hilton Head Island. He graduated from the University of Missouri in 2009, and has been known to moonlight as a copy editor, bartender, pirate, rowing coach and Green Bay Packers fan. | Twenty-four-seven. Three-sixty-five. Ugh.
I hear it all the time. It has to be one of my least favorite ways to say “always,” “a lot” or “most of the time, but probably less than I’m implying.” Yes, the colloquialism relays that the person saying it understands the concept of time and days of the week and probably knows how to count. But ever so rarely is it an accurate portrayal of a situation: You aren’t hustling when you’re asleep; there isn’t drama when you’re folding laundry; you aren’t keeping it gangsta when you’re in the drive-thru, despite your best efforts.
The good news is that every four years, the saying is wrong. Bless the leap year for adding another day to the calendar and giving you reason to correct the 24/7/365ers — even though you probably shouldn’t because what are you trying to accomplish?
This year’s leap day is just around the corner; an extra opportunity once every four years to do exactly the same thing you do every other day of the year, only more confusing when trying to recall what day is when. Unfortunately, it falls on a Wednesday, and thus won’t be celebrated properly (unless you let something like “weekdays” interfere with your celebrating). But that doesn’t mean there aren’t things you can do to mark this Feb. 29. Here are some ideas:
• Celebrate Whitney Houston. Yeah, in two weeks the coverage of her death will probably feel pretty stale, but that doesn’t make her talent any less remarkable. I planned to run a marathon in December; even after training, I was completely unsure of myself until Whitney’s 1991 Super Bowl XXV anthem was the one broadcast before the race. I finished. Inconsequential? Humblebrag? Possibly correct on both counts. But I’ll never forget her, on that day or otherwise.
• Check up on Usain Bolt. One of the best parts of a leap year is the fact that it brings the Summer Olympics. The 2012 games start in July: Get excited.
• Want to dance with somebody who loves you.
• Ponder the fates of leap year babies. People tend to feel sorry for babies born today, because even if they live to 100, they only have 25 “real” birthdays. But they are bestowed with a gift many of us lack: a built-in ice-breaker at any bar … provided they eventually make it there because the Mayans are wrong and the world doesn’t end.
• Enjoy that we have an extra day before the world ends if the Mayans are right.
• Go Lin-sane. The New York Knicks and their living, breathing Cinderella point guard Jeremy Lin play the Cleveland Cavaliers on Feb. 29. If you haven’t heard, Lin has taken the basketball world by storm after seemingly coming from nowhere, leading a lousy team to a big winning streak and playing the theme from “The Mighty Ducks” behind him whenever he enters a room.
• Surprise someone. Wear a silly hat. Play a practical joke. Leap, in the literal sense (long jump, triple jump and hopscotch all fit the bill). At the very least, do something you don’t already do 24/7/365366.
Things actually done 24/7/365(6): Breathing. Unless you’re holding it.