Day 2

I have to write each day. That is part of this experiment, a commitment to do something for 30 days. Well in some cases, 28 or 31 days.

I can never remember how many days are in what month. I do recall a friend using the knuckle method to remember the number of days in a month. The knuckles are the big months- the ones with 31 days. Begin with the pinkie knuckle. That is January, on the knuckle mountain. Count the knuckle/valleys until you reach July. Then tap the knuckle mountain again for August and go back. Each knuckle month has 31 days. Each valley month has 30 days except February which has 28 days. That is unless you are in a leap year. Then February has 29 days, but that only happens every four years.

I can never remember when the next leap year is because I can never remember when the last one was. Neither could most of my friends so I don't have a mnemonic system for remembering the occurrence of leap years. The only people who kept track of those kinds of stats were the smart kids or those born on February 29th. I'm neither one.

Who invented this leap year rule anyway? The short answer is Julius Caesar's reformation of the Roman calendar which added an extra day once every four years. Thus every year that is divisible by four is a leap year. Since there always has to be the exception to the rule, Pope Gregory XIII added those years divisible by 100 are not leap years unless they are also divisible by 400. Using these rules and exceptions made 2000 a leap year. No one reading this has to worry about Gregory's next exception since that next year divisible by 100 will be 2100. I won't be here.

But I can count by four's and so the next leap year will be 2012. The year my son graduates from high school.

Never mind, I should have gone to Hot Yoga today.