Fun Facts About Wednesdays

Wednesdays suck as far as days of the week go (If you need to see why again, you can view the reasons I listed here).

But as I was listening to the radio today, I heard that statistically fewer accidents happen on Wednesdays than any other day of the week. So if you are going to be alive at the end of the day, its more likely to happen on a Wednesday.

Wednesday is associated with the colour green apparently. Not sure who decides which colours belong with which days of the week, but green is a nice neutral colour, its kind of calming.  According to research I did on the internet*, the colour green is favoured by well-balanced people. However this same article also says that Green is associated with Fridays. Confused much?  Also green is associated with jealousy so not sure what that does to the well-balanced theory.

Apparently, women look their worst every Wednesday at 15h30. This is because (a) Wednesdays are the  most stressful days of the week, and by Wednesday afternoon energy levels plummet.  And (b) its because people drink more on Sundays and this takes about 72 hours to work through your system plus people sleep worse on Mondays and this affects you on a Wednesday. Its all very serious and scientific.  You can read the article here because I know I did a bad job of summarising the facts: http://seriousfacts.com/women-look-their-oldest-every-wednesday-at-330pm/.  

Wednesdays are the best day of the week to ask for a raise at work.  Or any other favour I guess.  According to more research I did on the internet, in a survey of 1,500 bosses, most revealed they were more receptive to requests a Wednesday. On Mondays they are too busy preparing for the week ahead and by Thursday and Friday they are thinking about the weekend.**

Um ... bad news though, same article says that most car accidents happen on a Wednesday.  So maybe not such a good day for staying alive?  

As per the childhood rhyme we all know and love, Wednesday's child is full of woe***.

Wednesday is spelled kind of weird though: "Wed-nes-day", and I hate it when words have silent letters.  Like, what is the point. Actually, I've written Wednesday so many times in this post that I'm beginning to doubt its spelling.  Or that its a real word.  But I digress ... Wednesday comes from the Old English word “wodnesdaeg.” or "Woden's day". Some sources link Woden to Odin, but actually Woden was either an Anglo-Saxon god, or an important king.  I'm not sure which and I can't be bothered to fact check that.

Wednesday is associated with the planet Mercury. You can see this association in a number of the Romance languages such as Spanish (Miercoles) and French (Mercredi).

And in other languages ...

The German name for the day, Mittwoch, literally translates to “mid-week,”
In Portugeuse it’s called Quarta-fiera, or “fourth day.” (I guess their week starts on Sunday)

In Scandinavian countries in "Onsday" which means "Odin's day" which puts a spin on the whole Odin/Woden debate.

And last but not least ... Wednesday is known as the hump day, cos once its done you are over the "hump" of the week.  Ofcourse, this can only be celebrated once the day is over.  Which it is now.

And that is all.

*Gotta love Google.  I don't know how I did research projects when I was in school without the internet or Google.

**I have to remember this next time I want to bombard my boss. Or when I need to borrow money from someone.  I got my facts here, so don't blame me if it doesn't work out for you.

*** Apparently this is where Wednesday Adams (from Adams family) got her name.

Things I do to myself that annoy me

So, I've been thinking a lot this week about things that annoy me ... and the more I thought about it, the longer the list was getting.  So, instead of focusing on how annoying people are, I thought instead about the things on my list that were self inflicted.  My thinking is that maybe if I can work on these things, then there will be fewer things in the world than annoy me.

What are self-inflicted annoyances?  Well, I don't mean that I will be avoiding annoying people or annoying situations (like work or the train*), but more like I will stop doing the things that I do that annoy myself.

I have 3 to start, which seems like a good number to work on for now:

1. I will stop walking into everything and tripping over everything. Because gosh its annoying to hurt myself on a daily basis by walking into my desk at work. And its super annoying that I constantly have fresh bruises from walking into every possible obstacle.  And I am tired of tripping over my boots constantly**.
So number one on my list is to stop being so clumsy all the time.

2. I will stop missing the train by 30 seconds every day.  Every morning as I walk to the station, and just as i get to the top of the road I watch the train ride into the station.  Too far away for me to make a run for it.  And its just so annoying, if I had left home 2 or 3 minutes earlier ... sigh. The thing is, that it happens to me almost every day.
So number two on my list is to time my mornings better.

3. I will stop procrastinating on my drawing/painting/crafts.  I have a file of ideas, a number of unfinished sketches and about 5 empty canvases.  And why? Because if I have free time in the evening and on weekends, I spend it (a) in front of the tv knitting, (b) playing computer games or (c) doing chores.   Yes, its important to do chores, and there is nothing wrong with playing games and watching a little TV.  But I need to stop putting off being bring productive.  Either that or I need to stop buying art and craft supplies.
So number three on my list is to dedicate a few nights a week to "art time", and finally get some projects going.

Yes, I do have lots of other things that annoy (a) me and (b) other people.... like, I am terrible at keeping in contact and I never call when I say I will.  I swear a little more than I like, and I am not terribly tidy***.   But hey, at least its a start.

So tomorrow, I will sit down and make a schedule for getting up in the morning and organise my evenings.  My goal for tonight is not to walk into the coffee table again.

*Aaaargghhhh ... cos the train was delayed SO many times last week, but as its my mode of transportation to work, I can't really avoid it.  Although if I did I would be avoiding two annoyances at once... hmmmm...
** And its not like I have my boots out in the middle of the room.  They are in a corner in my "boot spot". I really have to go out of my way to walk near enough to them to trip over them.  That's what makes it so annoying.
*** Yeah, that's an understatement... I know.

Random Facts

Every day my twitter feed updates me with random and often useless facts. Here are some things I have learned over the past couple of weeks:

Buzz Aldrin's mother's maiden name was "Moon".

Humpback whales have best friends

All cattle and deer sleep with their heads pointing north

There is a dinosaur named after Harry Potter

Death Star from Star Wars would cost about $852,000,000,000,000,000 if humans try to build it in real world.

A condom can be used to carry 1 litre of water.

The International Space Station is the most expensive object ever constructed, costing about $150 billion USD.

Over 98 % of Norway's electricity comes from renewable energy

Pumpkin is not a vegetable, scientifically it is a berry.

I don't know what I'll ever do with this information. I'm not even sure that most of it is interesting.  Except for the fact about the Death Star.  I think that the US should stop spending money on the International Space Station and start plans for a Death Star.

How I forgot to iron a shirt

Okay so here is the story ...

A few years ago I used to wear a uniform to work. At the time, I didn't have a washing machine.  So everyday I would handwash my shirts. And as of that wasn't a pain enough, I would also have to iron them. But I got pretty used to the routine and I could iron a shirt within 5 minutes. I'm guessing. I never actually times myself, but it seemed fast.

But I stopped working in the hotel industry almost 3 years ago, and I haven't had to iron a shirt since.  My boyfriend wears shirts to work, but the hotel where he worked at offered an unheard of service to their staff where they would wash and iron their shirts.  Maybe it was only because he was management. Either way, the iron hasn't been used much in a while.

He started a new job though, so there is no more laundry service and the iron looks like it is about to get used again.  The other day he was on his way home from work and he called me to ask if I could iron the white shirt on the washing line.

So .... I go to the washing line and there are 2 white shirts and I think to myself, "heck, I'll iron them both and save him the trouble ... won't that be nice of me".

20 minutes later I am still ironing the first shirt when he walks in the door.  Now, it didn't take me 20 minutes because I am overly perfectionist or anything.  I just honestly have forgotten how to iron.  I iron creases in, then I had to iron them out again. The sleeves were a nightmare. Gosh.  He was going to be lucky just to have the one shirt done.

And then he says to me, "Thanks .... but that's the wrong shirt".

Sigh ... apparently he has a shirts which are "just for work" and shirts which are "not for work".  How was I supposed to know.  Shame, he did look a bit sheepish when he told me. Especially when I probably gave him an extremely pained expression back.

Tomorrow is Monday and the shirts are washed and on the line, so there will be more ironing later.  I wonder how we will decide how to split up the housework later. I hope I don't pull ironing duty.