Saturday, March 07, 2009

The Most Ordinary Day

The most ordinary day had two records.

In Warren, Maine, 19-year-old Lori Brown dozed off briefly at 4:38 AM while finishing a dissertation on Ulysses, and, for one tiny moment, everyone in the small New England city was asleep. Thus the record was broken for the most populated urban area to ever have all of its citizens unconscious simultaneously - a title previously held by a slightly smaller town in Ukraine.

On average, days have a couple hundred records - most plastic spoons purchased, for instance, fewest socks lost, fastest construction of an endtable from Ikea in the 60 and up age group - so it was understandably a little unusual when the most ordinary day had only two records.

In a little flat in the Bronx, Brandon Mayers made the best glass of chocolate milk in the world. He drank it while he enjoyed half a corned-beef-on-rye and the latest issue of Time for Kids.

Odd things happened, of course - there was a prison riot in Japan and someone somewhere threw a frisbee inside a crowded movie theater - but the fact is unusualness is pretty usual and what would be really unusual is if nothing unusual happened and as far as unusual goes the most ordinary day was pretty usual. Some people argue that the most ordinary day had three records; they say it also broke the record for least records, but that's neither here nor there. What matters is the most ordinary day itself, and how extraordinary it was in its normalcy.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the new desktop! Also, I loved this. Except for the last sentence.

Anonymous said...

It was good both ways. Without has a more scholarly and thoughtful tone.

Carissa said...

that was really good.

Anonymous said...

Whoa.

Ello Shertzer said...

That picture confused me. But it is cool.

Anonymous said...

hey buddy, it's right up there!

Anonymous said...

i meant to refer to the photo. it is a puzzlement.

Anonymous said...

This is really good, twas enjoyable to read.


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