Birthdays

[altivo]

It's an odd thing, really. Of the people I've worked with in libraries over the years, a disproportionate number are born under the astrological sign of Sagittarius. Now it's true that, by tradition, the Sagittarian is supposed to like books and reading. But Virgo ought, over all, to be the most compatible with the librarian's duties and responsibilities I think. (Of course, I have Virgo rising, so that still covers me.)

Anyway, we have a custom of going out for breakfast before the library opens to celebrate people's birthdays. No gifts, just we buy breakfast for the birthday person(s) and get them humorous greeting cards. There are so many Sagittarians in the group that we end up having two breakfasts in December, with two or three giftees at each. Any other month/sign has either zero or one person. The first of two breakfasts for this month was scheduled for last Friday and got canceled due to the snowstorm and the library not opening that day. So now we'll probably have four people (myself included) for the next one. Last time that happened, the boss just bought breakfast for everyone from her discretionary budget.

Today we ordered in pizza at lunch time to celebrate a birthday for one of our regular volunteers, the interesting and fun woman who runs our book sales and does book repairs and vertical files for us. She turned 80 this week, though you'd never guess it. Another long time library volunteer just happened to be in the library to do some photocopying this morning, so we invited her to lunch. During the lunch, it came out that in fact she and not the honoree, was the oldest at the table. She turned 90 a couple of months ago.

I don't know what the moral of this is. Maybe reading more prolongs life? You would never guess either of these ladies' ages accurately. Late 60s maybe would have been my best guess.

Comments

[cats-haven.livejournal.com]

It isn't all that odd when you think about it. Most women seem to be more fertile in the early to mid spring months; like a good portion of the animal kingdom. :) bad weather and vacations during that time can account for most of them.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

That might seem rational, but in the distribution statistics I've seen for births in the US, the peaks fall in the spring and summer, rather than at midwinter. Well, they aren't really peaks, more like hills in the graph. You're right that such trends are probably a product of the way seasonal cycles affect social activity more than anything else.

[lobowolf.livejournal.com]

Reading probably does promote long life. What other waking activity forces you to be quiet, calm, and introspective for hours on end? (Besides meditation, perhaps).

[altivo.livejournal.com]

True. But doesn't inactivity also promote obesity with all the attendant complications? ;p

[lobowolf.livejournal.com]

Only if you do all your reading at Taco Bell. :D

You know, all things in moderation and all that >:)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I think not at Taco Bell, thanks.

How about a fursuit read-aloud? Everyone gets to snuggle and take turns at reading aloud from something.

[avon-deer.livejournal.com]

I did not realise you had an interest in astrology. I am an Arian. Do you think I'd make a good librarian? Or does it make me too impatient?

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Well, if we are going to take astrology at all seriously, we need to look at a lot more than just the time of year that you were born.

There are Arians in library work of course. The ones I've known (including my present boss, the library director) are usually administrators.

Astrology is interesting. There's a lot of bunk and misconception attached to it, yet in some respects it has produced statistical correlations. I suspect that the underlying truth, whatever it is, has little to do with stars and planets and more to do with earthbound seasonal cycles, though.

[ducktapeddonkey.livejournal.com]

My mom's a Saggi too.

Maybe reading more prolongs life?

Hmmm...Well now that I'm finally getting back to reading your latest story I can almost feel it proloning my life as the words go past. *Grin*

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're still with me. I have about two chapters to go. Then there will need to be a lot of going back and editing, and a good deal of description and detail to fill in, but the story line will be complete.

By all means, I'm eager to hear what you liked and disliked about it. :)

[captpackrat.livejournal.com]

I'm a virgo, and I worked in a library when I was in high school, does that count?

I'm still partial to the Dewey Decimal System....

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Special number for books on Pi: 003.1415927

The problem with Dewey is that the thinner and more specialized the book, the longer the call number gets. Since you normally want to put that number on the spine of the book to make it easy to locate on the shelf, this is self-defeating. ;p

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

People with active minds live longer, its like when people retire and have nothing to do they usually pop off not much later.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

If that were really true, then television would be a lethal weapon. ;D

[cabcat.livejournal.com]

It is, since it slows brain activity to less than it is when you're asleep. Though I'm sure you know that :)

Have you ever talked with someone who watches too much tv? It shows.

The scarey thing when you talk to someone who's barely 60 but is so far gone they have trouble with coherant speech and yet someone who's very active mentally who's still sharp as tacks at 90+

[woodychitwn.livejournal.com]

Large number of people born under Sagittarius?

*Checks his calendar*

*Goes back 9 months*

*Notices Valentine's Day*

Interesting...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

That's an interesting coincidence, but no, I don't think so. Last time I checked a statistical chart of births in the US by month, the crests came in spring and fall rather than midwinter or midsummer.

Of course my observation is purely empirical. I haven't tried to take any serious statistics and correlate them. A French astrologer used computers to do a major statistical study on the connection between occupation and birth horoscope 30 or so years ago. He found one, but not to anything as simple as the month of birth. It was a correlation to the element of the signs found in the angular houses, which is pretty esoteric and has only a distant connection to the day of the year at which someone was born. It matters more what time of day and at what geographic location.

Sagittarius

[doug-taron.livejournal.com]

I'm looking forward to seeing you guys at the main Sagittarius event for the year on Saturday. I plan to feature a number of homemade cheese products in my offerings for the party.

Re: Sagittarius

[altivo.livejournal.com]

We plan to be there. I've been looking forward to a taste of your experiments. :)