Seventh grade English, fifth period (last Thursday).
The desks were numbered. Some teachers do this. It makes seating charts easier to read.
We're five months into the school year and three weeks into the second semester. That there are numbers on the desks or what number is on each student's desk should come as no surprise.
"23?!?"
Me: "It's a prime number."
That's not what weirded the boy out.
"I'm at desk 23 in math class. My PE number is 23. Science..."
He listed all the 23s in his schooling life. I tuned out as the other students arrived and other issues required my attention.
The bell rang. I stared passing out their assignment...
"Today is the 23rd!!!"
Uh, yeah, it had been all day.
I resisted telling him about numbers that follow you. If I'd gone that route, I would have lost the entire class of seventh graders. No way any of them would have been able to focus on their reading with that shiny new idea glittering before them.
You should play that number.
ReplyDeleteHe should. 23 isn't following me around. (I have my own set of frequent numbers.)
DeleteAlphabetical for him that he kept being 23 for different classes?
ReplyDeletebetty
Some people find patterns in anything.
ReplyDeleteSo true. And some folks think we're living in a computer simulation. ~shudders~ Some incidents do make me wonder sometimes, though. Not so much patterns, but events that verge on the surreal. Be well! Oh, and thanks for the comment on my Italian bread. It did turn out yummy, a mixed blessing since we need to cut down on our carbohydrate intake. Heh...
DeleteStrange things do indeed happen.
DeleteThere is the saying that history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes, and if world history can rhyme then individuals can certainly have repeating numbers. Your blog post title, incidentally, was perfection.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I'm inordinately proud of the title. When I realized what this post would be, that title just popped in my head.
DeleteDid Terry Pratchett say that? It sounds like something Terry Pratchett said.
I loved numbers as a kid, especially when it came time to pick my sports uniforms. 23, 21, 13, 3, and once I had my number, I would see it everywhere too.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how that works.
DeleteIs it amazing or strange how numbers are being used
ReplyDeleteI'm fascinated by Fibonacci numbers although I must confess I don't totally understand them!
ReplyDeleteI like using Fibonacci numbers in knitting. Supposedly, any of them are the best visually, so that many rows, that many repeats, that many stripes...
DeleteInteresting article, I will pay attention now!
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how that happens. And yes, it does become distracting. But I also notice it happens with words as well. You learn a new word and suddenly you hear it everywhere. I'm not sure if it's just that your attention has been drawn to it so you are more aware and pick up on it, or if it's something else...
ReplyDeleteI never thought about meanings behind numbers until I heard about numerology and read more about it. I have found them just interesting.
ReplyDeleteThere are certain numbers figuring more prominently than others in my life. But I haven't yet connected them or looked for any meanings in them.
I've never felt like I needed to know the whys or the meanings, but some people like to know.
DeleteNumbers that follow you, I will have to click on that and see what that says. Never heard of that.
ReplyDeleteYou'd have noticed. If you haven't, then you probably don't have a number message.
DeleteI thought this was going to be about the DNA test, but this was actually much more interesting to me.
ReplyDeleteNah, I'm not springing for that. But the title totally applied, so I couldn't resist.
DeleteI'm commentor 22 so like the next is 23 guess means something important dunit?
ReplyDeleteSo I'm number 23 in comments? Hmm, I must be important then. I've also lived in two houses that were number 23. What are the chances of that?
ReplyDeleteNumbers make me slumber. My husband, a professional mathematician, says math is beautiful. I'll take his word for it. Puns are what follow me.
ReplyDeleteMath is awesome. And math is more than numbers. It's a language, the language of science.
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