The irony of my π Day observation is that I never observed it when I was a Math teacher. As a matter of fact, if it hadn’t landed on a Monday this year, my current grocery shopping day, I may not have bothered with it at all.
Yet since we’ve passed the 2-year mark for this roller coaster pandemic, I bought a celebratory, individual-sized spinach and cheese quiche. My quiches taste better, but this was pretty good in a pinch.
In my younger days, I would’ve opted for a sweet pie, but now that I’m convinced that too much sugar makes my left knee hurt, I opted for a pain-free celebration. (Hey, some people can tell the weather with their knee. Mine lets me know when I’ve consumed too much sugar!)
Another reason I like this observation is that π is the most famous irrational number. “Irrational” being the M.O. of the US dominant narrative for the past couple of years. In a way, being sequestered has been nice because I don’t have to surround myself by irrational people in real life. We are comfortably separated by distance and social media.
As a matter of fact, I messaged people as a reminder to eat a sweet or savory pie in observance. Not a soul complained about how much they hated math because everyone found a type of pie that they liked without too much grief.
As a counterpoint to my belief that my country currently runs on irrationality, the US Senate UNANIMOUSLY voted to end Daylight Savings on March 15th. Could that have been the result of too much π the day before? I’m mostly sure that had nothing to do with it.
More than likely, they were all blurry-eyed from springing forward an hour on the 13th. Either way, it’s refreshing Congress can actually get some shit done. One Republican even made a big deal about how “the science” backs up the decision to end Daylight Savings.
I just thought, “Oh, you son of bitch, a vast universe of logical decisions await when you choose to embrace “the science.”
Nonetheless, I’m not going to be teased into a false sense of optimism that this occurrence has ushered in a new era of logical reasoning and innovative science. At least I enjoyed my pie.