Podcast: Leap Day

Andru finds out there is a new kind of calendar. Later, his friends explain why they are celebrating their 2nd engagement anniversary, despite being married for seven years.

The New Calendar in Late Winter.

Happy Leap Day everyone! We’ve got an extra day in February this year. I think that means we can do whatever we want.

I don't think it's fair that just because it’s a leap year, that we have to work an extra day.  So I’m taking the day off and going to the beach. Looking at the weather forecast, it's going to be about 41 degrees Fahrenheit and pretty windy.

But that's okay, its the principle. Also, Punxsutawney Phil finally said that spring is coming early this year.

But let’s not confine ourselves to too much timekeeping here. That’s kinda what this new episode of Aw, Would You Look at the Time is about. To celebrate Leap Day, we're talking about calendars.

I go back and forth a lot about whether the concept time is even real. I keep thinking about a line from the movie The Man From Earth, (which I highly recommend) that mentions how time is unmeasurable, and a clock can only measure another clock.

I also think about whether timekeeping actually helps me, or whether it constricts me.  I guess it’s good for keeping the trains on time (literally).

But other times it's like, "wow i really gotta celebrate my birthday on a Wednesday this year?" And then sometimes we just decide it's an hour earlier than we’ve been pretending it to be? 

Obviously naming the show Aw, Would You Look at the Time, I think about time a lot. I have a lot of clocks in my apartment and a healthy amount of watches to wear. I have a whole wall of calendars that I hang up in my kitchen. Which means I am also getting served a lot of advertisements online and on social media for watches and clocks.

Which brings me to The New Calendar. I came across the New Calendar through the various subtly comedic videos served to me on TikTok. I was told the New Calendar was reusable and it was challenging the way we organize time. Turns out, the New Calendar has a totally new system of organizing the year — 5 seasons, 9-day weeks, and 36 day months.

I reached out to the creator of The New Calendar, Tom Sherman for an interview on the show. You'll hear a good chunk of that interview in this episode.

For part two of the episode, I reached out to my two good friends Matt and Margaret, who got engaged to each other on Leap Day in 2016. They explain why they chose that day to get engaged and also how to possibly pronounce Uranus.

This is a more lo-fi version of the show, kinda going back to the vibe of the first few episodes I did in 2018, so I hope you enjoy.

Also: please, enjoy Leap Day, and try to do something that you've never done before!!