Day 22 – Lucky 22’s

Session 26

Normally 22 may not seem like a lucky number. If you are staring down the barrel of a 22, it is probably a bad thing, if you get 22 in blackjack, it is a bad thing and if you find yourself in a “catch-22” well it is hard to find any good in that. So why is it my lucky number? For one thing, when I went searching for a lucky number I had heard that somebody had already taken the number 7…

My story is a bit boring, but I’ve been asked about it a number of times, so I’ll tell it. I chose it for “my” number in 6th grade, when for some reason I had a rash of occurrences of the number 22. It had to be my number! Simply put, it was far too unlikely for this number to show up five out of six times in a random unscientific sampling of a six grader’s life, my number had to be 22! We’ll after the fact; I realized that the only one that seemed to be random was my locker number. The others, while not significantly probable, were also not significantly unlikely either given that my last name begins in the letter “O”. This is because these numbers that came up 22 were primarily related to the role sheets in my classes at that time, which were ordered alphabetically. So 22 is probably some sort of statistical mean on a list for last names beginning with “O” when it is attached to another statistical mean of a particular class size which can statistically be proven to be a valid statistic if class size is static. Oh sorry, I got a little carried away. Anyway, my take (which I am required to give on every subject) is that most of the time statistics are just a function of humans trying to put meaning to a number of random events. Translation: “BS” and not the Bachelor of Sciences kind of BS either. All of that said, lucky or not, 22 continues to be “My” number and I would not trade numbers with anyone. Of course, I do think it is better than other numbers, ok actually I know it is. Why? There is something very symmetrical and simple about this number. 2 is the first chance for symmetry in the Arabic numeral system, which comes in the form of the inherently symmetrical “even number”. Furthermore, two 2’s is more symmetrical than a single 2 as the single version only has a single numeral and thus contains an odd property. 44 is symmetrical as well, but why go all the way to 44, when I can have this symmetry at 22? Also, there is something generic about 44. Yeah, Dirty Hairy went a long way to popularize the number 44, but the fundamental qualities of 44 fall apart under greater scrutiny. The same can be said about any other double numbers – they really just do not have the same originality of their sibling 22.

The Surf on Lucky 22:
The surf was really fun! Jason made the point to me that he would prefer waves like that over the long period ground swell type of wave that is often associated with a “Good Swell”, and I completely agree. The waves were overhead on the sets which were generated primarily by short period wind swell. This is great because it affords you the opportunity to catch a lot of waves in a short period of time and the cost of screwing one up is negligible because it is possible to go right back out and catch another. Yes, the waves are shorter but the aggregate number of turns will easily eclipse those days where the waves are from a “good swell”. This morning the wind was offshore, but the ocean was still pretty mixed up from the harsh onshore wind that we had yesterday (the cause for the waves). So the faces of the waves were glassy but there was quite a bit of “shiftiness” out there. So fun! There was nobody out and plenty of good waves, that’s the right combo. Jason had some really good ones and he was very excited about returning to surfing. He had already trend-lined his progress in his head to figure out when he would make it back to peak surf shape. I think it was his first wave, which was right in front of me, he logged some travel time in a surprise barrel, so the enthusiasm is easy to understand - there is something indescribable about being in a barrel. Me? I had some really good waves as well and I surfed them fairly well - I had a blast out there! I really need to start working on my core strength however. My back was still bothering me a little bit. I had one really memorable left on which I competed two solid turns with the second one being a tail slide layback where I stood up out of the whitewash to complete it. It was a great session as we were on it early and got to surf for about an hour and ten minutes. Tomorrow is Good Friday, but the weather is supposed to be dicey (rain and wind)! This serves as yet more confirmation of why 22 is right choice of numbers for me! Hopefully, I just opposite-jinxed it for tomorrow, I don’t think so though.